The Leadership Secrets of George Washington

[Valin]

WSJ:

Biographer Ron Chernow says America's first president understood a stubborn truth: People 'don't need to like you—much less love you—but they need to respect you.'

BRIAN BOLDUC

2/11/12

 

New York

 

In the 19 Republican presidential debates held so far, the candidates have invoked their beau ideal, Ronald Reagan, 124 times. Abraham Lincoln, the Great Emancipator, has garnered nine mentions; Thomas Jefferson, the pen of the Revolution, five. George Washington—the first president, the father of his country—has received one.

 

Politicians seldom cite Washington because—unlike the jovial Reagan—he seems distant and cold. "Now we admire people for their authenticity, in terms of how quickly they open up and bear their emotions," says Ron Chernow, whose biography of Washington won the Pulitzer Prize last year. Our national patriarch, by contrast, "had an old-fashioned belief that silence was strength and that you only very gradually let people enter your private thoughts and emotions."

 

(Snip)

 

The biographer's advice for the men (and women) who wish to occupy the White House? "Every president should read presidential biographies. Because they will learn every single president in American history thought that he was the most maligned person who had ever held the office, suffered the most vitriolic press attacks, and had to deal with the most ferocious partisanship of any [era]."

 

(Snip)

 

WSJ Video: Opinion: Washington's Guide to the Presidency

[nickydog]

I liked this article. i see the Washington bio is out in paperback, which is what I have been waiting for. The Alexander Hamilton bio is in my stack, still waiting to be read. Big plans, too little time.

[RandyM]

I liked this article. i see the Washington bio is out in paperback, which is what I have been waiting for. The Alexander Hamilton bio is in my stack, still waiting to be read. Big plans, too little time.

 

The Glenn Beck book, "Being George Washington" is very good, too. No typical Beck rant stuff. Just a good read about what made a great man great.