MG551.XB7.12SPR: Politics of Leadership in a Global Economy
Legendary Leader Biography: Hillary Rodham Clinton
Jacquelyn Layman
Globe University - Minneapolis Online
June 19, 2012

Abstract Hillary Rodham Clinton, wife of former president Bill Clinton has donned many hats in her four decades of public service. Whether she was acting in the role of advocate, attorney, senator or Secretary of State, she did so with the utmost in professionalism and class. Amidst great debate and scandal, she managed to rise not only to the occasion but above the negativity to catapult her career to highs others could only dream of. Hillary started earning awards early in life as a Brownie and a Girl Scout and she has gained the attention, respect and support of the American people since she first attracted publicity as the Student Commencement Speaker at Wellesley College in 1969. She has been a tremendous role model for women, and leaders everywhere since. From her simple beginnings as a college speaker to being the leading candidate for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination. Clinton has been an outspoken advocate of women’s rights since the beginning, she states "I believe that the rights of women and girls is the unfinished business of the 21st century" (Lemmon, 2011).
Background, Training and Education On October 26, 1947, in Chicago, Illinois, proud parents Dorothy Rodham and Hugh Rodham gave birth to baby girl Hillary Rodham. She attended local public schools in Park Ridge, IL, where she was active in sports such as basketball and swimming. For her senior year she attended Maine South High School where as a National Merit Finalist, she graduated in the top five percent of her class. Her interest in politics first appeared in the early 1960’s where she closely followed and found evidence of electoral fraud in the election of President Richard Nixon (Gerth and Van Natta Jr. 2007). She also volunteered to campaign for US Presidential Candidate Barry Goldwater in 1964. In 1965 Hillary started her college career as a Political Science major at Wellesley College, where in her freshman year she served as president of the Wellesley Young Republicans (Clinton, 2003). In early 1968, she was elected president of the Wellesley College Government Association a position she held until early 1969. She graduated in 1969 with a Bachelor of Arts degree with departmental honors in Political Science. She was the first student in Wellesley history to deliver the commencement address, a speech which received a huge seven minute standing ovation (Rodham, 1969). After Wellesley, Rodham attended Yale Law School, serving on the editorial board of the Yale Review of Law and Social Action. Along with her studies, Rodham took on many child abuse cases, and volunteered to provide free legal services to the poor. Rodham began dating Bill Clinton, a fellow law student at Yale. She began her internship later that year at a local firm known for supporting radical causes, constitutional rights and civil liberties. Rodham published her first scholarly article shortly thereafter while taking on postgraduate studies in children and medicine at Yale Child Study Center. The article, entitled “Children Under the Law” was published 1973 in the Harvard Educational Review (Rodham, 1973) and has been frequently cited. During this time she served as the staff attorney for the Children’s Defense Fund in Cambridge, Mass and as well as a consultant to the Carnegie Council on Children. In 1974 she advised the House Committee on the Judiciary during the Watergate Scandal as a member of the impeachment inquiry staff in Washington D.C. (Bernstein, 2007). After failing the bar exam in D.C. Rodham passed in Arkansas, and made a decision to “follow her heart instead of her head” (Clinton, 2003) and she followed Bill Clinton to Arkansas. She cofounded the Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families in 1977 and was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation by then President Jimmy Carter later that year (Carter, 1977). In 1979 she earned two distinct titles, the First Lady of Arkansas, a title that she held for twelve years, and the first woman to become partner in Rose Law Firm (Gerth and Van Natta Jr, 2007). She became First Lady of the Unites States in January 1993, with the added prestige of being the first Presidential First Lady to ever hold a postgraduate degree and her own professional career (Williams, 2006). She further went on to enter the race for Senate in New York and won the election in November of 2000.
Summary of Accomplishments Hillary Clinton’s career accomplishments include joining the Children’s Defense Fund as a staff attorney in 1973, and in 1974 she was invited to the Impeachment Inquiry staff of the Judiciary in the House of Representatives. She was a member of the Law faculty at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. She was the only First Lady to compete for and win a Senate seat. She was appointed Secretary of State by President Barack Obama after narrowly losing the campaign to become the Democratic National Committee’s nominee for the 2008Presidential elections to the very same person.
Her personal accomplishments include graduating from Wellesley College in 1965 with honors, going on to Yale Law School and serving on the Board of Editors for the Yale Review of Law and Social Action.
Leadership Profile and Style Using Blanchard’s Situational Leadership Model II, Hillary Rodham Clinton could be considered to be at the development level of D4 with a high level of commitment and a high level of competence (Segil, Goldsmith, and Belasco, 2003). Since she first took an active interest in politics, she has been driven to obtain the goals she has set for herself, and to not only obtain the titles that she seeks but to excel in the role. From graduating in the top five percent of her high school class to becoming the first female full partner of the Rose Law firm, she has proven her competence and commitment. She has demonstrated a strong flexibility in her leadership that Segil, Goldsmith and Belasco (2003) describe to embody both the S3 and S4 styles of the Situational Leadership Model II in that she is a supportive wife and mother, while maintaining individuality and an identity of her own, outside of the family and Presidential life of her husband. As the Secretary of State, she delivers a strong air of power, with the ability to swiftly delegate duties as needed, and make the difficult decisions as they become necessary. She draws on her directive and supportive behavior to call the military to action in a crisis, and offers necessary feedback to ensure proper understanding and give encouragement. According to the Five Touchstones of Authentic Partnering as a Leader, Clinton possesses the ability to know herself authentically express herself authentically, and to serve authentically. (Segil, Goldsmith, and Belasco, 2003). Though she came from a predominantly conservative background, she spread her wings and went on to narrowly lose the 2008 presidential nomination race to Illinois Senator Barack Obama. Character Profile
In assessing the personality traits of Hillary Clinton, she has proven herself to be a Guardian by the standards set forth the Keirsey Temperament Sorter or the KTS-II (Keirsey). According to Keirsey, there are four temperament groups that describe human behavior. These are Artisans, Guardians, Rationals, and Idealists. These four temperaments can be further divided into character types. The character types for the Guardian being Supervisor, Inspector, Provider, and Protector. Throughout her political career, Hillary Rodham Clinton has shown herself to be ‘E’ extroverted, by choosing a career in the spotlight, ‘S” or sensing by taking positions that require a sense of intuition and understanding of the behaviors of others as in her current role as Secretary of State. ‘T’ for thinking, is a trait that is evident with her advanced scholastic achievements and ‘J’ for judging, a trait that does not present itself often but lies under the surface, to be called upon at will as the head of this country’s defense. Together ESTJ personalities fall under what Keirsey calls the Supervisor. Some personality traits of the Supervisor are that they are cautions, methodical, reliable, detail oriented, and steadfast, take-charge personalities. Keirsey also states that Guardians are “extremely loyal to their mates” and that they “fell a need to help them” which would explain why she stood fast next to Bill Clinton in his hour of need during the Monica Lewinski scandal.

Evaluation of Hillary Rodham Clinton in a Global Partnership Model Context
According to Policy Framework and Legal Guidelines for Partnerships, a document published by the US Department of State, ‘ Secretary of State Hillary Clinton created the Global Partnership Initiative (S/GPI) to develop model global partnerships on priority issues, while also equipping Department of State personnel with the tools and techniques to develop new partnerships across all regional and functional bureaus’ (US Dept of State, 2011). That aside, Hillary Clinton in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and then-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright formed the International NGO Vital Voices in 1997, to train and mentor leaders in a growing network of 12,000 women in 144 countries. Annually they have an awards ceremony to ‘honor the courageous, innovative women whose leadership advances economic, political and social progress in their communities and beyond” (Vitalvoices, 2012). Her commitment is a combination of motivation to lead by example and be an inspiration to women and leaders everywhere, and the confidence that she is truly making a difference. The Global Leadership Awards given by the organization include: Human Rights Award, Leadership in Public Life Award and an Economic Empowerment Award to name a few. Hillary Clinton is at the forefront of initiating change in the lives of individuals on a global level through continued diligence in creating strategic alliances and global partnerships to “generate economic opportunities, advance political participation and safeguard human rights around the world” (2012).

References
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