Patience and perseverance are a necessity for effective leadership, so thought one of America’s and the world’s greatest leaders, George Washington. Washington took the role as this country’s first Commander in Chief and the country’s first President. While he is remembered as a great American hero, it is important to understand that the American Revolution was never a breeze for Washington. It certainly isn’t just the glorified stories of Yorktown and crossing the Delaware River, which everyone knows and celebrates. Unquestionably those are big factors and great testaments to Washington, but the Revolution is far more complex than those heroic episodes. Surprisingly enough, Washington suffered many bad defeats at the hands of the British and German forces. There were periods of time where his defeats far outnumbered his victories. The struggling colonies thought on more than one occasion that maybe he wasn’t the right man for the job. Washington had men and boys who had never seen the light of a cannon let alone a battlefield. His army can certainly go down in history as one of the more pathetic. There was never any rhyme or reason, no uniforms, rarely were there ever-proper supplies. To make matters worse, he was going up against the most powerful military in the world, and England over time would prove to throw everything she could at Washington.
Yet Washington never gave up, he realized on numerous occasions that patience and perseverance were the only strategies worth living. He was also not foolish, when he and the remainder of his army were left in New York, Washington realized that it would be a slaughter if he tried to stay and defend New York, so he anchored one of the most daring escapes in modern history. Soldiers, horses, cannons, weapons, and supplies all across a river and out of Brooklyn before dawn. When the British got there the next day there was nothing but a few burning embers. Washington knew that at some point he was going to have to strike, because his army was being pushed back so rapidly and he realized he could not retreat forever. Washington also knew that this war (if fought the right way) would not be over quickly. He knew that if he exerted some patience, he might be able to regroup in time for one last offensive stand to save his country.
Throughout all of this planning, all of these failures, all of the hardships that his men were going through, Washington suffered right along with them. Numerous times during battle, he would be at the front of the lines barking out orders or rallying his troops for a final push. Washington on countless occasions was able to take his troops from utter destruction to confidence and victory. Washington was a leader in every sense of the word. Washington believed in his cause, he believed in his country, and even though no one else did, he believed in his men. He took what he had, and laid the structure for the most powerful country in the world. Washington understood leadership at its basic foundation: “A people unused to restraint must be lead, they will not be drove.”
The reason I am telling this story is because so many of us know George Washington for being the nations first President, and being the face on the dollar bill, and being the namesake of our nations capitol. But few truly know him as a leader. When he crossed the Delaware on Christmas Eve 1776 (which he crossed and re-crossed three times I believe), he knew that this might be the last shot, he knew that what he was putting his men through was pure hell, he knew that everything he had fought for was hanging in the balance. With the successful capture of Trenton, and than another battle won up the road, Washington was able to gain back the confidence from his people that he once lost. Again after the debacle at Valley Forge, Washington never lost sight of his goal. When his officers were planning a rebellion, Washington gave them an impassioned speech, which brought some to tears. When the colonies started to pull out supplies and support and Congress got restless, Washington time and time again went to bat for his men. He knew that they were his responsibility; their livelihood depended upon his success.
Washington’s success made him the most powerful man in America, but at the end of the war in a ceremony before congress, General Washington turned in his sword and resigned as Commander in Chief. An unprecedented move historically. Of all the great military leaders of history (which Washington certainly is one of them), Napoleon certainly wouldn’t have done that neither would Caesar. Washington realized that his duty was over. At one point during the war, Congress had granted him ultimate power. He essentially could have become a dictator if he had so chosen. Yet Washington realized that the cause of the country was his cause. Washington was driven to win, and to fight for the freedom of his new country. He was not driven by power. The responsibility that our country put on Washington was great, but the effort that Washington gave back was even greater. After serving eight years as President, Washington was called on by his country one last time. Than President John Adams re-commissioned Washington as General and Commander in Chief to forge a plan for French advancements in the southeast. There was much fear of an attack. Once again Washington came to the call of leadership. It was his call, one that he was always willing to answer.
I wanted to start my series with Washington because I think that he represents everything that leadership is. Time and time again during the war, Washington wrote to Congress and pleaded for ”perseverance and spirit,” “patience and perseverance,” and unremitting courage and perseverance.” All he was asking Congress for was what he had shown to his men, and his country. Washington never made unrealistic demands; he never did anything to better himself if it meant that his men or his country would suffer. He never asked anything of his men or his country that he would not do himself. Washington had the patience and perseverance to stick to a war that many had given up upon. When things looked there bleakest, when the road came to the end, Washington kept going. He continued to push forward toward the goal of his new country. He wasn’t perfect by any means, he made a lot of mistakes (mostly from inexperience), and he got lucky a time or two, but when the going got tough, Washington got going. David McCullough wrote that “without Washington’s leadership and unrelenting perseverance, the revolution almost certainly would have failed.” Patience and perseverance are essential to effective leadership, and George Washington had both. General Nathanael Greene wrote that Washington would “be the deliverer of his own country.” Thankfully for all of us, he was right.
