Success Lessons From Legendary Presidents

There are only a few hundred human beings at any given time in human history who are placed at the pinnacles of power. These are individuals who, by popular vote, have been placed in positions in which they held the power to change the destinies of nations, peoples and even the planet itself by their decisions and policies. Even the least of them had to be extraordinary and have the skills needed to deal calmly with multiple crises without losing focus. The best of them have had extraordinary visions that guided them and informed their decisions. These men left enduring legacies and transformed the worlds they lived in — many times for the better, though sometimes not.

They were also human beings, with families and joys and children and tragedies. They had to find their work-life balances too, be parents to their children and build and cherish their relationships like anyone else.

We learn many[1] [2] things from such people — sometimes by listening to their wisdom and advice, and other times by just studying their actions and behavior. Let us learn from some of the legendary presidents of the world.

George Washington: “Live with vision.”

George Washington 1732-1799

1st President of the United States

““I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.”

George Washington was not regarded as a wise or erudite president [3] [4]. Rather he was a soldier who fought alongside his compatriots to win the American war of independence, and gain freedom from the British. He was and is widely admired for his principles, values and high-mindedness, but he did not write books or quote from Greek philosophers.  But a reason[5] [6] why he is regarded as one of the finest presidents that American has ever had is that he lived his life and his presidency with one singular, grand vision. By the end of his life, he was also regarded as one of the finest writers and thinkers among all presidents.

If there is a single message we can cull from the life of this extraordinary man it is: “Live with a Vision.”

While many of America’s founding fathers saw the country as a disparate collection of united states, George Washington saw it as a powerful new nation, the United States of America. Such a simple and yet so profoundly powerful thought. The closest he came to summing up his vision was when he said, “I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love.”

The other founding fathers, elected to represent their respective states, thought of their home state as their defining jurisdiction. John Adams was from Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania, and Thomas Jefferson from Virginia. But George Washington was appointed Commander-In-Chief of the entire Continental Army.

Guided by his unique nationalistic vision of a stronger, better union, he built structures that defined the new nation: an elected legislature, the rule of law, an executive with power to enforce the law, supremacy of national laws over state laws and a permanent civil-controlled military.

So extraordinary was his commitment to this vision that he would not allow his personal animosities to get in the way. He signed the Jay Treaty with the same hateful country that they had won independence from Britain, giving it most favored nation trading status. He knew a powerful ally across the water was essential to the fragile new country he had helped found.

For Washington, the future trumped the past every time. He never wasted his time dwelling on past successes; his eyes, guided by his vision, were always focussed on the future.

Washington was never carried away by his own status or power, never becoming a legend in his own mind. He lived by a strictly defined code of values that governed his behavior, demeanour and attitudes. Thanks to this, the opinion of others hardly ever mattered to him. What did matter was whether he was being true to himself, and whether he was living his inner truths in every thought, word and deed.

When he was just 16, as part of a school handwriting exercise, he copied down word for word Francis Hawkins’ translation of rules from a French etiquette manual written by Jesuits in 1595 entitled Bienséance de la conversation entre les hommes.

But Washington was naturally inclined to live personal to-do lists, so it was not long before he adapted what he had read and created a set of rules to live by, including such gems as —

Turn not your back to others, especially in speaking; jog not the table or desk on which another reads or writes; lean not upon anyone.

Read no letter, books, or papers in company, but when there is a necessity for the doing of it, you must ask leave; come not near the books or writings of another so as to read them unless desired, or give your opinion of them unasked. Also look not nigh when another is writing a letter.

The gestures of the body must be suited to the discourse you are upon.

Let your discourse with men of business be short and comprehensive.

Think before you speak, pronounce not imperfectly, nor bring out your words too hastily, but orderly and distinctly.

His soldiers and his fellow politicians revered him for his commitment to his principles. He was particularly admired for his unimpeachable integrity and commitment to serving the people. He was a great believer in focusing on the work rather than the prize. For example, he could easily have settled down to the luxurious life of an awarded war veteran after the war. When he was asked to be the 1st president of the USA, he was reluctant. He actually preferred to live a life of peace on his farm.

When he finally accepted, he executed his presidency with a lucid focus on doing the best possible job of governing — and avoiding the trappings of any grandeur that came with his position. He even refused payment for the presidency at first, believing that public service should not be a paid job.

He was a great believer in the reinforcing power of choosing who you mingle and spend your time with. “Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation,” he said, “for it is better to be alone than in bad company.”

Abraham Lincoln: “Never stop persevering.”

Abraham Lincoln 1809-1865

1st President of the United States

“Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing. Success is going from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm.”

Imagine a child born in a log cabin in the woods to a dirt poor family. He doesn’t even get to finish school because his father doesn’t think it’s important. At that school, he was teased and taunted for for his looks — which some people called ‘gorilla-like’ — and for not being smart enough. His mother died after a brief illness lasting a week when he was just nine years old, followed a few years later by his sister, who died in childbirth.

The love of his life died when she was just 22. He married later, but watched helplessly as two of his four sons died of diseases. He would meet men better educated than himself, more urbane, and feel inferior to all of them. Twice he tried and failed to start a business. In politics, he stood for elections eight times — and lost every time.

And yet the man whose life had so many challenges, tragedies and obstacles never surrendered or gave. At age 52, Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States. If there is one lesson we can learn from his words and his life, it is the importance of just staying the course, of doggedly persisting even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Lincoln’s well-educated peers regarded him as a country bumpkin who “spoke like a hayseed and wrote like a yokel”. But Lincoln as a young man embarked upon a tough, disciplined course of self-education. He is remembered today as one of the finest presidential writers that ever lived, but his writing skills grew out of his profound reading habits. His early reading tended to be intensive rather than extensive. Since books were scarce on the frontier, he would have read a few books more than once, memorizing much of what he read.

After Lincoln’s death, his stepmother recalled how much words captured his imagination: “Abe read all the books he could lay his hands on. When he came across a passage that struck him he would write it down on boards if he had no paper and keep it there till he did get paper. Then he would rewrite it, and look at it repeat it. He had a kind of scrap book in which he would put down all things and this preserved them.”

Lincoln himself said, ““The things I want to know are in books. My best friend is the man who’ll get me a book I haven’t read.”

Needless to say, Lincoln had no shortage of detractors, people who would criticize him and predict doom and failure for his plans and efforts. Lincoln had a simple, clear policy towards them: ignore your critics. He knew that any worthwhile ambition or dream would be opposed and treated with doubt and cynicism. This was never a reason enough for him to abandon it. He once said, “I do the very best I know how – the very best I can; and I mean to keep doing so until the end. If the end brings me out all right, what’s said against me won’t amount to anything. If the end brings me out wrong, ten angels swearing I was right would make no difference.”

One of Lincoln’s most emulable success habits was that he was a man of immediate action; he believed in the power of today.. “Leave nothing for tomorrow which can be done today,” was one of Lincoln’s famous sayings to his cabinet. The best thing about the future, he was fond of reminding people, is that only comes one day at a time. For him, that day was a precious gift to be used in the best way possible, as a blessing and an opportunity to do great deeds.

Perhaps because of his difficult beginnings and remarkably challenging youth and adulthood, Lincoln never allowed false pride and arrogance to enter his soul. He is regarded as a president of nearly legendary humility. When the Civil War ended, the White House swarmed with throngs demanding a victory speech from their president. Lincoln was not a man of victory speeches; he stayed within and rested, making a few appearances at the balcony to wave to the crowds for their satisfaction.

The extraordinary integrity and self-developed character traits that made Lincoln a giant among humans are now enshrined and taught at the Abraham Lincoln Centre for Character Development.

Theodore Roosevelt: “Cherish your family.”

Theodore Roosevelt 1858-1919

1st President of the United States

“When home ties are loosened, when men and women cease to regard a worthy family life, with all its duties . . . and responsibilities . . . as the best life worth living, then evil days for the nation are at hand.”

The presidency of Theodore Roosevelt, who became the 26th president of the United States in 1901, is remembered today for the level of Hollywood-like showmanship it generated but also for the president’s extraordinary focus on traditional family values. Roosevelt was a dedicated family man; to him the health of the American family and the health of the American nation could not be separated from each other.

Not only Roosevelt an exemplary father and husband, but he regularly re-affirmed the importance of traditional family values in his presidential speeches. His own family, with six children, held the public’s fascination, and their doings and antics were avidly followed by the media. But more than that, Roosevelt used the opportunity to introduce progressive images of changing family values, including gender norms. He helped shape the belief that a large, traditional family as the beating heart of American society and national life.

When his children were young and Roosevelt was separated from them by his duties or travels, he would unfailingly dispatch loving illustrated letters to them; the children were never far from his thoughts. His letters were compiled into a book, Theodore Roosevelt’s Letters to His Children, in 1919. It went on to become an international bestseller.

“There are many kinds of success worth having,” Roosevelt said. “It is exceedingly interesting and attractive to be a successful business man or railroad man or farmer or a successful lawyer or doctor; or a writer or a President . . . But for unflagging interest and enjoyment, a household of children, if things go reasonably well, certainly makes all other forms of success and achievement lose their importance by comparison.”

Roosevelt believed that an ability to build positive relationships that work was crucial to both personal and professional life, and he not only worked at it but demonstrated it in public life. “The most important single ingredient in the formula of success is knowing how to get along with people,” he said.

Roosevelt also demonstrated the importance of having something worthwhile larger than yourself to fight for. Having a cause was for him a requirement of leadership — and his first and greatest political cause was fighting corruption, which was rampant in those times. As a leader, Roosevelt focused on public servants who abused their jobs for personal profit, people who misused their expense accounts, accepted gifts and bribes, or practiced nepotism.

As a president, we also learn from Roosevelt the importance of taking action, of being pro-active, of taking risks and doing things. Roosevelt was not effective on defense or when responding to terms and situations defined by someone else. During his construction, his sense of initiative led to the construction of the Panama Canal, head on confrontation with J.P. Morgan and other memorable challenges.

“Whatever I think is right for me to do, I do. I do the things that I believe ought to be done. And when I make up my mind to do a thing, I act,” he said.

Roosevelt also believed that we all have fears but that one must conquer one’s fears. His preferred method for dealing with his fears was “to act as if he wasn’t afraid” even though inwardly he might be quaking. A wealth of psychological evidence exists today supporting this approach.

“There were all kinds of things of which I was afraid at first, ranging from grizzly bears to “mean” horses and gun-fighters; but by acting as if I was not afraid I gradually ceased to be afraid. Most men can have the same experience if they choose.

Unlike Abraham Lincoln, Roosevelt was born into the lap of luxury. His family was wealthy and lived comfortably in the upper echelons of society. But Roosevelt understood that the values that matter in being a president comes out of empathy, and a deep level of caring. “Never throughout history has a man who lived a life of ease left a name worth remembering,” he said once. “Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care.”

A P J Abdul Kalam: “Imagine the outcome that you want.”

APJ Abdul Kalam 1931-2015

11th President of India

“Imagine the outcome in the mind with constant effort and all the forces of the universe will work for that inspired mind, thereby, leading to invention discoveries.”

He was arguably one of the beloved of India’s presidents. Avul Pakir Jainulabdeen Abdul Kalam, better known as APJ Abdul Kalam, was a man of science and master of aerospace engineering, who became a statesman and the 11th President of India. In his inspiring speeches, Abdul Kalam has given a whole generation of Indian youth the power to dream and realise a better future for themselves. In my view, one of the most powerful lessons we can learn from this amazing man is the power of imagining the outcome that you want.

He implicitly believed in the Law of Attraction —that reality takes shape first within our minds. The outcome we imagine is the one that begins coming true, because it is the one we begin focusing on with our entire being. When a person is deeply focused on a well-visualized outcome, then the universe moves in lock-step with that person’s dreams. Everything conspires to make that dream a reality.

During a special session at the IIT Delhi campus, Kalam said, “Invention and discoveries have emanated from creative minds that have been constantly working and imagining the outcome. “Imagine the outcome in the mind with constant effort and all the forces of the universe will work for that inspired mind.”

The stories of the world’s most successful people resonate with this insight. They will attest that they have spent their time dreaming about the reality they want to create for themselves. They think, breathe, eat, live and talk their visualized reality, and when asleep, they dream about it — until it becomes real.

At the same time, Abdul Kalam was a pragmatist who understood the value of hard work, perseverance, discipline and continuous self-improvement. He understood that many things were beyond a person’s control, such as the actions of others or future events — but he also knew that people could change themselves, especially their habits. He strongly advocated India’s youth to deliberately and rigorously develop success habits.

“You cannot change your future,” he’s say, “ but you can change your habits. And surely your habits will change your future.”

Abdul Kalam also understood that nothing comes true without passion and the power of focus. If you want your dreams to become realities, then those are what you should focus upon. “To succeed in your mission, you must have single-minded devotion to your goal,” he would advise his young audiences.

From this monumentally motivational president, we also learn the value of working with integrity. Abdul Kalam understood like no other the value of a reputation built on honesty, living by values and principles and inner integrity. He understood how easily a reputation built painstakingly over a lifetime can be brought down by the lapse of a single momentary action.

As a leader of people, he believed, your every action should be founded on deep inner integrity and total transparency. “Every leader,” he said once, “should work with integrity and succeed with integrity.”

Barack Obama: “Communicate your powerful vision clearly.”

Barack Obama 1961-

44th President of the USA

“Imagine the outcome in the mind with constant effort and all the forces of the universe will work for that inspired mind, thereby, leading to invention discoveries.”

Many people who heard Barack Obama’s inaugural speech on November 4, 2008, found themselves wet-eyed. America’s first African-American president was not just a lucid and deep thinker with a powerful vision for the people of America and the world, he was also capable of communicating that vision in a clear, powerful and emotional way that drew people into his dream and made it a people’s vision. The simple meme, Yes, we can became the hope-filled slogan of a generation yearning for change.

Without using a teleprompter or any memos, he talked about the major issues confronting the United States and the world in a strong, positive, persuasive, emotionally attractive speech. He masterfully deployed words, intonation, pronunciation and body language to build a bond with a worldwide audience, and left millions with a strong, shining vision of hope for an achievable tomorrow better than today.

Some of the communication techniques he had mastered and used very well indeed included —

1. Anaphora: The repetition of the same word or words at the start of successive sentences or clauses.
2. Rule of three: Sets of three give power to a speech, and Obama had this down to a fine art, as in when he said, “… grab a clipboard, get some signatures, and run for office yourself.” Even his landmark slogan that was on everyone’s lips had three words: Yes, we can.
3. Listening: He understood that listening well is the other side of speaking well, and always paid attention when someone was saying something to him.

In his working life, Obama understood the importance of conserving his mental energy. He was disciplined about paring down his decisions list to the most essential few, simplifying his life to save his will power. “I’m trying to pare down decisions,” he said. “I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make. You need to focus your decision-making energy. You need to routinize yourself. You can’t be going through the day distracted by trivia.”

He achieved this by limiting his wardrobe to just a few colors, and having a pre-set menu for most of his meals. This left his willpower and ‘decision-making energy’ to be deployed in full force where it could make a difference, in solving the nation’s and the world’s problems.

Obama was a change-maker. He had a deep empathy for those who suffered and for the myriad of problems that affected their lives. He understood that the change was urgent, and needed to happen soon.

“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time,” he said. “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.” In this he echoed the words of another great inspirational and visionary man, Mahatma Gandhi, who said: “Be the change that you want to see.”

The formidable list of changes that Obama achieved in office put him in the ranks of America’s finest presidents. He inherited but healed an economy spiralling in recession. He brought healthy employment back. He healed divisions and rifts in society, dialled down unfettered greed and capitalism, strengthened consumers, and made health care affordable for over 20 million more people.

Above all, like his predecessor Theodore Roosevelt, Obama was a consummate family man. He excelled as a husband and father, and the nation marvelled that the most powerful, most busy man in the world could find and make time to be with his family.

“I haven’t missed a dance performance,” he said. “I haven’t missed a parent-teacher conference. . . What I’ve been able to do is create a zone of normalcy for my kids. . . .I’ve been able to transmit to them my absolute interest in them and my absolute love for them.”

References

Three glorious lesson from the life of George Washington http://tinyurl.com/y4z2agkv

All about George Washington http://tinyurl.com/on5sp2e

Brainy quotes https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/george_washington_135801

3 leadership lessons from George Washington http://tinyurl.com/y2pwtszv

George Washington’s best productivity tricks http://tinyurl.com/y6mlpeuf

Fake Lincoln quote http://tinyurl.com/y6koekhw

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8 amazing habits of Abraham Lincoln http://tinyurl.com/yymsxuc8

Lincoln’s reading habits http://tinyurl.com/y2leekdh

5 learnings from Abraham Lincoln https://wideangle.com/learning-abraham-lincoln/

Abraham Lincoln Centre for Character Development https://alccd.lincolncollege.edu

Roosevelt’s words about families http://tinyurl.com/y63f62w5

The finest type of existing marriage http://tinyurl.com/y59ta32b

Family man http://tinyurl.com/y6hgkzbd

Roosevelt family values http://tinyurl.com/y4ng24c8

10 Roosevelt leadership lessons https://servetolead.org/10-theodore-roosevelt-leadership-lessons/

6 leadership hacks from Roosevelt http://tinyurl.com/y2p5f994

Theodore Roosevelt on leadership http://tinyurl.com/y3t2x2mb

Abdul Kalam’s 10 top rules for success http://tinyurl.com/y4wxlbna

APJ Abdul Kalam https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._P._J._Abdul_Kalam

5 golden communication tips from Obama http://tinyurl.com/y43ddbdc

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28 of Obama’s greatest achievements https://www.good.is/articles/obamas-achievements-in-office

9 remarkable life lessons from Barack Obama http://tinyurl.com/y4q4urax