Page 41 - Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

LEADERSHIP SECRETS OF HILLARY CLINTON

learning opportunities—your chances to objectively ask
yourself the hard questions: What did I do well? What could
I have done differently? What can I learn from this? This is
what I mean by continuous learning.
When I speak on the topic of leadership at conferences
around the world, I always say that leadership is really
about listening, learning, and then leading. And it is essen-
tial for today’s leaders to do this because of the fast pace
and constant change that are inherent in the business
world. As we as leaders face new challenges, we must be
able to draw on our knowledge and experience, apply these
insights to new situations, and then decide wisely.
Hillary Clinton is a continuous learner. One of her
long-standing and great strengths has always been her
desire to learn. As a little girl, she loved working her way
through the books in the children’s section of the library.
Today, as a public figure, her supporters describe her as
being well read while her critics refer to her as a “policy
wonk” or an intellectual nerd. But they all agree on one
thing: Hillary does come up to speed fast on any topic that
she’s going to discuss or any project that she is going to
take on. And she always has done so. Whether it was
learning how to play a board game as a child, improving
her math skills as a student, or preparing to debate her
father on an issue at the dinner table, she was determined
to immerse herself in that area in order to build both her
competence and her confidence.

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