For years, I had existedsafely behind the scenes in politicsas a fundraiser, as an organizer,but in my heart, I always wanted to run.The sitting congresswomanhad been in my district since 1992.She had never lost a race,and no one had really even run against herin a Democratic primary.But in my mind, this was my wayto make a difference,to disrupt the status quo.The polls, however,told a very different story.My pollsters told methat I was crazy to run,that there was no way that I could win.

Now, before you get the wrong idea,this is not a talkabout the importance of failure.Nor is it about leaning in.I tell you the storyof how I ran for Congressbecause I was 33 years oldand it was the first timein my entire lifethat I had done somethingthat was truly brave,where I didn't worry about being perfect.

And I'm not alone:so many women I talk to tell methat they gravitatetowards careers and professionsthat they knowthey're going to be great in,that they know they'regoing to be perfect in,and it's no wonder why.Most girls are taughtto avoid risk and failure.We're taught to smile pretty,play it safe, get all A's.Boys, on the other hand,are taught to play rough, swing high,crawl to the top of the monkey barsand then just jump off headfirst.And by the time they're adults,whether they're negotiating a raiseor even asking someone out on a date,they're habituatedto take risk after risk.They're rewarded for it.It's often said in Silicon Valley,no one even takes you seriouslyunless you've had two failed start-ups.In other words,we're raising our girls to be perfect,and we're raising our boys to be brave.

Some people worryabout our federal deficit,but I, I worry about our bravery deficit.Our economy, our society,we're just losing outbecause we're not raisingour girls to be brave.The bravery deficit is whywomen are underrepresented in STEM,in C-suites, in boardrooms, in Congress,and pretty much everywhere you look.

In the 1980s, psychologist Carol Dwecklooked at how bright fifth gradershandled an assignmentthat was too difficult for them.She found that bright girlswere quick to give up.The higher the IQ,the more likely they were to give up.Bright boys, on the other hand,found the difficult materialto be a challenge.They found it energizing.They were more likelyto redouble their efforts.

What's going on?Well, at the fifth grade level,girls routinely outperform boysin every subject,including math and science,so it's not a question of ability.The difference is in how boysand girls approach a challenge.And it doesn't just end in fifth grade.An HP report foundthat men will apply for a jobif they meet only 60 percentof the qualifications,but women, women will applyonly if they meet 100 percentof the qualifications.100 percent.This study is usually invokedas evidence that, well,women need a little more confidence.But I think it's evidencethat women have been socializedto aspire to perfection,and they're overly cautious.

And even when we're ambitious,even when we're leaning in,that socialization of perfectionhas caused us to takeless risks in our careers.And so those 600,000 jobsthat are open right nowin computing and tech,women are being left behind,and it means our economyis being left behindon all the innovation and problemswomen would solveif they were socialized to be braveinstead of socialized to be perfect.

So in 2012, I started a companyto teach girls to code,and what I foundis that by teaching them to codeI had socialized them to be brave.Coding, it's an endless processof trial and error,of trying to get the right commandin the right place,with sometimes just a semicolonmaking the differencebetween success and failure.Code breaks and then it falls apart,and it often takes many, many triesuntil that magical momentwhen what you're tryingto build comes to life.It requires perseverance.It requires imperfection.

We immediately see in our programour girls' fear of not getting it right,of not being perfect.Every Girls Who Code teachertells me the same story.During the first week,when the girls are learning how to code,a student will call her overand she'll say,"I don't know what code to write."The teacher will look at her screen,and she'll see a blank text editor.If she didn't know any better,she'd think that her studentspent the past 20 minutesjust staring at the screen.But if she presses undo a few times,she'll see that her studentwrote code and then deleted it.She tried, she came close,but she didn't get it exactly right.Instead of showingthe progress that she made,she'd rather show nothing at all.Perfection or bust.

It turns out that our girlsare really good at coding,but it's not enoughjust to teach them to code.

My friend Lev Brie, who is a professorat the University of Columbiaand teaches intro to Javatells me about his office hourswith computer science students.When the guys are strugglingwith an assignment,they'll come in and they'll say,"Professor, there's somethingwrong with my code."The girls will come in and say,"Professor, there's somethingwrong with me."

We have to begin to undothe socialization of perfection,but we've got to combine itwith building a sisterhoodthat lets girls knowthat they are not alone.Because trying harderis not going to fix a broken system.I can't tell you how many women tell me,

"I'm afraid to raise my hand,I'm afraid to ask a question,because I don't want to be the only onewho doesn't understand,the only one who is struggling.When we teach girls to be braveand we have a supportive networkcheering them on,they will build incredible things,and I see this every day.Take, for instance,two of our high school studentswho built a game called Tampon Run --yes, Tampon Run --to fight against the menstruation tabooand sexism in gaming.Or the Syrian refugeewho dared show her lovefor her new countryby building an appto help Americans get to the polls.Or a 16-year-old girlwho built an algorithmto help detect whether a canceris benign or malignantin the off chancethat she can save her daddy's lifebecause he has cancer.These are justthree examples of thousands,thousands of girls who have beensocialized to be imperfect,who have learned to keep trying,who have learned perseverance.And whether they become codersor the next Hillary Clinton or Beyoncé,they will not defer their dreams.

And those dreams have never beenmore important for our country.For the American economy,for any economy to grow,to truly innovate,we cannot leave behindhalf our population.We have to socialize our girlsto be comfortable with imperfection,and we've got to do it now.We cannot wait for themto learn how to be brave like I didwhen I was 33 years old.We have to teach themto be brave in schoolsand early in their careers,when it has the most potentialto impact their livesand the lives of others,and we have to show themthat they will be loved and acceptednot for being perfectbut for being courageous.And so I need each of youto tell every young woman you know --your sister, your niece,your employee, your colleague --to be comfortable with imperfection,because when we teachgirls to be imperfect,and we help them leverage it,we will build a movementof young women who are braveand who will builda better world for themselvesand for each and every one of us.

Thank you.