Page 42 - Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

SMART POWER

Throughout her career, she has continued to take on
new roles and work on issues that stretched her knowledge
base and expanded her skill sets. She rose from being a
lawyer in Arkansas to U.S. senator from New York to being
one of the most powerful women in the world as U.S. sec-
retary of state. Her innate curiosity and her desire to learn
enabled her to transform her career. In each role, she
stepped out of her comfort zone, worked hard to learn the
ropes, and prepared herself for the challenging opportunity.
One example of Hillary’s stepping out of her comfort
zone was when she took a leap of faith and decided to run
for the Senate. When she was considering running, she
sought advice from her colleagues and close friends to see
whether they thought it was a good idea. While she
received encouragement from some, other close friends
discouraged her from running, saying that life on the cam-
paign trail would be grueling; she would be living on a air-
plane and running a marathon from one part of the state to
another. Hillary herself also had doubts about whether
Congress was where she could have the greatest impact and
be most effective. She also was anxious about the fact that
she would really be on her own and not aligned with Bill
Clinton, which had never been the case before.
There were many reasons for her not to run for the Sen-
ate, but then she had an awakening moment. She attended
an event in New York City promoting an HBO special
about women in sports. She was accompanied by Billie

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