Journalism still, in a democracy, is the essential force to get the public educated and mobilized to take action on behalf of our ancient ideals.
Doris Kearns GoodwinRead
We've got to figure out a way that we give a private sphere for our public leaders. We're not gonna get the best people in public life if we don't do that.
Interpretation
Public leaders need personal space to thrive and perform effectively in their roles.
Doris Kearns Goodwin emphasizes the importance of creating a private sphere for public leaders, suggesting that without this space, it will be challenging to attract the best individuals to serve in public life. This highlights the necessity of balancing public scrutiny with personal freedom, which is crucial for effective leadership and decision-making.
In practice
During a leadership conference to emphasize the need for privacy in effective governance.
Journalism still, in a democracy, is the essential force to get the public educated and mobilized to take action on behalf of our ancient ideals.
Once a president gets to the White House, the only audience that is left that really matters is history.
That is what leadership is all about: staking your ground ahead of where opinion is and convincing people, not simply following the popular opinion of the moment.
I am a historian. With the exception of being a wife and mother, it is who I am. And there is nothing I take more seriously.
Obama does seem to have what both FDR and Lincoln had, which is the recognition that you have to hold back at times and then wait to come forward.
Those who knew Lincoln described him as an extraordinarily funny man. Humor was an essential aspect of his temperament. He laughed, he explained, so he did not weep.
The worst disease which can afflict executives in their work is not, as popularly supposed, alcoholism; it's egotism.
When you're not engaged in the day-to-day struggles that everybody feels, you slowly start losing touch. And I think it's important for the people in the White House to have a finger on the pulse.
Your focus should be on creating an environment where growth can occur and then letting nature take its course.
It's always hard, after you've been in command, to take a lesser role.
You need people who have their own views, whose views you respect, whom you can have a productive disagreement with, and work out ideas which you might not have come up with, or who improve on ideas you had.
I have been in meetings where a head of state will say, 'I like your tie,' to a man... or, 'I like your country because the weather's good,' or whatever. So for me, the pins in some ways were openers.
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