[October 22, 2016] In 1868, former U.S. Army General Ulysses S Grant was elected president to an office that had bore witness to a national divisiveness over the aftermath of the great U.S. Civil War that ended just a few years before. While Grant is best known for his generalship during that war, it was what he did after the military victory that made him one of the greatest presidents in U.S. history.
Grant gives us an example of what a leader does after the victory that demonstrates true leadership. For example, we admire members of sports teams that are magnanimous after their team wins and we respect politicians who are able to bring people together after they’ve won an election. It follows that the epitome of the greatest leaders in humankind – those we hold in the highest esteem – have always been those with an ability to bring people together to achieve something people would not have done otherwise.
“Thus it is that in war the victorious strategist only seeks battle after the victory has been won, whereas he who is destined to defeat first fights and afterwards looks for victory.” – Sun Tzu
In most of recorded history and at least since the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, nations that created stable and secure postwar governments in the defeated states were themselves, as the victor, seen as among the greatest nations. Such “strategic restraint” has been the foundation for the stability throughout industrial democracies of the world today.1
As a young boy, our little league baseball coach required us to shake the hands of the other teams; win or lose. He was strongly opposed to any displays of overt pride or of taunting the other team. How we played the game was important, of course, and he referred to it as our good sportsmanship. But how we acted after the game, especially if we had won, he referred to as our goodness of character.
Reconstruction dominated Grant’s presidency.2 Unknown to many, Grant knew that the end of the U.S. Civil War brought liberation and healing, not occupation and tyranny. He pushed Congress and his own Republican Party to create what we call today “civil rights.” Grant also created an assimilationist “peace policy” toward American Indians.
Lessons leaders have learned since the beginning of time is that what they do after the victory is won is what determines their moral standing and legacy.
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- http://press.princeton.edu/titles/6981.html
- http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/23/books/review/american-ulysses-ronald-c-white.html?_r=1