When I was offered the opportunity to go and study chimpanzees
I was 23 and when you're 23 you think you can do anything.
And I was prepared for this by my mother, because when I was a child of 10,
my dream was to go to Africa, live with animals, and write books about them.
I mean, girls didn't have those opportunities back then, so, Oh Jane, dream about something you
can actually achieve. Forget this nonsense about Africa.
But my mother would say, if you really want something, you work hard, take
advantage of opportunity, and never give up.
Then you find a way.
I believe that the most successful leaders are those who lead by
example. who inspire trust in people.
and are people that others want to follow and look to them to follow.
I think from my own personal experience that the kind of mother that we have
can be very important, certainly in chimpanzee society,
it makes a huge difference, and
the young males who have a supportive mother,
she's also affectionate and protective,
and she's tolerant but she can impose discipline,
and they tend to go and achieve fairly high positions, so in other words in leadership.