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Franklin D. Roosevelt is most often considered one of the greatest historic U.S. Presidents, not only having the unique privilege of serving more than two terms but guiding the country through the two biggest back-to-back crises of the century, The Great Depression and the World War II. The primary thesis of the research is that Franklin D. Roosevelt was highly adaptable in his leadership practices, utilizing a mixed-methods approach of democratic leadership and charisma when appealing to citizens and Congress, but at times of decision-making and crisis, demonstrating a strong authoritative approach to leadership with unprecedented determination to achieve his policy goals.
In The Myth of the Strong Leader, Brown describes FDR as the bringer of strong, dominant, and confident leadership to a level that was unprecedented for the presidential office. He made concrete actions by creating policy, developing programs, and being a forceful president through his use of the veto and other presential powers. It is his terms that saw an increase in power of the office of the President, being the first to usher in the ‘modern presidency.’ He even attempted to exercise his power in more authoritarian ways, such as attempting to expand Supreme Court membership albeit unsuccessfully (Brown 113).
However, despite his head-on strong style, Roosevelt applied a fair amount of democratic leadership with mixes of charismatic leadership. FDR is well-known for his ‘fireside chats where he used the main media tool of the time, the radio to communicate with citizens and fellow leaders across levels of government. He also realized that his vision cannot be achieved solely by the power of the Presidency, as he called upon emergency sessions of Congress, and found ways to work with the opposition in passing the critical socioeconomic policy to stimulate national growth for decades to come (Elving).
The key perspective is that the mixed leadership style is relatively unique, potentially contributing to both the popularity of FDR as well as his political success in solving major crises and issues facing the US. Modern leadership theory teaches that leaders must be flexible in moving effortlessly between styles to meet changing requirements of their subordinates and the external environment (Maner). However, in the 20th century, this was not the case. Leaders tended to demonstrate either the authoritative approach by asserting power, as well-known in the examples of dictators such as Hitler, Stalin, and Mussolini, or to take a democratic or laissez-faire approach, preferring to fulfill the roles of the managers, but ultimately taking a diplomatic softer approach to policy creation and leadership, as was seen in the post-FDR presidents like Truman and Eisenhower (Brown 117).
FDR also adopted early concepts of what could be described as transformational leadership. Transformational leadership consists of leaders who work to identify needed change, create a vision to guide the change, and execute it competently. It also involves elements of democratic leadership, since transformational leadership is only possible through close tandem with members of the group (Siangchokyoo et al. 1). When FDR came into office, he famously stated, “The country needs — and, unless I mistake its temper — the country demands bold, persistent experimentation. It is common sense to take a method and try it: If it fails, admit it frankly and try another” (Bustin, 2019). FDR was known to taking the issues at hand at the time and providing an inspiring vision to arrive at the solutions to solve the problems. Not only did this generate excitement among both constituents and government officials, but also demonstrated the ability of the President to collaboratively work with colleagues in a bipartisan team (Leuchtenburg). Ultimately, it is FDR’s unique ability to utilize and seamlessly switch among these mixed leadership styles, some of which were not even conceptualized at the time, that allowed him to achieve efficiency and success on a level of true greatness in history.
Works Cited
Bustin, Greg. “5 Leadership Lessons from FDR That Inspire Reinvention During Times of Change.” Vistage, 2019, Web.
Brown, Archie. The Myth of the Strong Leader. Basic Books, 2014.
Elving, Ron. “’Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Political Life’ Examines the Personal Traits That Marked FDR for Greatness.” NPR, 2017, Web.
Leuchtenburg, William E. “Franklin D. Roosevelt: Domestic Affairs.” UVA Miller Center, Web.
Maner, Jon. “Good Bosses Switch Between Two Leadership Styles.” Harvard Business Review, 2016, Web.
Siangchokyoo, Nathan, et al. “Follower Transformation as the Linchpin of Transformational Leadership Theory: A Systematic Review and Future Research Agenda.” The Leadership Quarterly, vol. 31, no. 1, 2019, p. 101341.
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