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Be Presidential

February 20, 2006 By Joe Rawlinson

Today the United States celebrates President’s Day. This holiday was created to honor presidential greats George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.

Imagine for a moment if either one of these men could run your business. What would you achieve? What would you learn?

Be Like Washington

Lesson 1: Associations

Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation. It is better to be alone than in bad company. -GW

CEO Washington says:

  • Hire solid employees.
  • People will judge your business by its people.

Lesson 2: Honesty

I hope I shall possess firmness and virtue enough to maintain what I consider the most enviable of all titles, the character of an honest man. -GW

CEO Washington says:

  • Always tell the truth.
  • Tell the truth when it hurts.
  • Tell the truth even when it makes you look bad.

Lesson 3: Language

The foolish and wicked practice of profane cursing and swearing is a vice so mean and low that every person of sense and character detests and despises it. -GW

CEO Washington says:

  • Watch your tongue when speaking with customers, about customers, or in ear shot of customers.
  • Speak in a respectful tone and language with coworkers.

Lesson 4: Trouble

Worry is the interest paid by those who borrow trouble. -GW

CEO Washington says:

  • Adequate planning, management, and efforts can eliminate your troubles and thus dissipate your worries.
  • Avoid shady dealings and agreements that promise quick riches but are really nothing but trouble.

Be Like Lincoln

Lesson 1: Driving Principles

Lincoln’s words are etched in his memorial in the nation’s capital:

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in… -AB

CEO Lincoln says:

  • Don’t hold grudges. It is bad for business. Leave the wrongs of the past behind and turn your efforts to a better future.
  • It is OK to use your business success to help others.
  • Stick to your morals and be ethical. No Enron-like shenanigans.
  • Don’t give up. Keep at it until you finish.

Lesson 2: Failure

My great concern is not whether you have failed, but whether you are content with your failure. -AB

CEO Lincoln says:

  • Everybody makes mistakes. Admit them and move on.
  • How you overcome your failures speaks volumes of your personal character.

Be Presidential

Learn from these wise men and start running your business with their timeless and valuable counsel. Who knows, maybe in a few hundred years people will make a holiday to honor you and your great contributions to society.

Some quotes courtesy of BrainyQuote

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