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March-April 2010 |
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Ike Had it Right
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This Month's Quotable Quotes “The first thing a great person does is to make us realize the insignificance of circumstance.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet “The purest treasure mortal times afford is spotless reputation.” — William Shakespeare, playwright “In reading the lives of great men, I found that the first victory they won was over themselves… Self-discipline with all of them came first.” — Harry Truman, 33rd U.S. president “When I was 14, I thought my parents were as dumb as a mud fence. But in just seven years, I was amazed how smart they had become.” — Paraphrase from Mark Twain “Fame is a vapor, popularity an accident, riches take wings. Only one thing endures, and that is character.” — Horace Greeley, editor “If thou art a master, be sometimes blind; if a servant, sometimes blind.” — Thomas Fuller, clergyman “Before you commit to a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead…. You can only see one thing clearly, and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that, and cling to it through thick and thin.” — Kathleen Norris, writer |
There have been few leaders in our country’s history that displayed his character and the core values of integrity, honesty and accountability the way it was lived and demonstrated by General Dwight David Eisenhower. General Norman Schwarzkopf once said, “Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy.”
General Eisenhower had the character part of his psyche down pat. His character went a long way to make him not only a great military leader but, arguably, a great president, too. Mark Eppler, a Cincinnati-based leadership coach said, “Unless you have ruthless integrity, you can’t really lead. For all his military skills and training, what made Eisenhower a success were his soft skills.”
Here are a few examples of how and why General Eisenhower displayed his character:
Start young. At a young age, General Eisenhower’s parents taught him the importance of honesty and integrity as well as teamwork. According to Antigoni Ladd, co-owner of Tigrett Corporation, a Gettysburg, Pennsylvania-based provider of leadership training based on history, Eisenhower’s parents couldn’t afford to pay for him and his brother to attend college at the same time. So, Ike worked for two years in his hometown of Abilene, Kansas to help send his brother to college before the future general received his appointment to the Unite States Military Academy at West Point.
Over the years, I’ve shared in many of my articles and with many of my audiences about how my parents always made it point to tell me, through their actions and words, the importance and value of hard work, honesty, integrity, discipline, focus and self-sacrifice — that a man’s integrity is all he really has in life. Their life’s lessons began at an early age and continued well into my adult life. I didn’t understand what they tried to tell me when I was young, but I certainly do now. My parents passed 25 years ago. I still have more questions!
Tell It Straight. One of the general’s strengths was that he empowered himself to take a strong, objective look at himself. “He engaged in positive but frank criticism,” Eppler said. For example, one of Ike’s commanders in Tunisia during World War II, Major General Lloyd Fredendall, was indecisive; but General Eisenhower continued to encourage him. However, he finally came to the realization that he had to demote General Fredendall. Ike didn’t blame Fredendall, but himself, and noted that he should have demoted him sooner. This type of objective self-analysis served Ike well. The ability and willingness to make not only the easy decisions but also the tough ones as well is what separates the average leaders from the truly great ones.
Don’t Play Favorites. One night, an officer was out drinking and let slip some vital information about plans for the D-Day invasion, Eppler said. Even though the officer was a longtime friend of Eisenhower, he sent him home and demoted him. You can almost bet that other officers and NCOs knew what happened or were privy to what happened and watched and waited to see what action Ike would take. Remember: your staff listens to you in the conference room, but they watch you in the hallways.
Build teams. When General Eisenhower became the supreme Allied commander in World War II, he surrounded himself and worked with personnel with whom he competed for the job. “Over and over again, he emphasized that this is a team and it’s a joint effort,” Ladd said. On one occasion, Ike settled a fight between an American and a British officer. It wasn’t the disparaging epithet the American officer called his British counterpart but that he preceded the epithet with “British.” Sticks and stones may not break your bones, but they can get you fired.
Demand the truth. In May 1944, General Eisenhower held a large meeting with his senior officers to finalize the plans for the D-Day invasion. His staff knew that if they saw a flaw in the plans, it was their responsibility to identify it. Ike empowered his staff, and they knew it. He didn’t “shoot the messenger.” “He wanted people to challenge him,” Eppler said. Imagine what the outcomes for the D-Day invasion may have been if Ike seldom solicited feedback and, when he did and didn’t like what he heard, he reacted angrily and “shot the messenger?” Under this type of "leadership"— a screamer — it doesn’t take long for a staff to become “yes men.” Ike didn’t talk the talk, he walked the walk.
Walk the Talk. “If you get into a leadership role, whether you want to be a role model or not, you are one,” Ladd said. General Eisenhower did just that. For example, he responded to a movie offer from Hollywood after the war by sending his wife, Mamie a letter saying he would reject the offer.
In the letter, General Eisenhower said, “My own convictions about the quality of a man who will make money out of a public position of trust are very strong. I couldn’t touch it. We don’t need it anyway. It is fun to be poor.”
George Burk: www.georgeburk.com; Phone: 800.769.8568; Cell: 480.250.0596; P.O. Box 6392, Scottsdale, AZ 85261-6392
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