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"We don't hire women." That was the message Sandra Day O'Connor received from around 40 law firms early in her career, even though she graduated in the top 10 percent of her class at Stanford Law School in 1952.

We don't see that problem today, thanks to the efforts of women like Justice O'Connor, the first woman to serve on the U.S. Supreme Court, who died December 1, 2023 of complications with dementia at age 92.

While we have laws now that prohibit companies from hiring or not hiring people on the basis of sex -- with a few rare exceptions, such as people who provide intimate care -- those wouldn't have come about without the work of women like Justice O'Connor.

"Rare indeed is the legal victory -- in court or legislature -- that is not a careful byproduct of an emerging social consensus," O'Connor once wrote. And since she lived through the emerging social consensus on gender, it's not surprising that she had to gain acceptance as a lawyer before the law caught up and made discrimination against women in employment illegal, as part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

O'Connor truly believed in working to make the change you want to see in the world -- and in working with others. She also said:

We don't accomplish anything in this world alone... and whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads form one to another that creates something.

In honor of Justice O'Connor, who was a personal hero of mine, let's take a look at how things have changed since she faced those 40 law firms who wouldn't even interview her, despite her credentials.

When she learned President Ronald Reagan wanted to appoint her to be the first woman on the Supreme Court, O'Connor said:

"It's all right to be the first to do something, but I didn't want to be the last woman on the Supreme Court. If I took the job and did a lousy job, it would take a long time to get another one."

It's clear that she did not do a lousy job, as the number of female lawyers and judges at all levels continues to increase.

Whether you look at business, law, medicine, or any other field, you see women like Justice O'Connor who changed the social mindset so that the laws could change and make life easier for women everywhere. May her memory be a blessing.

A refreshed look at leadership from the desk of CEO and chief content officer Stephanie Mehta