Page 34 - Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

OVERCOMING AND THRIVING ON ADVERSITY

they would tell her to come home. She told them that
she didn’t feel that she was bright enough or up for the
academic challenge. Dorothy Rodham, her mother, told
her that she had not raised a quitter and that dropping
out of Wellesley would be a catastrophic mistake. Hillary
stayed in school and, with her incredible work ethic, keen
organizational skills, and sheer determination, stayed on
top of her grades. In fact, she gained enough confidence
in her scholastic abilities to take on political leadership
roles and was elected president of the Young Republi-
cans. Pretty impressive for someone who wanted to drop
out of school!
And if you followed the 2008 presidential campaign,
you know that Hillary stayed in the race to the very end.
She never stopped trying to win votes and secure delegates
until it was evident that she was not going to win the nom-
ination. She never gave up on what she was truly commit-
ted to doing, even when the odds were against her and the
effort to move forward must have been very difficult.
And yet this particular defeat is perhaps the greatest
example of her being resilient. While Hillary failed to get
the nomination, she showed up at the 2008 Democratic
National Convention with a sense of inner confidence
and strength and gave an inspirational speech in which
she declared her support for the nomination of Barack
Obama. She said, “I am here as a proud mother, as a
proud Democrat, a proud Senator, a proud American, and

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