Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton’s Leadership Qualities
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton is one of the world’s most influential women of all times. Although she became popular in 1993 when her husband, Bill Clinton became the United States’ president, she had served as an exceptional leader in various capacities. For example, she is known worldwide for her efforts to empower women and young girls to achieve their goals. Shambaugh (2010) cites that Hillary Clinton was always running for leadership position while she was a still a college student. Her transformational leadership characteristics such as good judgment, confidence, excellent communication skills, and working in collaboration with others earned her a role as a staff member of the Presidential Impeachment Inquiry immediately after she graduated with honors from Yale Law School. She became the first lady between 1993 and 2001 and is currently serving as the Secretary of State. Hillary’s ability to mobilize and motivate others to take action helped her win significant votes for her husband. Sharma and Gielen (2013) cite that Hillary was a chief strategist in her husband’s presidency campaign. Therefore her leadership skills yielded results when her husband was elected the 42nd president of the United States.
As a first lady, Hillary worked together with her husband’s administration to launch several programs to help marginalized women, children, and communities. For example, she headed violence against women campaigns by creating the Department of Justice Office in 1994. However, she managed to convince other Department of Justice staff members to create the office using facts and statistics on abused women. Shambaugh (2010) argues that Hillary shared her vision and concern about the plight of the disadvantaged women by forming the Department of Justice’s Office on violence against women. This means that Clinton coordinated team members’ activities by organizing meetings, collecting facts, and developing the best strategies through which she could stop violence against women. As a result, there was a significant decrease in case of violence against women. This is because Hillary simplified bureaucratic procedures which women had to follow while filing complaints against their abusers. In other words, she relied on her communication, problem solving, and team dynamic skills to foster justice for women who suffered physical and emotional abuse from their husbands.
Additionally, Hillary has been participating actively on global issues facing women such as discrimination in the workplace, learning institutions, and other social organizations. For example, she expressed her desire and vision to create a world where women would be equal to men in her women’s right speech on March 4, 1999. Hillary further kept her words by empowering women to engage in activities, which were traditionally associated with men. For example, she vied for presidential seat in 2008 and would also be running for the seat in 2016. Sharma and Gielen (2013) argue that Hillary has learned the tricks to turn around gender prejudices to her advantage. She often composes strong speeches on themes such as political barriers which are preventing women from attaining their goals. For example, she delivered a moving speech in Portsmouth narrating her struggles to overcome public criticisms that women should not vie for presidency at the end of her 2008 race in Portsmouth (Shambaugh, 2010).
Hillary Clinton’s actions empower young women who aspire to become politicians to rise above the social and political misconceptions and achieve their ambitions. As such, Hillary often turns women’s problems into opportunities to achieve equality with men and to be self-reliant. Moreover, despite the challenges that she experienced during her tenure as the first lady, Hillary has always made the right decisions. For example, the media and some political leaders criticized her for being weak when her husband engaged in