Major Crimes Sharon Raydor shows women can succeed at deal-making

Viewers of TNT’s original series Major Crimes tune in on Wednesday night’s to watch the team solve crimes, but it wouldn’t be possible without Sharon Raydor. The character is shrewd in the realm of making a deal. She can connect a crime to a criminal and then convince the criminal to make a confession by making a deal. Her precise skills are an example of a female character on TV who showcases an empowering tool women can use in everyday life.

As the world turns, most people assume that folks in squad rooms across America are male. Even on TV, the number of interrogation rooms breaking down criminals is predominantly male, but that’s changing. Raydor’s character proves that women are more than capable of making deals and driving home results.

On TNT, Sharon Raydor was first introduced to the viewers on The Closer. Played by the extremely talented actress, Mary McDonnell, the character is nontraditional, as she is an intelligent, older woman. Her job is a contribution to the community and she uses deal making techniques to get the bad guys off the streets. This crime solving character grew on viewers over the course of the series. She not only followed the laws, but enforced the rules fairly. After the show ended, the spin-off, Major Crimes, put her in charge of the squad unit of Major Crimes in Los Angeles.

Watching the show, viewers will immediately pick up how Raydor is a shrewd deal maker. She ultimately catches criminals and gets a confession to make a deal (avoiding the court system). Not one to resort to tactics outside of the laws, it is a combination of her carefully trained eye, her subtle demand for respect and leading a good team that gets the bad guys every time. She is never one to shy away, even if it’s a tad bit strange, to seal the deal.

Loving her job and knowing that she can make deals to catch the criminals, Sharon Raydor is confident in her deal-making skills. Strong and undaunting, the approach she uses isn’t anything more than being objective and shrewd. Empowering herself in a job that demands results.

The power of deal-making

One skill that often is overlooked when discussing female empowerment is that of deal-making. Women sometimes shy away from making deals in their personal and professional lives as they don’t always feel they will be taken seriously. Or it’s just not comfortable. Trapped in the mirror of always being sugar and spice (and everything nice) it’s definitely not a traditional trait.

What Sharon Raydor reveals to women is that it takes time to acquire the right skills to be a deal maker and is by no means impossible to achieve. Every woman who wants to feel empowered needs to sharpen her deal-making skills, be confident and go get what she desires!

This column was written by Jodi Jill and if you’re looking for more then be sure to head on over to the link here. Also, you can follow her on Facebook and Twitter! (Photo: TNT.)