Human Side Up: Liz Elting on verbs, vision, and the work of building something real

Liz Elting is a self-made entrepreneur, author, and changemaker committed to building a more equitable future. She is the founder and CEO of the Elizabeth Elting Foundation, where she champions equality and opportunity for women and historically excluded communities. Elting previously co-founded and scaled TransPerfect into the world’s largest provider of language and business solutions. Her bestselling book Dream Big and Win draws on her lived experience to offer practical guidance on entrepreneurship, purpose, and resilience. Now, Elting is focused on helping others realize their potential by breaking down systemic barriers and leading with impact.

Curiosity, risk, and the power of verbs

Liz Elting describes herself as a curious risk-taker, but not in the way people usually mean it. Her curiosity runs deep — she’s genuinely interested in people and what makes them tick. That curiosity shaped her career, from learning five languages before college to becoming one of the most successful self-made businesswomen in the world. And it continues to guide her work as a leader and philanthropist.

“I genuinely like meeting people and knowing all about them,” she says. “That curiosity is why I enjoyed socializing, why I enjoyed growing a business. I think that’s been helpful to me.”

Risk-taking wasn’t in her original plan. As a college student, Elting assumed she’d go to law school because it felt safe. But one course changed her mind. “The content was fabulous,” she says, “but I realized I wasn’t passionate about being a lawyer. So I took a risk on what I really loved — languages.” That leap eventually led to co-founding TransPerfect, a billion-dollar global business.

That same spirit shaped her approach to writing Dream Big and Win. “A lot of people talk about their vision, but they’re not doing the things they need to do to get there,” she says. “So I revolved each chapter around a verb — because verbs are actions.”

Resilience begins with action

Elting’s path wasn’t a straight line. Growing up between Westchester, Portugal, and Toronto, she juggled part-time jobs while cultivating a love for languages. By college, she was fluent in multiple languages and ready to chart her own course.

After graduating from NYU’s business school and briefly working in finance, she quickly realized it wasn’t for her. “I was doing equity arbitrage, putting numbers into a spreadsheet. I just didn’t have the passion,” she says. So she walked away from a prestigious job after just six weeks and launched her company from a dorm room.

Her resilience, like her leadership, is grounded in taking action. “You need to figure out your goals, then what actions you need to take every day to get there,” she says. “That’s the real difference.”

Leading with questions

Elting’s leadership philosophy took root early. While working in sales at her first company, she noticed a delay in how quotes were generated. She brought the issue to her boss, suggested a pricing guideline system, and was empowered to implement it. That lesson stuck with her.

“Companies need to empower employees to come up with ideas to make the company better,” she says. At TransPerfect, she institutionalized that belief with one simple but powerful question:

What would you do differently if you owned the company?

“One-on-one meetings were critical,” she says. “If weekly wasn’t possible, then biweekly. But always making space to hear ideas.” Many of those ideas shaped the company’s growth and culture.

Culture is the leader’s job

Elting’s early career also taught her what kind of workplace she didn’t want to build. At one company, she thrived in a collaborative culture. At another, she was the only woman in a professional role and was routinely asked to fetch coffee.

“On the first day at Your America, I stayed until 2 a.m. to finish a project. That felt exhilarating,” she recalls. “At the next job, I did the same thing — but it felt entirely different. I didn’t connect with the people. It was a boys' club.”

She makes it clear that culture isn’t a soft metric or a side project. “The leader’s job is to create a culture where people feel seen, valued, and included. Otherwise, they’ll leave.”

For Elting, leadership is about staying curious, asking the right questions, and creating the kind of workplace where people feel connected to a larger purpose. “You can dream big,” she says, “but you’ve got to take action every day to get there.”

To hear more from Liz Elting about leadership, entrepreneurship, and building workplaces that work for everyone, listen to the latest episode of Human Side Up here.