Teddy Roosevelt: Leadership Lessons

On Thursday, April 27, 2023, after 30 years of teaching, Dr. George Grant, our own statesmen hero, delivered his final lecture as lead Humanities lecturer at Franklin Classical School. We thank him wholeheartedly for his leadership and devotion to this community of his founding. Below is part two of an excerpt from his final lecture.

The private life is the proving ground for the public.

This is a lesson we seem to have forgotten We put ideology or economics or policy above character The result is we have people in public life who simply aren’t fit Character is the firm foundation of the private life that is necessary to build a public life.

Leaders make the most of every opportunity. Sometimes opportunities look scarce or small. Sometimes they don’t look like opportunities at all. But leaders see glimmers of promise where no one else does And they march onward, come what may Hard work is necessary in order to lead

If you want to lead, you must read. Learning is necessary for leading. Teddy read widely. His library at Sagamore Hill on Long Island in New York is a museum today, and you can see how well used the books are.

The role of the leader is to serve as a moral compass.

The purpose of the leader isn’t to do everything No one can do everything The person who acts like a Nam-Lugal wrecks everything

The purpose of a leader isn’t to come up with great innovative policies but rather to serve as a moral compass through the situation.

A leader must overcome tremendous obstacles. This is just the nature of leadership in this poor fallen world A leader doesn’t simply assess the obstacles but assails them If you stand for anything, you will be shot at If you take any kind of controversial stand, your character and motivations will be questioned. A leader has to just say, okay this is simply a part of it.

Failure is the backdoor to success.

Roosevelt ruined his career more times than almost any other politician ever He was told not to ruin his career by going off the Spanish-American War, but he did He walked away from the Republican Party He was willing to fail in order to do what was right Failure is the back door to success. If you admit the mistakes, confess your sins, learn from your errors, in the same way the gospel offers forgiveness, failure can grow you.

A leader will always prefer to be faithful than famous.

He knew from whence his strength came and yearned to be faithful to the gospel A leader’s faith must be firmly established A leader must be accountable, connected, and plugged into a local parish and community of faith.

There is no place like home.

With all of his travels and experiences, Roosevelt still believed the best place on earth was home. Churchill used to say, "A day away from home is a day wasted " That’s actually a line he stole from Teddy Roosevelt

The White House was like a zoo, literally, with ponies, zebras, peacocks and chickens, and sometimes when they were in the house. Teddy would take a little Shetland pony into the residence quarters and take his children on pony rides through the White House.

With great privileges come great responsibilities. Roosevelt understood that because of the privileged position he had in many people’s eyes, if he stumbled and fell or became either prideful or complacent, it would be devastating As a result, he showed us what is possible when a great man leads the way

"Faithfulness is a virtue rarely produced in a state of calm, unruffled repose It flourishes in adversity It kindles in the hour of danger and rises to deeds of renown "

Three Generations of the Grant Family are part of FCS.