The last thing is that a lot of people talk about sticking to your guns and having the courage of your convictions, and it is true. You can’t second-guess yourself every day, but at the same time you cannot be so arrogant as to never change your mind.

What advice do you often give when you’re coaching managers?

It’s important to listen carefully, because it helps you understand the other person, and you cannot expect to really reach them if you do not understand. Listening can also help you make better decisions because nobody is the fount of all knowledge.

The second is empathy. The world is complex, and people come from various backgrounds. I have my own sensitivities based on how I grew up. Sometimes I let them get the better of me, but I learned an important lesson early on.

As a freshman at M.I.T., I did volunteer work in a hospital in Boston, in the pediatric ward. I was feeling kind of down at the time because I was this African-American woman and people weren’t always so great to me. But the volunteer work was important because it kept me grounded. You’re with these little kids who have all these ailments.

There was a little blond-haired baby who had no face. He had just sockets for eyes. His nose was very deformed. He had a mouth to eat, but it was deformed, too. Nobody ever came to see him, at least that I could see. But every time I was finished with all the other things I had to do, I would just go hold him. It helped me realize that sometimes my own demons can get the better of me, but that everybody has a burden they carry. It’s important to understand that.

How do you hire?

I ask people just to tell me about their lives — how they grew up, and how they got to where they are. What I really am looking for is self-discernment. How seriously they take what they do versus taking themselves too seriously.

What career and life advice do you give to new college grads?

You start out with a trajectory, a direction. But you have to understand that there are a lot of forces along the way that can change the trajectory. But you try to keep your eye on that North Star and understand why you started down the path in the first place.