A LESSON IN LEADERSHIP FROM HISTORIAN DORIS KEARNS GOODWIN

> SO WHAT MAKES A LEADER?

AND ARE LEADERS BORN OR ARE THEY MADE?

PULITZER PRIZE WINNING AUTHOR, PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN DORIS GOODWIN HAS SPENT THE LAST FEW DECADES WRITING IN DEPTH BIOGRAPHIES.

IN HER LATEST BOOK, LEADERSHIP IN TURBULENT TIMES, SHE DRAWS UPON FOUR PAST PRESIDENTS.

SHE EXAMINES WHAT MADE EACH THE RIGHT LEADER FOR HIS TIME.

AND WHAT TODAY'S ASPIRING AND ESTABLISHED LEADERS CAN LEARN FROM THEM AND WE ARE DELIGHTED TO WELCOME A GOOD FRIEND FROM A LONG TIME AGO.

DORIS, THEY ARE SO VERY DIFFERENT.

THESE FOUR CHARACTERS.

BUT WHEN YOU LOOKED AT THEM AGAIN THROUGH LENS OF LEADERSHIP, DID YOU FIND SIMILARITIES AMONGST THEM THAT MAYBE HADN'T BEEN REVEALED BEFORE?

YEAH.

IT'S TRUE.

THEY CAME FROM ENTIRELY DIFFERENT BACKGROUNDS.

TWO OF THEM VERY PRIVILEGED.

THE ROOSEVELTS, LINKON AND LBJ, MUCH MORE DIFFICULT, THEY HAD DIFFERENT TEMPERAMENTS, DIFFERENT TIMES AND I THINK IT IS TRUE THAT SOMETIMES A TEMPERAMENT FITS THE TIME BUT THERE WAS A FAMILY RESEMBLANCE THAT I COULD SEE WHEN I LOOKED AT THEM ALL TOGETHER.

HUMILITY.

YOU WOULDN'T THINK OF LBJ, NOT HUMBLENESS BUT THE ABILITY TO RECOGNIZE ERRORS.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?

HUMILITY COMPARED TO HUMBLHUMBL?

LINCOLN MAYBE.

IT DOESN'T MEAN YOU HAVE A LOW ESTIMATE OR YOU'RE MEEK OR HUMBLE.

IT MEANS THAT YOU SPEM HUMANS HAVE LIMITATIONS AND YOU CAN LEARN FROM YOURSELF WHEN YOU MAKE MISTAKES.

FOR EXAMPLE, TEDDY ROOSEVELT WHEN HE FIRST GOT INTO THE STATE LEGISLATURE.

YOU NEVER THINK OF HIM AS HUMBLE.

THEY SAID HE LOVED TO BE IN THE CENTER OF ATTENTION SO MUCH, HE WANTED TO BE THE BABY AT THE BAPTISM AND THE BRIDE AT THE WEDDING AND THE CORPSE AT THE FUNERAL.

HE GOT INTO THE LEGISLATURE AND HE REALIZED HE HAD A SWELLED HEADS.

HE'S POUNDING HIS FISTS, HE MAKES HEADLINES.

ALL OF A SUDDEN HE CAN'T GET ANYTHING DONE.

HE SAID I REALIZE THAT I HAD TO CHANGE MY WAY.

I WAS NOT ALLOWING MYSELF TO GET ANY COMPROMISE OR COLLABORATION.

SO THAT'S THE ABILITY TO LEARN.

TO GROW IN OFFICE.

THAT'S WHAT I MEAN.

WE OFTEN HEAR FOLKS TALKING ABOUT OUR TIMES AS BEING TURBULENT TIMES.

AND YET YOU FORGET WHEN YOU LOOK AT THESE FOUR FIGURES, TALK ABOUT THE TURBULENCE THAT SURROUNDED THEM AND THEIR ASCENSION TO THE OFFICES AND WHAT THEY HAD TO DEAL WITH.

ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY FIRST WALKED IN.

THINK ABOUT LINCOLN COMING INTO OFFICE.

HE LATER SAID IF HE KNEW THE TURBULENCE HE WOULD FACE, THE SOUTH WAS ALREADY SECEDING, 600,000 PEOPLE WITH SOON DIE, HE COULDN'T HAVE THOUGHT HE COULD HAVE LIVED THROUGH IT.

OR TEDDY ROOSEVELT, TOO, COMING IN AFTER THE ASSASSINATION OF McKINLEY.

THERE IS A REAL MOOD OF THE COUNTRY BECAUSE OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND THERE'S A GAP BETWEEN RICH AND THE POOR AND THE WORKING CLASS IS FEELING LIKE THEY'RE NOT GETTING A FAIR SHAKE, AND THEY'RE NOT.

AND HE COMES IN AND HAS TO DEAL WITH ALL THAT TENSION.

THERE'S BOMBS IN THE STREET.

NATIONWIDE STRIKES GOING ON.

AND THEN FDR COMING IN AT THE HEIGHT OF THE DEPRESSION.

WHEN HE SAID HE WAS AFRAID THE WHOLE HOUSE OF CARDS MIGHT COLLAPSE BEFORE HE EVEN TOOK THE OATH OF OFFICE.

AND THEN LBJ, THE COUNTRY IS OBSESSED WITH LOOKING AT THE KILLING OF JFK AND THE KILLING OF OSWALD AND THE FEELING HE'S NOT WORTHY OF BEING THE SUCCESSOR AND THE CIVIL RIGHTS HAVE HEATED UP.

EACH OF THOSE HAD REALLY TURBULENT TIMES.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER THAT IN THE TIME WE'RE IN RIGHT NOW.

THEY WERE THE RIGHT PERSON FOR THE TIME AND THE CITIZENS WERE ACTIVE WHICH MAKES A BIG DIFFERENCE.

WHEN YOU TALKED ABOUT WHO EACH OF THEIR HEROES WERE, TELL ME ABOUT THAT.

IT CAME AT THE END.

I SUDDENLY REALIZED THERE'S LIKE THIS FAMILY TREE THAT COVERS THE WHOLE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY.

BECAUSE LBJ'S HERO WAS FDR.

HE CALLED HIM HIS POLITICAL DADDY.

HE MET HIM WHEN HE WAS RUNNING FOR CONGRESS.

HE WAS IN THE NYA, THE NATIONAL YOUTH ADMINISTRATION.

ELEANOR ROOSEVELT SAID IT WAS THE BEST PROGRAM IN THE COUNTRY.

THAT WAS HIS HERO AND HE MODELED HIS WHOLE EARLY LIFE ON FDR.

FDR'S HERO WAS TEDDY ROOSEVELT.

HE WAS HOPING TO HAVE THE SAME TRAJECTORY AS TEDDY WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG LAW CLERK.

WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO US?

HE SAID I KNOW WHAT I WOULD LIKE.

I WOULD LIKE TO GO TO THE ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF NAVY AND THEN GOVERNOR AND THEN WHO KNOWS?

MAYBE THE PRESIDENCY.

POLIO XUT IN A DIFFERENT WAY WHICH HE DIDN'T KNOW AT THE TIME.

SO TEDDY ROOSEVELT'S HERO WAS ABRAHAM LINCOLN.

IN 1902 WHEN HE WAS FACING A HUGE COAL STRIKE, HE READ ALL F FIVE VOLUMES, HE WOULD SAY, I CAN DO THE SAME THING AND HE LEARNED FROM HIM OH AND OVER AGAIN.

AND THEN HIS HERO WAS ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S HERO WAS GEORGE WASHINGTON.

IT IS AMAZING TO THINK YOU GO FROM LBJ, FDR TO TEDDY ROOSEVELT, TO ABRAHAM LINCOLN TO GEORGE WASHINGTON.

THE HISTORY OF OUR COUNTRY.

THE THREAD RUNNING THROUGH FABRIC OF ALL OUR LIVES.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE FOUR OF THEM.

THEY'RE SUCH VERY DIFFERENT MEN.

YOU LOOK AT THE ROOSEVELTS.

THE SAME FAMILY, SAME LIVES OF PRIVILEGE.

SO DIFFERENT.

DID YOU FIND A SINGLE CONSISTENT STRAND OR A TRAIT, A LEADERSHIP TRAIT THAT IDENTIFIED EACH OF THEM?

I THINK I WOULD HAVE TO CHOOSE THE MOST IMPORTANT ONE WAS EMPATHY.

AND IT IS EITHER BORN IN YOU, WHICH IT WAS FOR LINCOLN, AND MAYBE LBJ.

WHICH MEANS IF YOU UNDERSTAND OTHER PEOPLE'S POINTS OF VIEW, YOU CAN HAVE A FEELING ABOUT OTHER PEOPLE'S WAYS OF LIFE.

LINCOLN FELT AS A YOUNG KID.

HE WOULD WATCH HIS FRIENDS PUTTING HOT COALS ON TURTLES AND KNOWING IT WAS CAUSING PAIN AND HE WOULD GO AFTER THEM FOR DOING THAT.

AND LBJ, WHEN HE WAS A YOUNG PERSON AND HE TAUGHT AT THE SCHOOL AND HE SAW THE PAIN OF PREJUDICE ON THESE KIDS' FACES.

HE FELT IT EMOTIONALLY.

HE DID EVERYTHING HE COULD TO MAKE THEIR LIVES BETTER.

FOR BOTH ROOSEVELTS, HEAD TO DEVELOP EMPATHY.

THEY LED SUCH A PRIVILEGED BACKGROUND FOR OTHER PEOPLE THROUGH POLITICS.

THAT'S WHEN POLITICS CAN BE THE MOST BROADENING THING.

FOR TEDDY, HE SAID WHEN I WENT INTO POLITICS THE FIRST TIME, WASN'T TO MAKE PEOPLE'S LIVES BETTER.

I JUST LIKED THE ADVENTURE OF IT.

THEN HE SAW THE CIGAR FACTORIES, HE SAW CHILDREN WORKING AND HE SAID I WANT TO CHANGE THEIR LIVES.

AND FOR FDR, POLIO PRODUCED SO MUCH MORE EMPATHY.

HE SUDDENLY IDENTIFIED WITH WHOM FATE HAD HAD AN UNKIND HAND.

IF THAT'S A QUALITY MISSING IN A LEADER, HOW DO YOU GET TO OTHER PARTS OF THE COUNTRY WHERE PEOPLE FEEL DIFFERENTLY THAN YOU?

HOW DO YOU HELP PEOPLE FROM YOUR REGION OR YOUR CLASS OR YOUR RACE?

AND THEN THE ABILITY TO COMMUNICATE THAT EMPATHY IN THE TECHNOLOGY OF YOUR TIME AND PERSUADE PEOPLE TO MOBILIZE THEM TO ACTION WOULD BE THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT EMPATHY, I THINK.

WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE TURMOIL WE'RE EXPERIENCING TODAY, AND I'M NOT TALKING ABOUT JUST POLITICALLY.

BOTH SIDES OF THE AISLE, SOCIETALLY, POLITICALLY, WHICH OF THE FOUR THAT YOU CHRONICLE HERE, WHICH OF THE FOUR WOULD BE BEST SUITED TO BE A LEADER TODAY?

I THINK IT WOULD BE TEDDY ROOSEVELT.

I MEAN, THE REASON BEING HIS TIME WAS SIMILAR TO OURS.

HE ALWAYS WARNED THE ROCK OF DEMOCRACY WOULD FOUND FERRY PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OR RACES BEGAN TO THINK OF THEMSELVES AS THE OTHER.

IT IS THAT DIVISION IN OUR COUNTRY TODAY THAT I THINK UNDERLAYS.

OF THE POLITICAL TURMOIL.

THE LARGER DIVISION THAT'S THERE.

HE KNEW HOW TO SPEAK TO PEOPLE IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE COUNTRY.

I THINK HE WOULD BE GREAT TWEETING.

HE HAD THOSE SHORT PHRASES, SPEAK SOFTLY AND CARRY A BIG STICK.

CAN YOU IMAGINE FDR TWEETING?

DON'T HIT UNTIL YOU HAVE TO AND THEN HIT HARD.

HE EVEN GAVE MAXIMUM HOUSE THE SLOGAN.

MOST IMPORTANTLY, WHAT HE ARGUED FOR WAS A SQUARE DEAL.

SO HE WAS ARGUING SO THE PEOPLE ON THE LEFT, ON THE RIGHT, AND HE'S SAYING I WANT A DEAL FOR THE CAPITALISTS AND THE WAGE WORKER.

I WANT A DEAL FOR THE RICH AND THE POOR.

IF YOU'RE A RICH PERSON, THAT'S FINE.

AS LONG AS YOU DEAL FAIRLY.

SO HE WOULD STAND RIGHT IN THE CENTER BUT PROGRESSIVELY MOVING THE COUNTRY FORWARD.

AND HE HAD A SENSE OF HUMOR, A SELF-DEM REINDICATING SENSE OF HUMOR.

MY FAVORITE STORY WAS WHEN THERE WAS A REVIEW OF THE SPANISH AMERICAN WAR MEMOIR.

HE SAID HE SO PLACED HIMSELF IN EVERY ACTION IN THE WAR, HE SHOULD HAVE CALLED IT ALONE IF CUBA.

HE WRITES A LETTER TO THE JOURNALIST AND SAYS I REGRET TO INFORM THAT YOU MY WIFE AND MY INTIMATE FRIENDS ABSOLUTELY LOVE MY REVIEW OF YOUR BOOK.

NOW YOU OWE ME.

I WANT TO MEET YOU.

AND THEY BECAME FRIENDS.

HE WAS ABLE TO BE FRIENDS WITH JOURNALISTS KNOWING HE WOULD CRITICIZE THEM.

AND THOSE WHO BECOME THE GOLDEN AGE OF JOURNALISM.

SO I THINK HE HAD THE ENERGY.

IN TODAY'S WORLD, YOU HAVE TO BE SOMEWHAT THE CENTER OF ATTENTION GIVEN THE MEDIA WORLD AND HE COULD BE.

HE WAS THE MOST COLORFUL PRESIDENT WE'D HAD UNTIL THAT TIME.

LAST QUESTION FOR YOU.

IN TRYING TO LEARN THE LESSON OF HISTORY, AND WE'RE SO OFTEN TOLD THINGS SUCH AS, IF WE DON'T LEARN HISTORY'S LESSONS, WE'RE BOUND TO REPEAT THEM.

THE NOTION OF THE PAST, WHEN FAULKNER SAID THE PAST ISN'T EVEN PASSED.

DO YOU GET A SENSE THAT OUR LEADERS OF TODAY.

I'M TALKING ACROSS THE BOARD.

THAT OUR LEADERS OF TODAY DON'T GRASP THAT.

DON'T GRASP THE NEED TO LEARN FROM THESE MEN AND THEIR TURMOIL AND THEIR LEADERSHIP 60s.

DON'T GRASP THE NEED TO LEARN SO THEY CAN LEAD BETTER.

I WORRY THAT HAPPENING.

EVEN FORGETTING ONLY OUR LEADERS.

HISTORY COURSES ARE BEING NARROWED IN A LOT OF OUR COLLEGES NOW BECAUSE OF STEM AND STUFF.

WHAT YOU GET FROM HISTORY, AS A HUMAN BEING, NOT SIMPLY AS A LEADER, YOU SEE HOW OTHER PEOPLE DEALT WITH TROUBLES AND HOW THEY CAME THROUGH ADVERSITIES, WHAT WERE THEIR STRENGTHS AND WEAK KNOWS.

I WOULD LIKE TO THINK THAT STUDYING LEADERSHIP HELPS YOU IN YOUR EVERYDAY LIVES.

YOU JUST NEED TO GO BACK A FEW DECADES.

SO LEARN FROM THEM.

THEY KNEW SOMETHING WITH THE STRENGTHS OF LEADERSHIP.

AND SOME OF THE TECHNIQUES YOU CAN FOLLOW.

WHEN I THINK ABOUT LINCOLN WRITING A HOT LETTER WHEN HE WAS MAD AT SOMEBODY AND NEVER SENDING IT.

BROADER THAN THAT, YOU UNDERSTAND THEIR EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE WHEN THEY'RE DEALING WITH A TEAM.

HOW THEY'RE ABLE TO SHARE CREDIT AND SHOULDER BLAME.

THESE ARE HUMAN QUALITIES THAT MANY OF THEM MAGNIFY BY BECOMING LEADERS AND HOW YOU GROW THROUGH YOUR MISTAKES.

I JUST GOT TO BELIEVE THAT EVERYBODY SHOULD LOVE HISTORY.

IT REALLY CAN TEACH YOU.

IT TEACHES YOU ABOUT HUMAN NATURE.

ONE OF THE THINGS TEDDY ROOSEVELT.

IF YOU WANT TO BE A LEADER, YOU HAVE TO READ BOOKS.

BOOKS ARE ABOUT HUMAN NATURE.

YOU READ IN IT POETRY, YOU READ IT IN DRAMA, AND YOU'LL LEARN ABOUT HUMAN NATURE.

NO MATTER WHAT YOU WANT TO READ, YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK.

AS ALWAYS, YOU TAKE US ON A FABULOUS AND VERY PERSONAL JOURNEY INTO THEIR BACKGROUNDS.

AND YOU COME AWAY, AS YOU SAY, SAYING, I'M SAYING GOODBYE TO SOME FRIENDS.

I'M NOT THAT COMFORTABLE WITH THAT.

WE COULD TALK FOR HOURS ABOUT IT.

IT IS ALWAYS SO NICE TO CONNECT WITH YOU.

AGAIN, JUST ANOTHER FABULOUS WORK.

SO GOOD TO SEE YOU.

THANK YOU.