On Judgment - What John W. Gardner Told Me about Leadership

John W. Gardner

Perhaps no writer on leadership has made a greater contribution to American life than John W. Gardner (1912-2002). I learned about him through his books, Excellence (1961), Self-Renewal (1964), In Common Cause (1972), On Leadership (1990) and others. He was Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare during the Lyndon Johnson administration, and he founded the "Common Cause" organization and the "White House Fellowship" program. And these were only a few of his accomplishments.

In 1979 I was a finalist in the White House Fellowship program. I wasn't one of the lucky ones ultimately chosen, but during the selection process it was my was good fortune to sit next to John Gardner during lunch. We engaged in pleasant small talk, but realizing that my one-on-one time with him would be brief, I cut to the chase with this question:

"Mr. Gardner, in your opinion what is the most important attribute of a leader?"

He paused a couple beats, then said: "Judgment."

His answer surprised me. I expected him to say something like vision, courage or creativity.

"Why do you think judgment is so important?" I asked.

"Because a leader is at the center of decision-making. And each time a decision is made, actions and consequences follow, which become the future. If a leader's judgment is flawed, the consequences can be horrible. For everyone."

It was an authoritative answer, the kind that required no follow up and inspired no rebuttal. I was a major in the U.S. Army at the time, and I thought of myself as a leader. I studied leadership and practiced what I learned. I wondered if I had good judgment. I knew that good judgment isn't in the genes; we aren't born with it. We acquire it through experience without thinking about it. I wondered if it were possible for a mature adult to consciously develop greater powers of judgment, and if so, how. These questions caused my mind to race. In fact, I don't remember anything else about that conversation.

That was over 30 years ago. I understand a lot more about judgment today than I did then.

For example, I've learned which part of the brain performs the mental operation we call "judgment." It's the prefrontal cortex - the lobe area right behind the forehead. That's the part of the brain that "connects the dots." It associates facts and data to create comprehension and meaning. It relates cause and effect, which allows us to envision future events. It's often called the "executive" part of the brain, because it coordinates functions such as evaluation, logic, intuition, creativity, problem solving, decision making, planning, organizing and managing. Important stuff! In fact, these abilities, along with language, are what make us so much smarter than other animals.

Also, I've learned that this is the last part of the brain to develop itself, a process that begins at puberty and continues throughout adolescence. At the onset, countless dendrites blossom from every brain cell, jamming the prefrontal cortex with unconnected wiring. This is why judgment is so hard for teens; it's like pulling yourself up by your own bootstraps. But as a young person makes the effort, the prefrontal cortex steadily wires itself. At the end of that twelve-year period, the developmental window closes and all the dendrites that weren't used regularly are absorbed by the body, leaving one's foundation for judgment. Whether that foundation is minimal or robust depends on how much critical thinking the adolescent exercised.

As an adult, you can continue to improve your powers of judgment by exercising them. This causes more dendrites to connect with the wiring already in place. This means there are limits to how much you can improve your judgment. You can't build a huge edifice on a tiny foundation. The bottom line - those teen years are awfully important!

I wish I could have explained all this to Mr. Gardner. I'm sure he knew that judgment was something that happened in the brain and would have loved knowing the brain science explanation.

But even brain scientists didn't know about this back in 1979.

On the other hand, you and I know about it today. It's very empowering information. Maybe you can use this understanding to help some kids you know use their teen years well to prepare for the challenges of adult life.

Some of John W. Gardner's judgment...

On CHARACTER - “Some people strengthen the society just by being the kind of people they are.”

On CREATIVITY - “The creative individual is particularly gifted in seeing the gap between what is and what could be.”

On EXCELLENCE -  "Excellence is doing ordinary things extraordinarily well." 

On OPTIMISM - “We are all faced with a series of great opportunities brilliantly disguised as unsolvable problems.”

On SELF-AWARENESS -  “Life is an endless process of self-discovery.”

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2012. Building Personal Strength . (Photo in public domain, official government publicity photo)

The Consequence Paradox - Don't Go There

Have you ever looked back on your life and regretted a bad decision? "If only I had ...." I know I have.

My first marriage ended in divorce after eight years. Looking back, I realize that I rushed into it too quickly. I married her only a week after graduation from West Point. I was only 22 years old, and I didn't know much about myself, relationships or women at that age. I probably should have spent more time getting to know her. If I had, I may have discovered the differences between us, which became all too obvious later. I had a lot to learn, but I was impatient to make my life happen.

Five years after the divorce, I made another decision that had momentous consequences. I was a finalist for a White House Fellowship. About a dozen candidates are chosen each year to be special assistants at the White House or to cabinet members - for a year. The selection is usually a stepping-stone for greater success. As a finalist, I thought my interviews were going well and I had an excellent chance of being selected. But my final interview held a surprise. The man was famous, an influential member of the selection committee. He asked me a direct question about an issue that mattered a lot to him. I had done my homework, and I knew where he stood. But I opposed his point of view. Should I tell him what he wanted to hear? If I did, I thought I had a great chance to be selected. Or should I be honest and express my disagreement. I decided to be honest; and sure enough, I was not selected.

It was a traumatic introduction to the world of politics.

In the past, I have sometimes revisited these decisions - and others - and thought, "What if...?"

I've since learned to appreciate how pointless and counterproductive it is to do this. One obvious reason, of course, is that you don't get a redo. It's impossible to go back and relive these situations.

But the more important reason has to do with what I call the "Consequence Paradox." It goes like this. You may have made a weighty decision, and later you may understand that it wasn't a good call. And unfortunate consequences may have happened as a result. Very likely your life would have been different, perhaps better in many ways, if you had done something else.

But what you fail to acknowledge is that some good things flowed from your "bad choice" as well.

For example, my first marriage didn't turn out well, but we had two sons. These two guys, now about 40 years old, are very important to me. I count them among my best friends. I can't bear the thought of losing them, or life without them. But that's the way things would be if I hadn't married their mother all those years ago, if I had chosen differently.

As for the White House Fellowship, yes, my life would have been quite a bit different. I can't even imagine all the good things that would have happened and what would have become of me if I had had that opportunity.

But surely some bad things would have happened, too. Also, the things that matter most to me now - my wife, my friends, my business, my partners, my work, my home - none of these things would have happened. I'd be a much different person doing much different things somewhere else. I never would have met my wife, the most important person in my life. Unthinkable.

That's the Consequence Paradox. No matter what you choose to do, there will be consequences, and these consequences will lead to others, and so on in a cascade of consequences into the future. And very likely many of these consequences will end up being a huge, wonderful part of your life.

And that's why it's foolhardy to play the "If only..." game. Regret is a natural reaction, but you need to walk away from it as soon as possible. Move on and make the most of your life. Rekindling regret is one of the stupidest things a human being can do, because it can lead to depression and wrong thinking - unnecessarily.

Affirm it all. Yes, learn from the past, but don't second-guess yourself. Let it go. Affirm those old choices as part of what happened way back then. Affirm the good things that have happened since. And continue to make the most of what you have each day.

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength . (Permission to use photo purchased from istockphoto.com)

The White House Fellowship, Lady Bird Johnson and Texas Bluebonnets

In 1979, I applied for a White House Fellowship. I thought to myself, I'm not your average Army officer. So I tackled the 20-page application, which itself screens out thousands of potential applicants. I was surprised when I was selected to be a regional finalist. A group of 20 excellent people were interviewed in St. Louis for two days. Again, much to my surprise, I was one of the two selected from this group to go to Washington for the national final selection process.

Being a White House Fellow can be a life-altering experience. For one thing, doors open that lead to rare opportunities. So I prepared diligently. For weeks I did background research on 30 national issues so I could speak intelligently about almost anything they could ask me. 

My interviews went very well, and I was optimistic. But 1979 wasn't the year they were looking for white male military officers. For a while, I felt disappointed, but that passed quickly and I'm delighted with the way my life turned out. If I had been selected, my life would have played out differently. I wouldn't have learned what I know now, I wouldn't be involved in my current business, I wouldn't be married to my wonderful wife, Kathleen, and - horrors - I wouldn't be telling you about this in a blog post. 

One of the benefits of the Fellowship selection process was the opportunity to spend time with the Commissioners who interviewed us. One of these was Lady Bird Johnson. I asked her what she had been doing since her time in Washington, and she said she was trying to get some bills through the Texas legislature. One of the bills had to do with the beautification of Texas. She wanted wildflowers to be planted along the roads and highways of Texas. 

In the end, she got her way. Today, one of the validations of spring in Texas is the appearance of a diversity of native wildflowers along state roads and highways. This time of year, Texans everywhere get in their cars and drive along country roads to view amazing vistas of wildflowers. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center in Austin carries on the tradition of research and proliferation of wildflowers in Texas.

One of the first wildflowers to appear is the the bluebonnet, the Texas State Flower. Right now and for the next couple of weeks, we'll see them everywhere in the Hill Country. My wife took these photos yesterday. The first is a single bluebonnet stalk:

And a field of them...

With this kind of glorious display going on, it's so much easier to be in the moment, mindful and aware of what's around me. If you don't have spring yet where you are, trust me, it's on its way.

Post by Dennis E. Coates, Ph.D., , Copyright 2010. Building Personal Strength .