Notes from the Scarlett Leadership Institute Breafast meeting 11/18
Speaker Michael Beschloss – Author of Presidential courage – Brave Leaders and how they changed America 1789-1989
Refrigerator Magnet on the table: “Good Leaders inspire people to believe. Great Leaders inspire people to believe in themselves.”
Don’t confuse activity with accomplishment
“the fish told me that if he’d kept his mouth shut he wouldn’t have gotten caught” (There’s more to the story.
Nixon’s platform was that he was elected, the country wouldn’t become Communist . . . He was elected, and so . . .
Only now are people seriously looking at blending Political Leadership lessons across the plain of all business professions . . .
Wouldn’t you like to think that Leadership is Leadership? Most of the foundational Leadership knowledge I have came from my service as an officer in the US Army.
Leaders are more interested in the Future than the past.
How to evaluate a great leader.
How do they act when they’re caught off guard?
Where do they live? (Their Houses and adornments)
Talking about an economics expert droning on with statistical analysis: “like pissing down his leg, hot to him but not to anyone else”
When the crunch come, whose ass will you save? (Yours or your constituents?)
Hindsight is important. You cannot know today what impact a Leader is REALLY having – You’ve gotta be able to extrapolate into the future.
Know the difference between a manager and a Leader . . . the Leader knows how to run the organization well AND knows enough about History to understand the importance of having a clear VISION and taking RISK.
Willing to give up popularity for something essential
If you’re a Leader, you better be ready to explain unpopular decisions
Understanding the complexity of decisions and being able to translate it to constituents . . . As in . . . Lincoln didn’t repeal the Emancipation Proclamation in the face great pressure because he knew that if he did, the 100,000 or so Slaves who had crossed the line to the Union side would quit, and the Civil war could be lost.
You are not going to be a great Leader if you are not able to work well with the “Other Side”
Great Leaders don’t isolate themselves or their organizations from the larger community/environment.
Leaders step out with unpopular decisions without becoming martyrs.
Leaders nust be personally secure
2 things you need to evaluate Leadership – Information and Hindsight
All of these are out of context . . . nevertheless, I believe they stand alone with meaning.
My takeaway is that Presidential Leaders throughout History seem have thought of themselves as being somewhat exempt from the tenets of Leadership. what we know is because of those “exemptions” they often excelled 🙂
We all have a lot to learn from all of the Great Leaders who have gone before us.
Onward!
Best,
b