Presidents Day and Strengths

4 Ways To Be A Great President

How many ways are there to be really effective at your job? Probably a lot more than you think. In my work as a manager, I have observed sales people reach the pinnacle of success with quite different strengths and ways of going about their job. This is possible with most jobs including the job of running the country. Let’s consider our first four presidents. Did they have similar strengths that led to similar ways of operating in office? Not at all.

George Washington was the military strategist who projected an image of consistency and stability while serving as a great unifier. He had no great gift as a visionary but his cool even temperament served us well as he united a young country.

The second president, John Adams was a phenomenal orator and skilled debater. It was said that he could hold Congress in rapt attention for hours as he waxed on eloquently about his positions on Britain, France and so on. He was at his best when voicing his opposition to a real or perceived foe.

Thomas Jefferson was completely different than either. Unlike the orator Adams, Jefferson hated public speaking. In fact, he hated it so much that he refused to give the traditional State of the Union message to Congress each year. He was a grand strategist that loved sitting at his desk, thinking and writing. He wrote out the State of the Union speech and had his assistant read it.

James Madison was different still. He was a very precise thinker and the consummate networker. He loved roaming the floors of Congress, meeting one on one, collaborating and building alliances to accomplish his goals for the country.

All four could rightly be held up as examples of great presidents. But each understood their strengths and weaknesses proceeding to shape the job around who they were. List any other four great presidents in history and you’ll see much of the same principle at work. Lincoln, the melancholy who suffered great bouts of depression worked quite different than the energetic Theodore Roosevelt. Jimmy Carter who is arguably the most effective former president in history worked long days while occupying the White House. His successor, Ronald Reagan worked much shorter days while joking, “I know hard work never killed anybody, but why take the risk”. Reagan was arguably more effective during his years in the White House.

Joan Biskupic wrote a very similar synopsis of the U.S. Supreme court justices for USA Today. They are all very different in more than just politics and values. Their personalities, talents and approaches to the job are vastly different.

What about military commanders? Surely they have similar talents and approaches. Not so. If you look at Jonathan W. Jordan’s mosaic of Generals Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley, you couldn’t find four different men with vastly different approaches and natural talent. What about MacArthur? He was perhaps more different yet.

And so it is with your profession.