We all know many things about George Washington.  Most of us see him as a heroic figure who guided us through the beginnings of the United States and helped set the stage for where we are today.  My guess is that most of you are also like me and never thought very much about his leadership style and how it can guide you to becoming a better leader today.

After reading an interview with Ron Chernow about his new biography on Washington I’ve realized how sad this is.  In Brian Bolduc’s interview in the Wall Street Journal, The Leadership Secrets of George Washington, I found a plethora of ideas that today’s leaders would be wise to emulate.  And most of the ideas are at great odds with the dysfunctional leadership styles we see all around us today.

His style sprung from the idea that “silence was strength and that you only very gradually let people enter your private thoughts and emotions.”  Compare this to unending and instant sharing of everything about everything that we have today.  There is no mystery. There is no opportunity to ruminate and muse on things before sharing them.  There is no opportunity to develop an immature idea into something of power. 

A true leader needs the strength of silence for all these things.

Washington was a model of self restraint.  He was polite and cordial, always meticulous, never slovenly, and with a “magnificent sense of stagecraft.”  His ability to restrain and constrain himself and his thoughts led people to “feel that he was not going to be intoxicated with power.”  Compare this to leaders today.  Does anyone believe they are not intoxicated with the idea of power? 

He rarely acted immediately but took the time to weigh his options.  When comfortable that he had gathered all the information and ideas and thought it through, he acted decisively.  And then defended his decision and did not back down.  Yet he understood that this led to some who had other opinions and felt defeated.  Thus, he would offer a concession or two to help them save face and bring them in.

This way of forceful acting tempered by ensuring the defeated would be able to save face led to a certain civility. Something surely needed in these days where everything is defined by winning and losing and the other is vilified.

Washington’s leadership shows that “you don’t have to be the brighest of the most original mind on the block to be a good president.”  Rather what Washington’s life shows “is the importance of clarity of vision, of tenacity of purpose and character, and how much can be accomplished in life if you keep your sights on your ultimate goals.”

Washington, management guru for today’s world

 

 

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