5 Things We’ve Learnt From Hillary Clinton’s Race to the White House

Without doubt, Mrs. Clinton has been giving us some MAJORRRR #BossLadyGoals throughout her campaign journey. Having to compete with someone like Donald Trump and still maintain your sanity is no mean feat (insert multiple claps here). We at Team IBG have been seriously crushing on this soon to be President of the United States (POTUS).

Here are 5 things we’ve learnt from Hillary Clinton’s race to the White House:

1. You have to be resilient if you’ll achieve your goals: Hillary Clinton has been on the race to the white house since 2008. Then, she lost out in the primaries to the now-president of US, Barack Obama. She was appointed Secretary of State for that administration but she still had her eyes on the prize. Eight years later, she’s in the running to be the nation’s first female president.

People who achieve their goals never take no for an answer! You just have to keep at it for as long as it takes. There will be obstacles, failures, near-misses and many detours on the route to your dreams. You just have to ask yourself, ‘How much does this mean to me?’ The answer will determine how bullheaded you need to be towards achieving those dreams.

2. Don’t make excuses: If she chooses to, Hillary has so many reasons why she shouldn’t be President. Heck, society has given her one – her femininity, which is sadly the reason why some people would have picked other candidates over her.

Also, issues she had while she was Secretary of State in the previous administration have kept cropping up, most notably-the Benghazi affair. The magnitude of the issues could make someone else bury their head in the sand. But not Hillary. She waded the waters, owned her mistakes boldly and has kept moving closer to the White House. Go Hillary!

3. You win with strategy and not with wishful thinking: After she lost to Obama in the Democratic primaries, Hillary didn’t just fold her hands and hope that she would one day get to the Oval Office. She went to work!

After she ended her tenure as Secretary of State, she earned $11 million giving speeches to various organisations. She got experienced people on board, started building a network of donors and other campaign machinery. She was even said to have studied Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign to see what he did right that she could learn from.

4. You need to execute your strategy relentlessly and say yes to hard work: The difference between failing and succeeding can oftentimes be found in execution. Hillary went hard on her plans. She put in the hard work. Without regarding her age, she went from state to state, drumming up support for her campaign. In March 2016, she laid out a detailed economic plan as part of her manifesto. It’s obvious that she has put careful thought into her bid for presidency as well as the difference she can make and that it’s not something she’s doing out of boredom or a quest for power.

5. Always play to your strengths: Many times, women are the first to disqualify themselves from certain roles or offices by highlighting their weaknesses or inabilities. It’s a default reaction that we need to deal with. Speak about your strengths. Point to your abilities.

Hillary Clinton has always pointed to her strengths without shame. She emphasizes her experience and record in public office, especially as Secretary of State as precedents for her presidential bid. She uses this to present herself as the stable type of leadership the United States needs in these times.

What other lessons have you learnt from Hillary Clinton? Leave a comment!