No one yet knows what big challenge Hillary Clinton will take on next but she will bring her considerable talents to something worthwhile and big. Whether or not that challenge is trying to become the first woman president, she is in a unique position to help redefine the word success by using her experience to address the issue of stress in the workplace.
Overwork, lack of sleep and burnout are the defining features of America’s business and political culture. They are not just endemic in corporate suites and the corridors of power but they are often the standard on which professional advancement is based. This actually has vast consequences for our health, on our families and our children, on our health care system and on our economy.
This makes it much harder to produce leaders capable of making valuable and good decisions. Having accomplished so much, and has done it in such a way that causes nobody to question her work ethic, her drive, her ability, her willingness to burn the candle at both ends. Hillary Clinton is in a singular position to change this situation. She has proven that women have the power to do anything, and now she can able to prove that women can do anything differently and even better.
Certainly, she is well acquainted with the problem and perhaps more so than anybody on earth who has flown more than 800,000 miles to 112 different countries and, probably even more taxing, having sat in 1,800 meetings with world leaders during her tenure as Secretary of State. And, let’s hope, the beginning of another. In the 20 years she has been on the stage, the country has gone from admiring whether women could handle the toughest jobs to knowing they can.