By Howard Mason
I have been touched by the coverage this past week of the passing of Senator Edward Kennedy.
Ted or Teddy, as he was known, lived an extraordinary life. He came from wealth and privilege but worked tirelessly for the common good. He was the youngest and viewed to be the least promising in his family. He made mistakes in judgment that called his character into question, but redeemed himself over a lifetime of commitment to advancing the common good.
He has become an inspiration to people of all walks of life and political persuasions.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter of Harvard Business School summed up a few of the lessons that I would like to take from Teddy’s life of service:
Remember that performance is everything. Kennedy did not rely on dynasty as destiny. He rolled up his sleeves and mastered the details, and he kept studying and learning as the issues changed. Even when Kennedy could not move the needle forward on really big change (health care reform), he supported incremental improvements (children’s health insurance), which meant that he survived in office long enough for his big agenda to come close to being enacted.
Find a higher purpose. Focus on values first, and suspend ego. Ted Kennedy believed in public service as an honorable profession and in government as a vehicle for helping all citizens get their chance for high quality of life. Once he found his core mission (after losses and setbacks), it was clear where he stood and who he stood for - other people who needed a voice because they couldn’t always speak for themselves.
Keep going: Ted Kennedy faced numerous public crises, any one of which could have destroyed him, yet he proved resilient and able to learn. Through strong efforts on behalf of the greater good, he restored confidence in his leadership. The incident at Chappaquiddick in which a young woman drowned nearly drowned his career, too; far from showing courage, he ducked accountability. But Kennedy bounced back by redoubling his efforts to do his job well. He fumbled in his bid for the Democratic Presidential nomination in 1980, but recovered by devoting even more energy and passion to his work in the Senate.
Never forget family. Ted Kennedy was a model for hard working dads. De facto father to several touch-football-game’s worth of children (his own and those of his late brothers and formidable sisters), he organized weekend outings to Civil War battlefields and made sure they studied their history lessons. Family was at the center of his satisfaction in life. The consummate professional whose greatness grew every year was still, at heart, a family man. His concern for relationships, and the love that guided his family through numerous tragedies, gave him the strength to take on tough challenges.
Read Kanter’s complete blog about Teddy Kennedy here: http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/kanter/2009/08/ted-kennedys-leadership-lessons.html
General
Common good, Life lessons, Live United, Ted Kennedy