Leadership Growth I began Historical Solutions LLC as a leadership enterprise. I offer history-based seminars to executives, board members, managers, directors, and supervisors who are seeking to improve their leadership abilities. Leadership development is central to my life’s work in making history a useful tool in the life of you and your organization. History is excellent content for developing leaders. Leadership is 90% people and 10% everything else. The issues pertaining to people are timeless. Motivation, communication, vision, organization, crisis management, problem solving, delegation, and a dozen other aspects of leadership are all things that have been confronted by leaders for centuries. History shows the “do’s and don’ts” of leadership. It’s up to you and me to remember to use them. I should be more precise. A particular type of history does that. It’s the type of history that combines research into a major leader or leadership event with an eye on linking it to applications in today’s world. That’s what I emphasize. That’s what I help each of my participants to find—the takeaways from yesterday that can work both today and tomorrow. To those people who insist that you have to separate history from the current day or you distort the past, I say this: poppycock. My history-based approach to leadership development is not for everyone. You need to be willing to read articles (written by me) and to think abstractly, introspectively, and reflectively. You have to be willing to be honest with yourself and to actually try something different. You have to be accepting of the need to participate; sitting on your hands with downcast eyes won’t cut it. Finally, don’t expect to have the dialogue stop within the walls of your organization. You’ll find that this approach is very far-reaching, spanning your home, community, and spiritual life. Notice what I didn’t include—a love of history. I don’t care if you like history or not. That’s not mandatory. The other stuff is. If you’re in a position to decide on using my services or not, rest assured I’ll be candid with you about whether I think it will succeed in your organization, with your team. After conversing with you, I’ll say whether I think my approach is right for you. Here is my leadership development service model: My seminars can stand alone or form into a series. They are usually 2-3 hours long. A pre-session article is distributed to participants. The sessions include interactive discussions, scenarios, and analysis. Afterwards, I conduct a personalized, confidential follow-up email discussion with each participant. Before launching a series or one-time session, I execute an organizational assessment which consists of four confidential interviews with stakeholders of your choice. After the four interviews are complete, I submit an Assessment Report that outlines the key issues identified (these form the basis of the session or sessions). After each session is done, I submit a Summary Report that describes what I believe are the important points identified, raised, and embraced by the participants. My preference is for an organization’s executive team to commit to implementing at least one organization-wide takeaway from a session or series.

Historical Case Studies Below are a few of the historical case studies which I’ve developed. I can customize additional case studies to address your needs. VIEW MORE HISTORICAL CASE STUDIES George Washington: Growing into Leadership As a leader, the career of George Washington consists of two very different parts. One was as a younger man in his twenties and thirties. The other was as an older man in his forties, fifties, and sixties. Though Washington displayed characteristics and traits that spanned the two parts, he also approached leaderships in vastly different ways as a young man and then in his later years. These differences can be seen in visioning, acquiring positions of authority, and dealing with setbacks. Abraham Lincoln: Communication and Vision  Both before and during the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln changed his vision. He examined conditions around him, judged them against the vision that he held, and if conscience and common sense dictated it, changed his vision to reflect both new circumstances and new ideas. What didn’t change was his ability to communicate that vision. His skill at both informal and formal communication—and knowing when to use each—helped to convince followers of the need to adapt their vision, too. Martin Luther King: Communication and Dealing with Opponents, Rivals, and Enemies Few leaders in American history encountered as much varied and shifting opposition to his ideas as Martin Luther King in the civil rights movement of the 1950s and 1960s. King saw that opposition has many layers and forms. He dealt with opposition through a blend of consistent themes, modified strategies, and effective communication. King also displayed the importance of the personal and individual nature of leadership, demonstrating the power of courage and conviction. John Wooden: Teams, Development, and Leadership Many leaders work closely with small numbers of followers, though directly or indirectly they may affect hundreds or thousands of other people. John Wooden’s leadership resembled this dynamic in his career as a college basketball coach. At any given time Wooden led twelve young men, aged from nineteen to twenty-three. Wooden crafted leadership strategies to forge those individuals into a team. His leadership included an emphasis on training and development for each team member. Katharine Graham: Gaining Confidence Thrust into a formal leadership position by her husband’s suicide, Katharine Graham became publisher of the Washington Post in 1963. She ignored calls to step down and seized upon the chance to solidify the future of her children. Her leadership of the Post resulted in the corporation’s explosive growth over a thirty-year period. Graham acquired experience and expertise over time and guided the organization through some of the most difficult crises in the history of American media. Dr. Elizabeth Morgan: The Influence of Education and the Test of Challenges An outstanding plastic surgeon in Washington DC, Morgan’s experiences in medical school showed the role that educational structures play in shaping the approach to leadership. Morgan was one of the few women in medical schools in the 1960s and 1970s. She realized the limitations that educational systems have in developing one’s personal leadership. She discovered that leadership comes from forging one’s inner beliefs despite unpopularity. Later, in the 1980s, these beliefs helped Morgan cope with one of the most publicized child-custody cases. Throughout the ordeal, she remained true to her convictions and learned that leadership can be found in surprising places. Dr. Ben Carson: The Role of Spirituality and Personal Faith Ben Carson overcame a background of poverty and racial discrimination to become the United States’ foremost pediatric neuro-surgeon. Carson reached a pivotal moment in his life when he faced the decision to continue a slide into anger or redirect his energy into education. Carson relied on a series of personal mentors to develop not only his knowledge but also his leadership. He translated that awareness into action as a surgeon, showing the role of leadership in the daily work of a doctor. The 1721 Smallpox Epidemic of Boston: Leadership and Innovation Leaders often find themselves in situations where they pursue change and innovation. What surprises them is that innovation produces a variety of perspectives and agendas. Not all of them will point to the same direction. Leaders will need to understand the different goals and expectations of each other. They will also need to grasp the role of communication in advocating for innovation and be on the watch for prejudices against unorthodox sources of information. The United States Sanitary Commission in the Civil War: Leadership and the Challenge of Change and New Organizations A group of Northern men and women struggled to meet the needs of thousands of sick and wounded Union soldiers from 1861 to 1865. They clashed with each other over women’s rights, the importation of new ideas from Europe, and how to respond to unprecedented demand for medical treatment and care. They also dealt with existing bureaucracies resistant to change and perceived upstarts. Each leader discovered the complexity of pursuing change, meeting a need in the market, and fending off intrusions from rivals. The Swine Flu Controversy of 1976: Leadership and Decision-Making Decisiveness is supposed to be one of the cornerstones of leadership. In short-term and long-term crises, however, the ability to make decisions can be skewed under the pressure to “do something.” That pressure becomes especially unbearable when leaders assume that a mistake or misfortune from the past is certain to be replayed unless swift, sure decisions are made. The swine flu controversy of the mid-1970s revealed the importance of analyzing options and information independent of hasty assumptions and overworked clichés. Harry Truman: Making Decisions in Tough Times Making tough decisions is easy when you’re popular. But what about when you’re not well-liked and indeed are blamed for nearly everything that goes wrong? Harry Truman faced exactly this circumstance in late 1946. Not only did he get the blame for his political party losing the 1946 elections, but he soon confronted the issue of whether or not the United States would return to its isolationist ways or take greater risks in being a world leader. Truman maintained his ability to decide controversial issues and to promote support for new positions. Franklin Roosevelt: Planning New Visions and Maintaining Support—One of the Five Management Functions He entered the US presidency as “Dr. New Deal,” the man who would guide the nation out of the Great Depression. He left the presidency as “Dr. Win the War,” committed to directing the United States against the rising threat of fascism and militarism embodied by Germany, Italy, and Japan. Roosevelt worked as a leader to convince his followers to accept the need to change visions and to pursue a cause that many Americans had regarded as disastrous only a few years before. Jane Addams: Organizing Tasks and Staff for a Vision—One of the Five Management Functions Launched in the late 1800s in Chicago, Hull House was a new approach to helping impoverished immigrants in cities. Jane Addams not only defied conventional attitudes that said women could not be leaders, but also overturned accepted notions about the pursuit of change in industrial population centers. As a leader, Addams instructed her staff on how to define their duties and execute plans for new programs. Addams’ leadership revealed the value of tight connections between vision, goals, methods, and, ultimately, the market. Martin Luther King: Staffing and the Growth of a Leader—One of the Five Management Functions As chief executive of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), Martin Luther King was leader of an organization devoted to helping people who regarded themselves as powerless. King applied his leadership skills to drawing the most talented staff to his organization and to forging them into an effective unit. King sought to expand his approach to staffing when he moved from being minister of a church congregation to leading a sprawling civil rights organization. Harry Truman: Delegating and Decision-making—One of the Five Management Functions Delegation is simple in situations where the stakes are low. It’s a different story when the outcome can have long-lasting effects. Harry Truman demonstrated leadership skills in forging an identity among his core team members and in allowing them to have major responsibilities in pursuing one of the most volatile new foreign policies in American history. Elizabeth Morgan: Monitoring and Accountability—One of the Five Management Functions The process that produced doctors in Vietnam-era America resulted in an unusual mix of monitoring and accountability for Elizabeth Morgan. On the one hand she saw evidence of unrivaled efforts to maintain high-quality levels of patient treatment. On the other hand, though, Morgan learned that some of the habits and folkways of medical professionals undercut monitoring and accountability. In the end, a personal tragedy revealed to Morgan that the most individual sources of responsibility provide the greatest value in monitoring and accountability. The Constitutional Convention of 1787: Strategic Planning and Leadership Fifty-five delegates gathered together during the hot summer of 1787. They forged a blueprint for a new government. In the process, they encountered many of the same obstacles and challenges that we find in strategic planning today. Leaders in Philadelphia had to devise strategies and responses to complete their “strategic plan” and lay the groundwork for its implementation. These same strategies and responses can be adapted to our current circumstances in strategic planning. Florence Nightingale: Change and Reform in Leadership Nightingale’s work in nursing anticipated many of the issues and solutions that we seen in today’s healthcare environment. She confronted a powerful resistance to change. Her response to this resistance was a mixture of do’s and don’ts in leadership, each applicable to situations in the healthcare organizations of the twenty-first century.     Colin Powell and Franklin Roosevelt: Vision, Strategy, and Execution       Both leaders confronted military conflicts. Their responses showed two distinct approaches to leadership, especially how they used previous experiences to understand current issues. The lessons of Powell and Roosevelt’s leadership underscore the need to fully perceive the role that a leader’s past has on his or her behavior in present-day situations. Leadership in the Avian Flu Crisis: Lessons from the Influenza Pandemic of 1918 and Swine Flu Controversy of 1976 The handling of public emergencies is as much about leadership as it is technical details. Leadership will have a major impact on how well your organization will respond to the emerging avian flu crisis. In the examples of 1918 and 1976 you will see leadership behavior on the national and state levels as well as in an individual hospital (Methodist Hospital, Indianapolis, Indiana) Growing and Knowing Your Own: Leadership Case Studies from the History of Your Organization Learn more about the leaders who have made your organization what it is. The time in doing so will identify leadership do’s and don’ts for your aspiring leaders today, as well as crystallize the unique values of your organization. Martin Luther King, Jr: The Establishment and Maintenance of Strategic Alliances King had to find sources of power for his civil rights movement. One of those sources was connecting to other groups and organizations, known today as strategic alliances. King’s experience with the NAACP in the late 1950s and early 1960s outlines in clear fashion the best and worst approaches to strategic alliances. George Goethals: Leadership, the Completion of the Panama Canal, and the Role of Duty in Servanthood George Goethals was the man most responsible for completing the Panama Canal from 1907 to 1914. His leadership of a 40,000-person workforce was a model of the role of duty, a long-forgotten word in our world, as a fundamental aspect of servant leadership. Goethals provides a new perspective on the concepts of service, serving, and customer service in general. Mother Teresa: The Second Ring of Service She is one of the most significant figures of the 20th century. Yet, in her own way, Mother Teresa is “one of us.” Her understanding of service offers a standard that can impact our day to day leadership. And through it all, Teresa dealt with and overcame perhaps the most enormous obstacle one can face—doubt. NASA, 1957-1962: Seeking Excellence in an Imperfect Environment The National Space and Aeronautic Administration (NASA) began in 1957. By 1962 it attained what was at that time its greatest achievement, the John Glenn space mission. In this same five-year period NASA struggled with how to seek excellence in a setting where mistakes were inevitable. The leadership experience of these five years shows how the same features can be realized in your organization. Starbucks: Knowing Your History and Confronting the Fork in the Road Starbucks began in 1971. By 1987 it reached an important fork in the road. The experience of Starbucks in these years shows the need to understand the role of your organization’s history, how it affects daily operations, and its implications for making key decisions at critical junctures of growth and expansion. Beginning Pennsylvania Hospital, 1751-1756: Founding versus Starting Up The people who began North America’s first hospital, Pennsylvania Hospital, had their hands full with launching a totally new approach to health care. But in the midst of their daily crises, they understood the differences between founding and starting up. They built for the long haul. Learn how to do the same in your organization, whether in its birth or re-birth. Change and Leadership: Insights from the American Revolution, 1775-1796 We tend to think of ourselves as surrounded by a bewildering pace of change. What we don’t think of is that people have been surrounded, engulfed, and consumed with change before. The American Revolution provides penetrating insights into the effects of change on leadership and also the impact of leadership on change. The lessons are as fresh as today. A Tragic Turn: Six Leaders and the Death of Martin Luther King, Jr. King died on April 4, 1968. Six leaders in Indianapolis, ranging from Robert Kennedy, an internationally known figure, to Charles “Snooky” Hendricks, a local activist and small-time criminal, dealt with the shocking news. Find out how leadership is affected by the jolt of tragedy, and the role that leadership has in shaping that tragedy. Visit this site to purchase my book about these six leaders on that fateful night.