Part 5

Shared narratives are critical for fighting injustice and creating social change. A few years ago, we started LeanIn. Org to help work towards gender equality – helping women and men form Lean In circles – small groups that support each other's ambitions. There are now more than 33,000 Circles in 150 countries. But It wasn't until I lost Dave that I understood why Circles are thriving – it's because they build collective resilience.

Not long ago, I was in Beijing and I had a chance to meet with women from Lean In Circles across China. Like in a lot of places, it's not always easy to be a woman in China. If you're unmarried past age 27, you're called sheng nu – a "leftover woman." And I thought the word "widow" was bad! The stigma that comes from being a leftover woman can be intense. One woman – a 36-year-old economics professor – was rejected by 15 men because — wait for it — she was . . . too educated. After that, her father forbade her younger sister from going to graduate school.

But more than 80,000 women have come together in Lean In Circles to create a new narrative. One Circle created a play, "The Leftover Monologues, " which celebrates being "leftover" and tackles the topics too often unspoken, like sexual harassment, date rape, and homophobia. The world told them what their stories should be, and they said, actually, we're writing a different story for ourselves. We are not leftover. We are strong and we will write our own story together.

Building collective resilience also means trying to understand how the world looks to those who have experienced it differently – because they are a different race, come from a different country, have an economic background unlike yours. We each have our own story, but we can write new ones together – and that means seeing the values in each other's points of view and looking for common ground.

Anyone here a little bit anxious about your future? Not sure where the future is taking you? Sometimes me, too. And you know what helps you combat that fear? A very big idea captured in a very tiny word: hope.