Clinton or Firoina: It was a Coin Toss

I really wanted to do ‘rock-paper-scissors’ but my Dirty Girls Consulting partner Natalie said “let’s flip a coin”. Having decided to write profiles on these strong women presidential candidates from a DGC perspective, we both adamantly declared we didn’t care who wrote about whom. Secretly we probably both had preferences but since the political positions are not the topic we are writing on, it meant foregoing our positions. For the sake of this important exercise, the coin was tossed and I will be providing perspective on Hillary.

Whichever side of the political fence you are sitting on (or straddling), there is no debate that Hillary Clinton is a political force and a strong, successful women. Hillary validates what I have found in so many instances working with women that have made their way through a male dominated profession/industry – there is a spirit that starts long before adulthood. As for Hillary Rodham:

• As a child, Hillary was often described as precocious, intelligent, and athletic.
• She played baseball.
• She was National Merit Finalist and graduated in the top 5% of class.
• Hillary Rodham was raised in a politically conservative household and canvasing southern Chicago at 13 years, she assisted in uncovering evidence of electoral fraud by Nixon.
• At Wellesley College, she was president of the Young Republican’s Club but stepped down as her views on the Vietnam War and Civil Rights changed.
• Her college classmates openly shared that Hillary could be the first woman president.

Hillary’s trajectory was no doubt political but her ‘no-nonsense…make things happen’ attitude would have supported her as a software engineer, an oil and gas executive or a CEO in a large company.

There is a ‘formula’ – a profile of women that push their way through the glass ceiling and don’t succumb to the issues that tie so many of us to the sticky floor. They don’t see the barriers – they just navigate the journey as it is.

I look forward to what I am going to learn about Hillary – about Carly – about the greatness that women represent in political arena. I look forward to uncovering their similarities and their differences. I look forward to uncovering the barriers that they face and how they tackle them. What are their natural defenses and what do they stand for?

Will I eventually vote for either of these women? It won’t be a coin toss – perhaps some form of ‘rock-paper-scissors’…