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The other area where women tend to be more fearful is in the area of asserting ourselves -- of speaking out. Because as Marlo Thomas says, 'If you're a man you have to be Joe McCarthy. If you're a woman, you have to put somebody on hold.'

Bethanne Patrick: Exactly. It takes very little for people to say that a woman is a 'bitch.'

Arianna Huffington: Exactly. It takes very little. So the result is that a lot of women internalize those stereotypes, and end up holding back -- especially young women. There was a study recently among Ivy League women who feel that they can't really speak out because the young men won't like it. That if they speak out, no one would want to pursue them. And today, you look at the newspaper and see the board of Apple, a very progressive company, and you see that it's entirely male.

Bethanne Patrick: It's not representing the population or the demographic. That's one of the reasons why you're quite an advocate of women being in positions of responsibility. Not just power, but also responsibility. The reason why I emphasize that word is that your book works in chapters from being fearless about your body, through love, parenting, career, money, and on to very important issues -- not just aging, not just spirituality, but also changing the world. It seems to me that your reason to get fearless -- the reason to move beyond fear -- is so you can actually affect some change.

Arianna Huffington: Yes. I really believe that, as I say in the last chapter, 'Okay, so now we've learned all of these keys about being fearless' -- and incidentally, by that I don't mean the absence of fear, I mean the mastery of fear; not letting our fears hold us back. I don't think that we're ever going to reach a state where literally there are absolutely no fears in us -- I think fear is in our DNA -- but the question is: 'Do we let them stop us or do we move on?' If you look at it that way, you see that we have every opportunity to overcome our fears and transcend them -- that life will constantly give us those opportunities. If we fail it doesn't matter because there will be another opportunity around the corner.

I have this metaphor, that was a dream that I had once, of being on a train and going home -- going home to God, if you're spiritual, or whatever you believe at the end of your life. And I see that the people who are with me on the train in my compartment are my family and my closest friends, and that everything that happens in my life is scenery. Some of it is beautiful scenery and some of it is ugly scenery. Even in the most blessed life, there is a mixture of both. But as long as we keep moving and don't cling to whatever it is that we are holding on to, then we can lead a fearless life.

Bethanne Patrick: That's an incredible lesson, and this book has so many of them in here, as well as stories from other women including Diane Keaton, Nora Ephron, Sherry Lansing, and your friends and your colleagues. So I want to say, 'On Becoming Fearless: ...in Love, Work, and Life,' by Arianna Huffington, is a terrific read. Arianna, thank you so much for stopping by to be with AOL Coaches.

Arianna Huffington: Also, if your listeners wanted to go to the Huffington Post, huffingtonpost.com, on the homepage we have a button for Becoming Fearless. We're having a whole part of the site dedicated to women's stories, women blogging on the subject of fear in their lives, stories in the news on the subject, and we would love to hear from them.

Bethanne Patrick: Wonderful -- huffingtonpost.com. Thanks again Arianna. Take care.

Arianna Huffington: Bye.

Bethanne Patrick: This is Bethanne Patrick for AOL Coaches.