Yes, it is exam time. But even the most studious law student needs a brain break every few hours. I spent one such brain break reading Vogue's online article on Hillary Clinton. You can find the article here.
What I loved about this article is the way the author (a dude!) was able to understand and successfully articulate how Madam Secretary Clinton could be both a strong leader and a feminine care-giver, without each role taking away from the other.
This really spoke to me as someone who aspires to leadership myself. While my leadership positions will always be modest, I stil struggle with how to appear strong and in control and also be myself. I am afraid of looking "weak" by being too personal, too open in communication, too interested in the comfort and happiness of those around me.
But lately, even before reading this article, I have been asking myself, "What would Hillary do?" The first time I ever did this was a few weeks ago when I was communicating with someone over a misunderstanding. The other person was openly derisive and rude and it startled me. I wasn't sure how to react. But, cliched as it may sound, I did ask myself how Hillary would react and all in all, I handled myself very well. Later, when looking back at this exchange, I chortled to myself about how unprofessional this other person was but didn't let it get to me because I knew I handled myself like a competent adult.
That is just one small example, and a rather silly example at that, but it shows me how important role models are in our day to day goal-setting and interactions. I am lucky enough to live at a time when more and more women are taking on leadership roles and I can look to them. Not because male leadership isn't valuable--it is very vaulable--but there is something about life experience as it relates to someone of your same gender that impacts you in a whole different way.
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