Post on 07-Apr-2018
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Leadership Lessons from Great Past
Presidents
What can great former U.S. presidents such as George Washington, Abraham Lincoln,Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy teach us about leadership? Today's business
leaders can learn a lot by studying the wisdom and "management style" of some of ourmost admirable past presidents.
George Washington: Ethical Entrepreneur
There's no better place to start than at the beginning, with the man who, during his
lifetime, may have been the most popular president ever.
George Washington was more than just an inspiring battlefield commander. His
leadership, his vision, and courage united a war-torn country and set the United States onthe path to greatness. Washington was an effective, inspiring, and visionary leader whose
historic contributions to the nation were rooted in his character. Throughout difficulttimes he remained steadfastly honest and ethical, making him a role model for leaders
everywhere. And, since his time, not one president has admitted to chopping down a
cherry tree.
Washington was also an entrepreneurial businessman and innovative farmer. Forinstance, he was America's leading promoter of the breeding and use of mules, the
offspring of a male jackass and a female horse, making him the agricultural Steve Jobs of
his day. Bosses who want to nurture and develop new ideas while maintaining a
consistent code of ethics should take a long look at how George Washington handledhimself.
Abraham Lincoln: Inclusive Facilitator
He's on the pennies in your pocket. He's on the fiver in your wallet. Abraham Lincoln is
considered by many to be the greatest president in the history of the United States, ourgreatest leader in the nation's most trying time. Talk about leadership.
In her bookTeam of Rivals, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin illuminates Lincoln's
brilliant leadership as he rose from obscurity to the presidency, triumphing over three
gifted rivals with greater national reputations. When Lincoln emerged as the victor, hismore accomplished competitors were dismayed and angry. Surprisingly, Lincoln invited
all three to join his cabinet in prominent roles. Goodwin demonstrates that Lincoln's
success was founded in a character that had been forged by experiences that raised himabove his more privileged rivals. He possessed an extraordinary ability to put himself in
the place of other men, to experience what they were feeling, to understand their motives
and desires. It was this capacity for empathy that enabled Lincoln as president to bring
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how well you respond to their inward hopes while leading them toward new horizons of
ambition and achievement."
This may perhaps be the most elusive skill a president can have: he has to sift throughsometimes widely conflicting opinions about what should be done to improve the
country. The presidency of the United States of America is a multifaceted and complexenterprise requiring a president who not only has vision, but the ability to stand strong in
an often hazardous crossfire of competing agendas and policies. Leaders who encouragenew ideas and inspire their employees to look to the future do it "JFK-style."