As I was recently rereading Leadership in Turbulent Times (Simon & Schuster, 2018), I was struck by the similarities between today’s highly polarized environment and the crises faced by four great presidents—and the leadership lessons they could teach today’s school leaders.
In the award-winning book, Doris Kearns Goodwin focuses on the leadership characteristics displayed by Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson.
Among the many themes Goodwin explored, five stood out to me as particularly important to each president’s success: gathering firsthand information, exhausting all possibilities of compromise before imposing unilateral power, knowing when to hold back and when to push forward, focusing on the narrative, and finding ways to cope with the pressure.
In this biweekly column, principals and other authorities on school leadership—including researchers, education professors, district administrators, and assistant principals—offer timely and timeless advice for their peers.
Reexamining these actions in light of the current culture wars can be instructive and even reassuring to educational leaders today.
Gather firsthand information. Ask questions. Bring all stakeholders aboard.
During the Civil War, President Lincoln’s inquiries at army encampments and accessibility to his soldiers offered him the opportunity to gather information and ask questions. This dialogue led him to reframe the war’s purpose from saving the union to ending slavery.
President Franklin Roosevelt knew he needed the banking community’s technical expertise to address the chaotic run on the banks during the Great Depression, so he engaged with them before proposing legislation, even though many Americans believed that the bankers themselves were the major cause of the problem.
Savvy modern-day principals who lead with their ears instead of their mouths do not rely on the same old friendly crowd for advice when making decisions. Instead, they reach out intentionally to a diverse group of student, faculty, and community advisers, including their harshest critics. While these dialogues may be unpleasant at first, leaders’ assuming positive intent and genuinely listening to all voices reassures stakeholders that it is possible to find common-sense answers that benefit all students.
I agree with those who say that all data (read as information gathered from disparate and sometimes conflicting sources) are good, because they tell us something that we may not have known.
Exhaust all possibilities of compromise before imposing unilateral power.
A few issues, often involving safety, require quick and unilateral actions by presidents and principals. Uniformly, however, the leaders in Goodwin’s study exercised their power strategically. Before issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln used very mild language, almost begging the states “not to be blind to the times” and to free the slaves. He was determined to use words, if possible, without having to impose his executive power, and to avoid sparks that could backfire.
Even though it ran counter to President Theodore Roosevelt’s headstrong leadership style, when faced with a decision about whether to act in a national coal strike in 1902, he conducted an evenhanded investigation to better understand the views of the workers, mine owners, and American public so he would not be drawn into a hasty presidential action of the type that invariably provokes negative reactions.
Know when to hold back and when to push forward.
Yet, there comes a time in every leader’s career, when he or she must go “all in,” as President Johnson did by championing the Civil Rights Bill of 1964. Goodwin describes how, once committed to action, all four leaders used “every straw in the broom” to brush aside all other causes and single-mindedly focus on a key initiative.
One of the hardest tasks for most educational leaders is to focus on a few strategic goals. Demands come from inside and outside the school to embrace any initiative that is “good for the children.” Just like the presidents, strategic education leaders identify two or three initiatives with the potential for the greatest impact and “drive, drive, drive” to make them happen.
At a conference presentation several years ago, I heard the late professional learning community expert Richard DuFour say: Principals should focus on what they can do and only they can do as principal to increase the learning of every student. That is powerful advice.
Frame the narrative.
Goodwin mentioned no leadership action more frequently than this one. Teddy Roosevelt controlled the message in big-city papers, the influential media of his day, by giving friendly reporters unparalleled access and tips on upcoming big stories and by banishing papers who printed negative or untrue items.
FDR mastered the power of the narrative by telling the story directly to the people through his fireside chats over radio. Johnson set forth a compelling picture of the future in the Great Society on the three television networks at the time. These presidents knew that people are more persuaded by stories and anecdotes than by facts and figures.
But, of course, the media then and social media today, with no fact checking, are quite different creatures. Leaders’ ability to frame the narrative has been eroded, as every person has the potential to become a podcast star or to post a message on X or TikTok that goes viral, making a local issue a national controversy.
The best advice I’ve seen comes from then-Superintendent Joe Sanfelippo of Fall Creek, Wis., quoted in the EdWeek article “How District Leaders Can Make Social Media Work for Them.” His three top points about using social media:
- Be transparent: People can’t see what you don’t show them.
- Throw out the script: Be real and don’t sound too rehearsed.
- Stick with the truth: People are always making judgments, so make sure they’re judging the schools for the things they are doing, not the things that others think or have heard are going on.
Find ways to cope with the pressure, maintain balance, and replenish energy.
Relieving pressure or stress is a very individualized activity. Unfortunately for Lincoln, nothing provided him with greater respite and renewal than a visit to the theater. When Teddy Roosevelt had to curtail his travels because of an infected leg, he reveled in dropping everything and taking a day to read, of all things, the history of Poland or the early Mediterranean races.
The presidents’ experiences reemphasized the importance of taking intentional steps to reduce stress in whatever ways work for modern leaders.
These leadership lessons are not all that educational leaders need to know today, but they are a great starting point. Those asking for our vote in November could learn from them as well.
