Page 48 - Leadership Secrets of Hillary Clinton

SMART POWER

doesn’t seem to matter. Our personal and professional
growth can come from either one because it’s not the out-
come of the experience that has the greatest impact on us;
it’s the journey and what we learn along the way.
Scary? Yes, taking risks can be scary. And it is always
hard work. But I’ve found that it is easier to make those
risky choices if you make them because you are truly com-
mitted to something, whether your choices stem from a
passion that you have for yourself or a vision that you have
for others around you. For example, I’ve always been driven
to stay on top of the learning curve in everything that I do
and care about. I’m actually pretty passionate about it. I
remember that when I worked in corporate America (for
close to 15 years), I often took on new jobs that I was
totally unqualified for—those that were a real stretch for
me—just to see the business from a whole new perspective.
I got a call one evening from a man named Bob, who
was the corporate human resource officer at Fairchild
Industries, which was located on the East Coast. He had
heard about me from his network and said that he was
looking for someone to take on the human resources lead-
ership role at Fairchild’s corporate headquarters. I was liv-
ing in the Midwest and in fact was happy in my current
job, working as director of human resources for a company
that had a major division in Indianapolis, Indiana. I loved
living in Indianapolis, all my close friends and family were
nearby, and I certainly was not looking for a change in my

x 37 z