{"id":233,"date":"2018-05-17T11:00:32","date_gmt":"2018-05-17T15:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/?p=233"},"modified":"2018-05-11T09:50:40","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T13:50:40","slug":"learning-about-leadership-from-the-past","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/2018\/05\/17\/learning-about-leadership-from-the-past\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning about leadership from the past"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

There is much to be learned about leadership by studying the past. In particular, we learn about good leadership by studying what great leaders did and how they accomplished it. At the Jepson School, we have organized our curriculum<\/a> with a nod to the past: as we put it, we study \u201cleadership as it was, as it is, and as it should be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Professor McDowell\u2019s powerful keynote speech at the Jepson School\u2019s senior awards ceremony, Finale<\/a>, on May 12, supported this approach. Dr. McDowell remarked that upon graduation, Jepson alumni will most importantly \u201clearn to give proper vent to your ambition to succeed in actually making a difference. For ambition properly understood \u2014 that is to say ambition properly tempered and tamed \u2014 is not a vice but a virtue.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than this, Dr. McDowell illustrated his point using the example of Abraham Lincoln, whom he called a \u201cself-consciously ambitious\u201d leader: \u201cIn one of his earliest political utterances, he confessed that his ambition was that of being \u2018esteemed of my fellow men, by rendering myself worthy of their esteem.\u2019\u201d From my own areas of research, it is remarkable that Adam Smith distinguished between being esteemed (he used the word \u201cpraised\u201d) and worthy of esteem (\u201cpraiseworthy\u201d) in his 1759 Theories of Moral Sentiments.<\/em><\/p>\n

In Dr. McDowell\u2019s view, Lincoln\u2019s \u201ctrue legacy is a legacy of leadership. In particular, a legacy of moral leadership.\u201d We learn (at least) four lasting insights from this moral leadership:<\/p>\n

First, we must to a great extent work with human nature as it is, rather than expecting people to change radically: \u201chuman action can be modified to some extent but human nature cannot be changed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Second, as Dr. McDowell notes, Lincoln recognized that human nature is motivated by a combination of self-interest and moral sense: \u201cLet us be brought to believe something is morally right, and, at the same time favorable, or, at least, not against our interest\u2026and we shall find a way to do it, however great the task may be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next, leaders, especially political leaders, must contend with what Lincoln referred to as \u201cpublic sentiment,\u201d which, Lincoln recognized, might to a degree be influenced by the leader.<\/p>\n

Finally, as we stress at the Jepson School, leadership is persuasion: \u201cWhen the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind, unassuming persuasion ever be adopted. Such is man, and so must he be understood by those who would lead him, even to his own best interest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr. McDowell\u2019s remarks were compelling reminders that good leadership is very much about the words \u2014 spoken and written \u2014 leaders use to inspire action that is consistent with self-interest and moral sense.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is much to be learned about leadership by studying the past. In particular, we learn about good leadership by studying what great leaders did and how they accomplished it. At the Jepson School, we have organized our curriculum with<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":592,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75704],"tags":[75717,75716],"class_list":["post-233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jepson-speakers-events","tag-ambition","tag-lincoln"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/592"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/leadershipspeculations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}