It’ll take a combination of leadership in business, government and smaller scale, person-to-person relationships to bring about equity for women, said Facebook’s chief operating officer and author Sheryl Sandberg at an appearance Monday with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mike Johnston in Denver.

“We have companies that need to do the right thing – lead by example. We have public policies and political leaders, in office or soon to be in office, like your governor here,” she said, gesturing to Johnston. “Or soon-to-be governor,” she quickly correcting herself as the crowd chuckled. “All these pieces work together…. That is the change that gets that flywheel going.”

Sandberg and Johnston, a former state senator from Denver, talked about the #MeToo movement, pay equity and education policies in a wide-ranging discussion that also touched on gun violence and Colorado’s long tradition of empowering women at the afternoon discussion, a fundraiser for Johnston’s campaign, in a packed ballroom at the Denver Athletic Club.

Calling the success of the #MeToo movement – women calling attention to harassment and sexual assault in the workplace and other settings – “spectacular,” the author of “Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead” said it’s brought to light something people were probably aware of but didn’t grasp was nearly as pervasive as it’s turned out to be.

But Sandberg cautioned against letting the movement lead to less interaction between colleagues, particularly if men aren’t as willing to go on business trips or have dinner with women employees. The answer, she said, is to make sure women are in leadership roles and that institutions invest in women as they undergo necessary reform, “where companies have clear policies that the don’t violate and, importantly, the people who report are protected.”

Early on, Sandberg asked the nearly 500 men and women in the audience, separately, to raise their hands if they’d ever been called “bossy.” While a few men indicated they had, nearly every woman raised her hand.

Gender-blind studies show young boys and girls are equally assertive, Sandberg said, but only girls get called “bossy,” because it goes against expectations.

“Women still have a tiny minority of leadership positions in any industry, in any political structure anywhere in the world,” she said. “Walk up to any little girl who’s been called ‘bossy,’ maybe by her parents, look at them and say, ‘That little girl isn’t bossy, that little girl has executive leadership skills.'”

Sandberg said she was supporting Johnston because her late husband, Dave, had admired him, particularly for his devotion to reforming education.

Journalist Gloria Neal, the hour-long discussion’s moderator, brought up last week’s shooting at a high school in Parkland, Florida, where a former student killed 17 people and left another 14 injured.

Johnston recalled an inscription carved in stone at the Columbine memorial, which reads, “It brought the nation to its knees, but now that we’ve gotten back up how have things changed; what have we learned?”

“I think the answer this week was nothing, and I think that is not an adequate answer,” he said. “Let me tell you what I think Colorado has to do, and what I will do as governor. The first is, we have to make sure that military-style weapons do not exist on the streets of Colorado – “

The rest of Johnston’s sentence was drowned out by thundering, sustained applause, as nearly everyone in the room rose to his or her feet.

After the crowd sat back down, Johnson continued: As a life-long gun owner, he said he never felt the need for a 100-round magazine to go skeet-shooting and doesn’t feel the need for an automatic weapon to defend his home.

“Any reasonable gun owner, and I think the majority of them in the country, will say, ‘Yes, you can have, absolutely, your right to own a weapon, but that does not mean you need a 100-round magazine with a silencer and a grenade launcher attached to it to walk into an American high school.'”

Twice during her remarks, Sandberg called out state Sen. Rhonda Fields, D-Aurora, whom she met along with other Johnston campaign donors at a reception before the panel. Sandberg said she was inspired by Fields’ resilience after her son, Javad Marshall-Fields and his fiancé, Vivian Wolfe, were killed before he planned to testify about a gang shooting he’d witnessed.

Fields told Colorado Politics after the discussion that she was inspired and felt empowered by the discussion.

“We have to understand that we’re not our yesterday,” Fields said. “I’m more of who I am today than I was yesterday. For us, especially women of color, we can’t stay still. There’s always issues we need to address, issues we need to confront. We have to participate, we have to engage, we have to be totally involved. We can’t be passengers. We can’t sit on the sidelines. If we want a better government, we have to fight for it.”

Johnston is one of five leading Democrats running to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper. The others are U.S. Rep. Jared Polis, Lt. Gov. Donna Lynne, former State Treasurer Cary Kennedy and plastics manufacturer and civic leader Noel Ginsburg.

The primary election is June 26.