By Dan Nielsen dan@dannielsen.com
Throughout his life, President Herbert Hoover demonstrated profound determination and perseverance. Born into poverty and orphaned as a young boy, Hoover was determined to create a better life. In his own words, Hoover’s boyhood ambition was “to be able to earn my own living, without the help of anybody, anywhere.” Raised a Quaker, he soon learned the value of hard work and integrity. Hoover grew to be an intelligent and earnest young man who though deprived of a full high school education, earned his way into the pioneer class of Leland Stanford Junior University, which opened in 1891.
Hoover graduated from Stanford with a degree in geology, but his first job out of college was anything but glamorous—shoveling ore in a California mine for $2 per day. Hoover’s determination and perseverance saw him through the backbreaking labor, and in 1897 he got the big break he needed—the London firm of Bewick, Moreing, & Co. was seeking a geologist. Included among the requirements for the position were that applicants be at least 35 years old and possess “a lifetime of experience.” Determined that this was the opportunity he was looking for, 23-year-old Hoover grew a beard, donned a top hat and tweed suit, and applied. He landed the job. This first chance at engineering led Hoover to the gold fields of the Australian outback and served to catapult his career as a mining engineer.
Over the next two decades Hoover built his fortune, traveled the world, and fulfilled his childhood dream of self-reliance and freedom from poverty. Hoover’s life was successful, but marked by difficulty. Thanks to his unfailing determination and the close partnership with his beloved wife, Lou Henry, Hoover persevered through the trials of the Australian outback, the dangerous Chinese Boxer Rebellion, the horrors of two world wars, and the challenges of a presidency that coincided with the Great Depression.
As Herbert Hoover demonstrated throughout his life, to be determined is to be firmly resolved and unwavering in decision; to be driven, persistent, purposeful, and focused.
Every leader will face adversity, deal with opposition, and make mistakes. Steadfast determination allows leaders to overcome great hurdles and achieve incredible accomplishments, making determination an essential characteristic of a strong leader.
As a leader, what are you doing to most effectively encourage and increase the determination of your team and colleagues—not just at the top, but throughout your entire organization? Are you intentional and consistent in teaching, coaching, engaging, inspiring, and empowering your team and your colleagues throughout your entire organization to be determined? Determination needs to be taught, measured, publicly recognized, and rewarded!
Adapted from Presidential Leadership: Learning from United States Presidential Libraries & Museums by Dan Nielsen. Dan is available to speak on this topic and/or facilitate learning sessions for your leadership team. To learn more please visit www.dannielsen.com/speaking.
Copyright © 2015 by Dan Nielsen – www.dannielsen.com
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