This month, I was teaching a leadership class on the Camp Pendleton Marine Base – the 125,000 acre West Coast training base. During a discussion of communication, I referred to Jim Mattis, the distinguished general who led the US invasion of Iraq and served as Nato Supreme Commander and Secretary of Defense. His book about Learning to Lead includes several of his communications, and I asked the class if they had read them. Dropped heads and / or blank stares were the response.
HUH? Marine leaders had never read about one of their primary Marine role models? Who doesn’t seek out role models? With easy access to books, audio books, blogs, podcasts, google, AI, TV shows / documentaries, etc., they are easy to find!
Role models are guiding images – those we look up to and emulate. They serve as reference points for behavior, morality and success that shape our understanding of who we might become. They can be real or imagined.
REFLECT:
Who are your role models?
How are you “imitating” them?
How does this affect your leadership?
As part of the FIRST wave of US women in management, I had to search for and imagine my role models. (Having a female mentor was out of the question). While I had strong independent family women as models, none were “professional” women. Most of my leader role models came from history: Elizabeth I, Catherine the Great… and I read about them extensively. While looking for books by American female managers, I found one by Mary Kay, founder of May Kay Cosmetics (and the Pink Cadillac as a symbol of success). Probably the first book by a woman manager about management, it offered the following advice: get up about 4:30am, do your paper work, put on your make-up, and get back in bed — so your husband awakes to a lovely wife. NO, I did NOT make that up!
Expanding my reach for role models, I studied leaders from all time periods and cultures. And I continue to enjoy learninging the conditions and “back story” of leaders who make a difference.
This week, I picked up a newly released book, Lessons in Liberty, with rules for living from ten extraordinary Americans. The author is an “unapologetic romantic” about he US, and it shows in his choice of leaders:
George Washington, Daniel Inouye, Clara Barton, Thomas Jefferson Arthur Ashe, Abraham Lincoln, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, James Madison and Theodore Roosevelt.
The author also bemoans his belief these leaders’ “rules” are no longer emulated.
Ruth Bader Ginsburg: Prioritize Relationships
More than 100 justices have sat on the US Supreme Court, but none have come close to “the notorious RBG’s” pop culture status. Equally passionate about the law and her family life, she modeled liberal social and political values and conservative and traditional values equally. She compartmentalized the political and personal, and her patriotism was elegantly lacking of bi-partisanship. She never engaged in emotionally heated debates, maintaining a style of gentility and civility. My leadership mantra is: “This is not personal” – so RBG is an ongoing inspiration for me!
REFLECT:
How would you rate your ability to compartmentalize the personal and political / professional on a 1-10?
Daniel Inouye: Be a Joiner
As a Japanese American born in 1924, Inouye encountered prejudice, exclusion and corruption. Rather than rebel, he resolved to join some of the institutions that blocked him and change them from within. When his counterparts were being imprisoned in encampments in World War II, he courageously served in the military in some of the most dangerous and daring missions, earning numerous medals and citations. He lost his left arm, spent two years recuperating in a hospital, and went on to serve as the first Asian American in the US house of Representatives and Senate. He stated:
A patriot has the courage to keep his eyes open even when the most painful events occur… if he closes his eyes to injustice, he is not a patriot, he is a coward.”
REFLECT:
How would you rate your courage in the face of injustice on a 1-10?
George Washington: Have Good Manners in Every Setting
Washington was an original “self-help” practitioner. He read, studied, watched and seldom spoke. He polished his behavior to be respectful and accommodating, relying on the tenants of good manners. Washington was an avid reader / follower of The Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior in Company and Conversations written by French Jesuits in 1595. It states, “Every action done in company ought to be with some sign of respect to those that are present.” I was pleased to see this emphasis on behavior rooted in dignity and humility, as I was taught manners are universal and not limited to class. It has served me well and I passed it on! When I took my 15 year old grandson to the Reagan Presidential Library, and he took the White House dinner etiquette quiz, he scored 90% – the highest of ALL the participants — as the ONLY youth / teen present. Washington would have been dismayed!
REFELCT:
How would you rate your moment-to-moment mannerliness on a 1-10?
Ben Nighthouse Campbell: Don’t Worry About the Best, Worry About Your Best
Known for his authenticity, inner strength and resolve, Campbell stated he started at the bottom and made something of himself. Many citizens could relate to him: a semi-orphan, high school drop out, Korean war veteran, small businessman, Olympic athlete (judo), artist (jewelry), trucker, teacher, rancher, political consultant. Described as exuding strength and commitment, he personified the tough Western spirit. He wore a ponytail and western attire, road a motorcycle and often came across as gruff and tough. Through it all, he strove to be the best he could be, excelling at judo – (an Olympic competitor), politics – (as a Congressman, he sponsored 54 bills related to Native American issues and was inducted into the Native American Hall of Fame in 2021), a jewelry designer (grossing $2.7 million on a gold pendant sold on QVC). Campbell was a unique leader – authentic without ego, honest without agenda, and seeking connection with himself first!
REFELCT:
How would you rate your striving for excellence (without ego or agenda) on a 1-10?
Call Sign CHAOS: Learning to Lead, Jim Mattis & Bing West, RandomHouse, 2019.
Adams, Jeremy S., Lessons In Liberty: Thirty Rules for Living from Ten Extraordinary Americans, Harper Collins, 2024.
