11 Oct FIRST LADY ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: “T3” LEADERSHIP:

Eleanor Roosevelt was born OTD 1884 in New York City.  She was our longest serving and most consequential First Lady (1933-1945).  Eleanor was a Humanitarian, Social Activist and Diplomat.  Th wife of our 32nd U.S. President, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR), she defined the role of First Lady on her own terms; leading an unprecedented independent life and actively playing a role in FDR’s administration.  In 1921 she encouraged and steadfastly supported Franklin’s choice to stay in politics after he was stricken with polio. Following FDR’s election as Governor of New York in 1928, and throughout the remainder of his public career, Eleanor  regularly made public appearances on his behalf.  In 1933, she became the first FLOTUS to give her own news conference in the White House. She also traveled extensively on her own and was affectionately called “First Lady of the World.”  As a U.S. delegate to the United Nations 1945-1952 she helped write the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  Her inspirational style: 

• TEAMWORK:  Eleanor sought mentors throughout her life and credits the significant roles her Boarding School Headmistress, Marie Souvestre and FDR’s political advisor Louis Howe, for played in helping her achieve goals.  According to Eleanor’s biographer, Blanche Wiesen Cook, “Eleanor had a group of women she could absolutely rely on. Her friends, Esther Lape, Lorena Hickok and Elizabeth Reed were the closest political women in her life. Malvina Thompson, her secretary and assistant, was also really important to her. You really need a support group. You really need a gang. I always say, never go anywhere without your gang. Life is about the struggle and you need a gang.”

• TONE:  Eleanor’s citations speak volumes about her positive, pragmatic outlook … “No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”  “You can often change your circumstances by changing your attitude.”  “Happiness is not a goal; it is a by-product.”

• TENACITY:  “We do not have to become heroes overnight. Just a step at a time, meeting each thing that comes up, seeing it as not as dreadful as it appears, discovering that we have the strength to stare it down.”  “You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.

An outspoken and controversial figure during much of her adult life, Eleanor Roosevelt blazed a new path for females in the public and political arena.    She could be fiercely independent and also a consummate team player.  Her empathy and compassion were incomparable.  And when it came to grit and resolve, she had no equal.  Whenever I share a keynote speech on leadership virtues, Eleanor Roosevelt is always a prominent part of the presentation!

– Rear Admiral Paul Becker, USN (Ret) is a leadership expert.  He is the CEO of The Becker T3 Group, a platform for his motivational and national security keynote speaking. A former Naval Intelligence Officer, he’s successfully led large, diverse, high-performing teams afloat and ashore in peace, crisis and combat.  In 2016, The Naval Intelligence Community established “The Rear Admiral Becker ‘Teamwork, Tone, Tenacity Award for Leadership” in his honor