“Women often have an easier time checking their ego at the door and just getting things done”

Kim Ghattas is a BBC journalist who is based in Washington, DC, and covers international affairs. Born in Beirut, her 15 years as a journalist has included writing about the Middle East and American foreign policy.

Kim is on the Board of Trustees of the American University of Beirut. She is also the author of The Secretary – an inside account of Hillary Clinton国产视频檚 time as US Secretary of State. It includes her own experiences of growing up in war-torn Lebanon.

Who inspired you when you were younger? And who inspires you now?

My father –聽even though I probably didn国产视频檛 know it at the time. He had a calm inner strength, boundless optimism, an unfailing belief in people国产视频檚 goodness and never seemed daunted by any obstacles –聽sometimes I wonder if he even saw them.聽

Nothing ever seemed to give him pause and, if it did, he didn国产视频檛 speak about it. That gave me the same belief that anything could be possible, if I just put my mind to it and worked on it: becoming a journalist, a foreign correspondent in Beirut, moving to the US to be the BBC State Department correspondent, writing a book about Hillary Clinton… me! A kid from Beirut!聽

I have doubts聽and insecurities like anyone, but I always think: well, why not? Most of all my dad never indicated that any route was closed to me because I was a girl, and I realise now聽that, for a man born in the 1930s in a rural area of Lebanon, this was somewhat unusual and rather special.聽

Today I am inspired not by one specific or famous person but by the multitude of people in my everyday life. Friends and others, who each do their bit to help make the world a better, fairer, kinder place and who persevere no matter what, in ways small and big…

A successful CEO friend who also runs summer camps for disabled kids, the young Syrian activists who risked their lives in Raqqa and elsewhere to tell the story of their country, the mailman who does his rounds with a smile and a kind word every time he sees me…

Gaspar Marcos, the young unaccompanied migrant student in LA, whose story was told in a brilliant video, who studies by day and works all night to build a better life…

Or the three extraordinary African-American women, featured in the film聽Hidden Figures, whose brilliant brains helped turn around NASA国产视频檚 flailing space programme in the mid-1960s. They didn国产视频檛 let gender or race get in their way.

What challenges did you have to overcome to get where you are today?聽

I grew up in a civil war, in Beirut, and we lived on the front lines of the conflict. The first 13聽years of my life were spent mostly in bomb shelters, screaming in fear and dodging sniper fire on the way to school, or missing school altogether for months.聽

There were normal days, when we went for Sunday lunch or the occasional play date, but mostly it was war.聽

I didn国产视频檛 necessarily see it as a challenge that I needed to overcome –聽we just got on with our lives, the same way most Lebanese did but it was a challenge to believe in a better future.聽

For my parents it was, of course, also a challenge to keep us all alive and set us up for a good life. War scars you forever, it never leaves you, it becomes imprinted in your DNA and you never really know how much of what you are and what you do has been shaped by those events.聽

But I draw strength from it too. Living through war made me want to become a journalist and my past keeps me grounded today, whether I国产视频檓 interviewing a president or a refugee.

What国产视频檚 the best advice someone has ever given you? And what advice do you have for young girls and women?聽

As a teenager I wanted to blend in, be cool, dress like other girls. I wasn国产视频檛 a nerd or dressed funny聽but I stood out in my class because I was a bit more serious, more measured or mature for my age.聽

We went shopping once聽and I wanted to buy some awful yellow neon-coloured T-shirt, which was all the rage in the 1980s, to fit in.聽

I was with my sister, who国产视频檚 10 years older than me, and she said to me: 国产视频淲hy do you want to fit in? Why do you want to be like everyone else? Just be yourself, be you.国产视频澛�

It was very simple fashion advice but it was about much more than that too, and I think of it often. It国产视频檚 not about wanting to purposely stand out by being different, but about accepting yourself and believing that we all have a special something we bring to the table that makes us unique, and recognising that.聽

So that would be my advice to girls and women today: be you聽and believe in your ideas, your creativity, your talent, recognise what is unique to you, make it your inner strength and stand out with your smarts and skills.

What has been your biggest achievement in life so far?

Writing a book. This was the most exhausting, intellectually challenging, rewarding undertaking I could have imagined.聽

Travelling with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and then writing a book not just about her diplomacy but also about foreign policy generally and the concept of American power, in a way that was accessible and readable to people around me, not just policy wonks, it was both daunting and exhilarating.聽

So many people told me: it国产视频檚 hard to get a book deal, it国产视频檚 hard to get published, Clinton won国产视频檛 speak to you, you won国产视频檛 get good enough access, you can国产视频檛 write the book the way you envision it (it was also partly a personal memoir), you国产视频檒l never finish in time…聽

I just kept at it, thinking 国产视频渨ell why not?!国产视频� So I pulled it off, I was signed on by a big publisher in New York City and I even made the New York Times bestseller list. I enjoyed it so much, I国产视频檓 embarking on another book project.

What skills or attributes do you think women bring to the workplace?

Women can be more collaborative and inclusive in their approach to work or peace-building.

They国产视频檙e usually better multi-taskers and I think they often have an easier time checking their ego at the door and just getting things done.聽

But I did not grow up in an environment where gender differences were emphasised, where women were made to feel lesser, better or different –聽and that may be very particular to my family and immediate social circle, since women国产视频檚 rights are a serious concern in the Arab world.

But as a consequence I look at every person and their attributes independently of gender – some men have more empathy than women I know, some of my girlfriends have way more guts than men I know, I国产视频檝e come across women who have not an ounce of compassion for others, or guys聽 who can国产视频檛 do maths.聽

So I don国产视频檛 like to stereotype in either direction, and I think that国产视频檚 the best way to 国产视频渞ewrite the code国产视频�: to get to a point where we don国产视频檛 think in terms of gender anymore but look at each person and their personal qualities, attributes聽and talent.