Customer Reviews

George Washington on Leadership

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If you enjoy history and personal examples of success and failure in leadership styles this is the book to read. The book is not a boring biography on George Washington but a living story full of events researched from historical letters, records, etc. and recorded in well organized flow by the writer.

The Big Idea of this book is that Corporate America can learn a lot about leadership from George, the CEO of two startups:The Revolution and the first administration. And we can. What comes through, again and again, is that Washington put the enterprise ahead of his own needs. He subordinated his ego to what was effective.When some officers were plotting against him ,trying to get Congress to oust him, he remained calm, thought through what to do(he named the game to one in a short note), and it got resolved. He could easily have lashed out, but he did not: he restrained the desire because it would not have moved the ball forward. He never made enemies, taking the long view, knowing that today's enemy is tomorrow's friend. Sort of a cousin to Seinfeld's "friendemy." Good section on how he, as did President Kennedy, asked of others what they could do for their country, telling them at times of crisis, "My brave fellows", meaning "My fellows, be brave" trying to pull the best out of them, knowing he could not do it alone. Though a man of few words, he knew how to use them, and the writing on his address at Newburgh where he snuffed out an impending revolt of unpaid officers has the book's best writing. The idea tails off at the end, with a pointless side trip on "Sex...and Drugs" but still a worthwhile read.

Richard Brookhiser, a National Humanities Medalist, is a popular author, journalist and biographer. Considering his stellar previous work about America's founding fathers, as well as his deep knowledge of George Washington, you would expect his book about the first U.S. president's leadership traits to be good. And so it is, interesting and full of well-told stories. Yet, it does falter sometimes. For example, the opening chapter lauds Washington's prescience for installing latrines in his soldiers' encampments. Such praise overlooks the fact that the Roman Army routinely dug latrines for its soldiers 2,000 years ago. Overall, Brookhiser usefully translates episodes from Washington's life into management lessons for today's executives, though it may strain the use of metaphor to rename his Mount Vernon plantation WashCorp and to classify the presidency as a start-up. Despite such small lapses, Brookhiser works many intriguing anecdotes into his narrative and demonstrates vividly just how Washington became such a significant leader. getAbstract welcomes his history-based examination of how to use Washington's leadership lessons.

Richard Brookhiser draws upon a wealth of historical material to identify and then discuss leadership lessons to be learned from George Washington's life and career, lessons that remain relevant after more than 200 years. All leaders attract followers but only great leaders sustain the support of their followers. That is certainly true of Washington who was, according to contemporary accounts, an extraordinarily attractive man with a commanding presence whom everyone trusted, even those who strongly disagreed with some of his military decisions and later, with other of his decisions when serving as the first president of the United States.

Washington was what Bill George would describe as an "authentic" leader. More specifically, George refers to "the internal compass that guides you as a human being at your deepest level. It is your orienting point - your fixed point in a spinning world - that helps you stay on track as a leader. Your True North is based on what is most important to you, your most cherished values, your passions and motivations, the sources of satisfaction in your life. Just as a compass points toward a magnetic field, your True North pulls you toward the purpose of your leadership." Gradually over time, Washington realized that the thirteen colonies had no choice but to seek their independence rather than continue as, in effect, indentured servants to an absentee owner. He agreed to serve as the commanding general of what was necessarily a disorganized and untrained citizen army that lacked sufficient resources. Throughout the colonies' struggle for independence, Washington remained faithful to his own True North. The same can also be said of him during his two terms as president and while various business activities created financial independence for him.

Having previously read Brookhiser's biographies of Washington and Alexander Hamilton, I was eager to learn how he would present the material in this book with a focus primarily on relevant lessons to be learned about leadership. Once again, his vast knowledge about the colonial period and (especially) about the founding fathers serves him well as does his crisp writing style, one that is comparable with George Orwell's and E.B. White's in their prime. The seven specific leadership lessons are best revealed with Brookhiser's narrative rather than listed in this commentary, out of context. Here is a representative selection of brief excerpts that are provided to suggest the thrust of what Joseph Ellis describes as Brookhiser's "distinctive voice and sharp interpretative edge."

"Washington's own instinct was always to attack. He never read the Aeneid, Virgil's epic about the founding of Rome, but he didn't have to believe that audentis fortuna iuvat - fortune favors the bold...Faced [in 1776] with this array of strategies, Washington displayed an aspect of his leadership that was as deeply ingrained as the urge to fight: a disposition to consider his options." (Page 27)

"Enemies have to be beaten - killed or impoverished in war, defeated in politics, outsold in business. Everyone understands this, from the earliest childhood game with winners and losers. But as we grow older, we learn there other things we have to do with enemies, during and after the contest...Washington played to win. He went to the Constitutional Convention only when he was sure that most of the delegates were as serious about change as he was; once the Constitution was written, he did everything in his power to ensure that his state ratified it. `Be assured,' wrote James Monroe, a Virginian who opposed the Constitution, `his influence carried this government.'" (Page 133)

"The near mutiny at Newburgh, in March 1783, showed Washington flipping a number of `power' switches - calling in chits, explaining consequences - but also looking for more [Page 162] ...Washington throws the burden of action on others, and tells them that that they can and will pick it up. This turn is a characteristic of Washington's leadership, as unmistakable as a fingerprint, as persistent as a frog call. The man who was a master at holding people's attention and at acquiring power turns the attention back to his audience, to show them their power, and their responsibility. It is a combination of praise and exhortation, and it happens again and again." (Page 163)

Why did those closest to Washington (who went through life "burdened with cares, surrounded by difficulties and failures") do so much to protect him and his reputation? "Because he had earned their admiration over the long haul by keeping his eye on the task at hand, resisting (among other things) the distractions of losing his temper. Why did they feel like protecting him? Because he had spared them much of his anger, and leavened it, when he had not, with impartiality and consideration (`his justice,' wrote Jefferson, `was the most inflexible I have ever known"). He had more important things to do than lose his temper. So does everyone but he kept it in mind." (Page 225)

When viewing him as his nation's "founding CEO," Richard Brookhiser finds a great deal that is admirable in George Washington's performance as a leader, either in or out of uniform. For example, he possessed what Daniel Goleman and others now characterize as "emotional intelligence." Throughout his life, Washington was attracted to and appreciative of those who possessed "unusual" talents. They included George Mason, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Charles Lee, and Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. As Brookhiser suggests, Washington worked especially well with especially bright and capable people, refusing to "judge a book by its cover." He overlooked their peculiarities and welcomed their contradictory views, at least until a decision had been made. Although he had concerns about the "pious and shrewd" New Englanders and their sometimes tactless manner (John Adams once claimed that "Virginia geese are all swans"), he worked effectively with them. "Washington learned, first, to keep his thoughts about these differences to himself, then to change his thoughts as experience showed him the fighting qualities of individuals and units." At all times, Washington's focus was on what must be accomplished, on what must be done, and by whom, to produce the desired results.

Those who share my high regard for this book are urged to check out the aforementioned earlier works by Brookhiser, Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington and Alexander Hamilton, American. Also Mark McNeilly's George Washington and the Art of Business: The Leadership Principles of America's First Commander-in-Chief, Joseph J. Ellis' Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, Donald T. Phillips' The Founding Fathers on Leadership: Classic Teamwork in Changing Times, and David McCullough's John Adams.

A fine account of Washington's trials & tribulations during the birth of our Nation as culled from his (and other's of that time) writings; an inside look at the leadership "chess moves" facing political statesmen. This account ranks up there with Machiavelli's "The Prince"...

I am well pleased with the book I purchased, as well as convenience
in ordering. This is not my first purchase, and have been very
pleased with other items I bought.

We often forget just how great our Founding Fathers were and how much they gambled to start the United States. The Revolution was no sure thing and the people who were the driving forces behind it could have paid with their lives. Washington is an example to all us today of, among other things, perseverance and guts. Despite great odds, numerous failures and never ending problems, Washington never gave up and was rewarded with success. Brookhiser should help end the fallacies that the Revolution was easy, eveybody got along and nobody played politics. Brookhise helps show that the qualities that make people great never change.

If you are looking for a good book on leadership and you need to decide on the myriad of books available on the subject, go with this one. Drawing on experiences from Washington's life, Brookhiser gives valuable insights to how Washington handled the many challenges he faced and then explains how we can use those techniques in our lives.

I imagine that this would be a difficult book to write. George Washington was an amazing leader and this author does a good job of tying leadership principles to his life examples.

Not one of Brookhiser's better books. Just O.K.
His book on the founding fathers was better written