CHAPTER 1Set One Priority
Successful presidents, better than me, have been successful in large part because they know how to time what they're doing. Order and decide on priorities.
—Joe Biden
In this chapter and later in the book, we will be invoking the work of great leadership thinkers like Peter Drucker (The Effective Executive), Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers), and Jim Collins (Good to Great) to help evaluate and put in context Joe Biden's actions as president. Drilling down, we will draw comparisons to see how closely Biden's leadership style adhered to certain tenets of leadership established by these thought leaders.
Focus on One Thing
The most prominent management thinker of the past century is Peter Drucker.1 His many principles have stood the test of time. Drucker famously said that he did not know one effective executive who could focus on more than one priority at a time. Joe Biden knew this well.
Biden knew that he would be judged by how effectively he dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic. Biden knew that he, Biden, would judge himself even harsher on his response to Covid-19. It is no wonder then that Biden's first reflex was to act, to do something, or to at least try to make things better for people. If there was ever a time in which that earnest form of presidential leadership was needed, it was when Biden took the oath of office in the middle of the pandemic, the likes of which the world had not experienced in a century.
In his first weeks and months in office, ...
Get The Joe Biden Way now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
