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The Winston Center for Leadership and Ethics welcomed Doris Kearns Goodwin back to the Heights for the fall 2018 Clough Colloquium. Goodwin is a world-renowned presidential historian, public speaker, and Pulitzer Prize-winning and best-selling author. Her new book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, provides an illuminating exploration into the early development, growth, and exercise of leadership, and serves as an accessible and essential road map for aspiring and established leaders in every field. Goodwin had no idea when she began this project how relevant it would be to our political world today.

As a personal friend and biographer of LBJ, and a historian with a decades-long relationship with the American presidency, Goodwin has the unique ability to craft her argument about leadership based on intimate examples and insider stories of her subjects. She uncovered no single path or master recipe for great leadership, but what she calls a 鈥渇amily resemblance鈥� of traits and patterns of behavior that brought the four presidents (Abraham Lincoln,听Theodore Roosevelt,听Franklin D. Roosevelt, and听Lyndon B. Johnson) she discussed to the pinnacle of leadership: 1. Growth and development through adversity, 2. An ability to listen to and value diverse opinions, 3. The creation of a culture that motivated and inspired their teams, 4. The ability to manage themselves and replenish their energy, 5. The ability to conquer their emotions, 6. The ability to connect with all manners of people, and 7. The courage to make decisions based on the conviction of what was right regardless of the consequences. Goodwin views leaders in every field as not born but made by developing ordinary qualities to an extraordinary degree and applying hard, sustained work.

Goodwin also offered a commentary on the current state of the American political system. She asserted that while history shows us that it is character above all that matters in our leaders, leadership is also a two-way street that provides change when social movements from the citizenry connect with leadership in Washington. Goodwin encouraged students and listeners to remember that what we as individuals do now to heal our political system will make all the difference, and that history suggests that the task before us is not beyond our capacities. She concluded with an empowering statement: 鈥淭he history of our great country is our lone star in these troubled times, providing perspective, reassurance, and most importantly the stimulus to act, take up our responsibilities as citizens, and band together to heal our divisions to understand who we are as a people and where we are going.鈥�

Caitlan Griffith 鈥�20, Winston Center Undergraduate Assistant

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