Lessons in Leadership Communication from 3-1/2 Great Presidents

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin has written an excellent book, Leadership: In Turbulent Times. In this podcast, I extract useful lessons  in leadership communication from the careers of four presidents. Three of them, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, and Franklin Roosevelt, were unquestionably great. The fourth, Lyndon Johnson, did great things in domestic affairs but had his legacy tarnished by the Vietnam War.

Each had a different style and approach to leadership communication, but all four are excellent models for timeless lessons in leadership communication.

All four developed their leadership communication skills early in their careers, and formed their personal styles through their successes and failures. What they all had in common was that there was no shortcut to greatness: they all spoke a lot during their early years, which seems to be a common theme for all great communicators.

The middle section of the book details the personal adversity that each suffered in the middle of their careers. The common theme is that those difficult experiences changed their outlooks and shaped their characters in ways that ensured they emerged through from their personal trials stronger than before.  One common theme seems to be that they all to various degrees learned—or strengthened—empathy, especially for “common” folk.

Finally, Goodwin examines one aspect of each of their presidencies to illustrate lessons for four types of leadership: transformative, crisis management, turnaround, and visionary.

There are so many lessons in this book that I only have time in the podcast to provide a sample. I urge you to read the book and take lots of notes, because you don’t have to be President to benefit from what these masters can teach you.