Franklin D. Roosevelt — How Great Leaders De-stress — The Re-engineered You
On November 14th, 1943, there was a crew of battleships on their way to a war conference in North Africa. It was one of the dozen conferences that would pave the way to an allied victory in WWII, involving people such as Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin .
One of those escorting battleships, the USS Iowa, was carrying the most powerful man in America, Franklin D. Roosevelt. FDR was the 32nd president of the United States and the man who is credited for leading us out of the great depression.
While on the deck watching an anti-aircraft exercise, one of the other battleships (4th ship on the convoy), accidentally fired at the USS Iowa. Instead of fleeting and seeking safety on a lifeboat, FDR stood at the deck and watched the torpedo come towards him in complete bravery. He is the perfect representation of someone who shined under stress and never caved under pressure. So, how does one get to obtain that level of empowerment and stay calm during storms?
Myth 1: Great Leaders Thrive Under Pressure
FDR was stress-tested and battle-hardened, but what history books do not tell you is that he was not born this way; he was taught and mentored as such. FDR was a man that connected to people, empathized with them, and stayed standing tall, even when he lost his legs to Polio (which is now assumed he had Guillain Barré Syndrome). The secret behind his successes and being the highly admired four-time elected president that he was, was his ability to de-stress and keep in cortisol levels low and be surrounded by the right people teaching him at the right pace.
There was a study by Harvard University conducted by Gary Sherman and Jennifer Learner, who cheek swab tested high-status leaders, such as CEOs, who have many people under them for hormone analytics. They found that those leaders all had low cortisol levels and high testosterone. This means that they react much better under pressure and can stay calm in chaos easier. The take away from this is that stress management makes all the difference in leadership performance. FDR was in this same boat. He did not thrive under pressure; he just knew how to handle it.
Lowering Cortisol Levels
What you might not know is that FDR was a strong advocate for self-care and de-stressing. He actually spent a three-year-long fishing trip when he lost his legs to his disease. He knew how vital de-stressing was and encouraged others to do the same. This was one of the reasons he spent 2/3 of his net worth restoring a spa in Georgia and opened it up to hundreds of Polio sufferers to learn to walk again. FDR also often sent his subordinates on vacations and to his spa to relax, because he knew that high stress meant the higher probability that someone would make risky and detrimental decisions.
Myth 2: Leaders Can Empathize with Their People
This might come as a shock, but the higher the status someone is and the more people they have working under them, the less empathy they have toward their people. According to a Forbes article from the American Psychological Association, the more subordinates a leader had, the less empathetic capacity they held.
With FDR being so empathetic and admired, does this mean he was an exception? Not necessarily. You see, FDR was smart and used allied resources to help him in this connection journey. He had a charitable wife, Eleanor, and his Whitehouse private secretary Missy Lehand to help do this job for him. He listened to what they had to say, took their advice, and leveraged their ability to ally for him to spread empathy much better than if he tried to on his own. Today’s leaders need to have this tight circle and realize that a strong team is necessary for gaining inspired, connected followers.
Myth 3: Great Leaders Are Forged in Fire
Have you ever worked at a job, or watched a movie where companies put immense stress on people because it is said to build strong leaders and enhance character? Though this is still practicing all over the nation, it is not very effective. In fact, it inevitably drives true leaders away altogether. According to science, you will have a much better time revealing leaders by lowering cortisol, not raising it. A high stressed workplace is only showing off the leaders already established, not helping create new ones.
With FDR, he grew up in a wealthy home, was homeschooled, went to college twice, and was selected into the Democratic party. This sounds like a lot, but it did not happen overnight. FDR had an immense support system and mentors such as Louis Howe, to help him water his leadership skills to blossom. It was slow exposure, step by step guidance, and a leisurely pace that gave him the foundation to become an incredible idol.
In summary, no. Great leaders are not forged in the fire. They are fostered by other successful people and taking the proper time to build them up to become extraordinary.
Final Thoughts
FDR was an inspirational leader, but he was not born that way. He had help from his peers and took the slow and steady route to build his empire, all while valuing de-stressing mechanisms to keep his cortisol levels down. He knew how to relax, and he was excellent under pressure. The reality is that you can be that way too. All you have to do is find the right people to learn from, take it slow, and perfect the art of de-stressing to really learn how to be the best. Remember, no one is immune to stress, but how you manage it will determine your ceiling.
Todd Lemense
Originally published at https://www.re-engineeredyou.com on June 24, 2020.