Send to KindleLeadership Lessons From the Founders
This is my annual July 4th tribute to the founders of the United States of America. It’s become popular in some circles to marginalize what the founders did. While it’s true they were far from perfect, they produced an amazing document and changed the world.
There were plenty of reasons not to be in Philadelphia in July of 1776. It was hot and muggy, and the mosquitoes and horseflies had air superiority. In spite of the discomfort, a small group gathered to discuss nothing less than separating, by force of arms, from the most powerful nation in the world. These leaders produced the Declaration of Independence, a document that would fundamentally change world history, and with it left a legacy of leadership worth examining today. In producing that seminal document, those men demonstrated five basic leadership principles.
1. They understood the mission. It’s essential for a leader to know why they are there. The delegates all came to Philadelphia to strongly and unequivocally address grievances against the mother country. The English parliament had been violating their own laws, the colonies were suffering as a result and they wanted that to stop. Though not everyone who came to Philadelphia arrived in favor of succeeding from Great Britain, they all understood that the actions of the mother country were no longer tolerable and something needed to be done.
2. They were well read and had great knowledge of the issues at hand. Great leaders are always striving to learn and their minds are open to new thoughts and ideas which they endeavor to apply to their responsibilities. Historians tell us that America’s founders, though some did not have the benefit of a formal education as we know it today, were some of the most knowledgeable and well read persons of that, or any other, time. In that room in Philadelphia gathered a group unique in history for pure intellectual might.
3. They knew what they believed. They each had an underlying set of values and lived by them. There was agreement among the members of the delegation of what those basic values were. Not all members were protestant Christians but they did all share a belief in a higher power. Though today, many seek to downplay or ignore this aspect of the declaration, a little honest study reveals a common set of values that was instrumental in guiding their efforts.
4. They did not rush to judgment. Though today we look at July 4th as the date of the Declaration of Independence, the meeting in Philadelphia started in June and in fact, the cauldron of discontent had been boiling for many years. The delegation was actually the last part of what had been a very lengthy and considered discourse.
5. They were willing to take a risk. A huge risk! Benjamin Franklin’s famous and oft-quoted plea that they must “all hang together, otherwise, most assuredly we will hang separately” was not just hyperbole. The members of the delegation knew that what they were doing would be considered treason by England and treated as a capital offense if they were unsuccessful.
Though leaders of today often live in a high stress world, few must face consequences like those faced by the delegates in 1776. The document they produced stands alone in the world’s history and is a testament to what great leadership can accomplish.
