When it seems like every day brings a new calamity or crisis, the past is a ripe place to look for leadership guidance. On Boston Public Radio, Harvard historian Nancy Koehn pointed to one particular political dynasty of yore -- the Roosevelts -- as a prime example of effective, committed leadership in troubled times.
What made the Roosevelts such successful leaders? First, they educated themselves constantly. From Eleanor's work to understand the poverty of Virginia coal miners to Franklin's collaboration with Winston Churchill to keep abreast of German rearmament and the rise of Adolf Hitler, each voraciously sought information before formulating their views and ideas.
"It wasn't passive learning. They pulled it," Koehn said. "They put it together with a wide angle lens of vision on the wider world."
But just as importantly, once they absorbed that information, they didn't sit idly. They acted on it. "Instead of learning and talking about it...they do something about it. They do something. And they keep doing something," Koehn said.
And when they did, they were always honest about why they believed their solutions would, in the end, be worth it -- even if those solutions were politically unpopular or involved trade-offs and hardship.
"They created, as all worthy leaders must, a lot of friction and controversy around what they did. And they kept on doing it," Koehn said.
"Why isn't there a politician on the national stage with enough courage to do that?" she asked.
To hear more from historian Nancy Koehn on the leadership lessons we can learn from the Roosevelts, tune in to her full interview on Boston Public Radio above. To learn more about the new PBS series "The Roosevelts," directed by Ken Burns, click here.
