During the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries, Hillary Rodham Clinton emphasized her strength and experience over her softer, more relatable side. Today, she gushes about having “that grandmother glow.”

As she lost the nomination to President Obama, Mrs. Clinton was accused of being wooden and overly shielded by staff members. Last month, she mingled casually at an Upper West Side apartment, greeting donors and shunning a podium and rope line.

And in 2008, Mrs. Clinton’s best asset, her husband, Bill Clinton, became an albatross. Today, the former president has a tough-minded chief of staff from Mrs. Clinton’s world who tries to keep close control over his events — and his occasional off-script remarks.

Little by little, Mrs. Clinton is taking steps that suggest she has learned from the mistakes, both tactical and personal, of her failed candidacy. After more than six years of pundits dissecting what went wrong in 2008, her circle of advisers is beginning to draft a blueprint for a different kind of campaign. And although Mrs. Clinton has since bolstered her public image while serving as secretary of state, her next campaign will in part be assessed by her ability to avoid the errors of the last one.