Katie Goar

We love to talk about resilience, about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and figuring it out.

𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐚𝐫 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐨𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐚 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝.

The book is titled Audacity. And here’s why:

We talk about audacity like it’s a personality trait.

Becoming a CEO before I'd ever held an executive role.
Adopting a child with special needs and trusting our family would grow stronger because of it.
Sharing my story of homelessness when I could have kept it hidden.

The most expensive thing was never a bold move. It was the times I waited.

Somewhere in the cloud, there is an odd photo album of my life.

Shame is what you carry when you accept the identity someone handed you.
Audacity is what happens when you hand it back.

If housing programs were a plant, they might just be a cactus.

Statistics say I could have become a lot of things.
Homeless. Stuck in unstable housing.
Defined by the circumstances I was born into.

As Raj Chetty wrapped up his keynote, I turned to my Hype Squad and said: “I wonder how much private capital it would take to scale these mobility strategies.”

They didn’t let the thought end there.
“Why are you wondering? Go up and ask him.”