4 Ways JFK (Then An Underdog) Won the 60' Presidential Election.

I’m in the midst of reading Thomas Oliphant’s and Curtis Wilkie’s book titled: The Road To Camelot: Inside JFK’s Five-Year Campaign and the parallels to leadership in business are too large not to print. Many people assume Kennedy’s rise to political power was destined and easy. A father with limitless pockets, a Grandfather who was the former mayor of Boston, Ivy League educated, and access to anyone in the country — how could he not win? Even with the cards stacked so in his favor, it still takes hard work, persistence, grit, and good ol’ fashioned timing.

Politics, as in life, is not so simple. Agendas are set forth. Sentiment is won. Belief is spread. Ensuring one’s ideas and vision are executed is the goal. You likely have this in your workplace. When was the last time your idea or suggestion did not happen? How did your last performance review go? where there may not have been enough supporting refute the measly 2% raise…opposed to your colleague’s 5%? This is politics. This is life.

Look at all the wealthy, connected Senators (or Governors) who could not make it to the pinnacle of American Politics: Romney, Gore, Heinz, Kerry. These are just a few with similar power and prestige.

What did Kennedy do so well? How did he go from an unaccomplished House Rep to the President of the United States?

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1. MAKE A CLEAR DECISION WITH INTENTIONAL COMMITMENT

Ask any leader who has accomplished something of significance. It takes immense courage to start. Often times, there is little more than a vision, hope, and perseverance. The numbers are stacked against you and the only thing getting you started is belief. Kennedy had belief but he knew it was going to take a lot of work. Kennedy’s decision to run for President started in 1956 and it was an official decision he made with intention. 

“Kennedy encountered no adverse reaction from his immediate family to his interest in a presidential campaign, and nothing surfaced that made running for president objectively unwise. That left the decision up to him, and he was ready to decide.

The seminal event would be the family’s traditional Thanksgiving gathering at Joe and Rose’s house on Cape Cod….Off the living room was a small room that served as a study, and after the dishes were cleared following a typically lively dinner, it was to the study that Kennedy and his father repaired to talk about the future.”

Both JFK’s brother and mother said “the two emerged from the study smiling, with their arms around each other. At the sight, wrote Ted, “a charge of energy ran through our family.”

Kennedy later said: “If we work our assess off from now on, we’ll pick up all the marbles next time.”

Every great leader decides on the goal and makes the commitment.

2. BUILD GRASSROOTS SUPPORT OFTEN AND EARLY

Two years before Kennedy formed the official campaign for Presidency, he and his small team were being scrupulous on how they developed relationships and built a ground swell of support.

“No one outside of Kennedy’s small inner circle noticed that at every appearance or speech either Sorensen or a secretary quietly collect the names and contact information of virtually everyone with whom he met. This would lead to further exchanges between the candidate and his prospective supporters. No candidate had ever used such a tactic. When a formal campaign was formed two years later the bulging files contained roughly thirty thousands names.”

Garnering early grassroots support early was a defining strategy for winning the election.

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3. ENCOURAGE ACTION OVER ISSUES

Kennedy did not campaign on issues and bullet point plans. Instead he took a larger view at the overall shortcomings and urged action. Your company or team may or may not have a specific annual plan or goal, but what’s most important is to lay out the problems, make sure everyone knows about them, and incite action to fix them.

“Kennedy did not campaign as an issues based candidate, throwing detailed plans and proposals at audiences. Instead he attempted to awaken voters to a domestic landscape littered with unmet needs and festering problems that demanded attention. Rather than push programs, he urged personal involvement.”

4. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH PEOPLE SMARTER THAN YOU

Kennedy was a master at building a cadre of advisors, professors, and researchers around him. He always seemed to have the brightest minds in the field at a phone’s call. In your work, who are the most connected, knowledgeable team members? Find them and build a relationships with them.

“At the end of 1958, just as Kennedy was winning reelection in Massachusetts in a landslide that surprised many, a book was published by a moderately well-known MIT professor who had a more than casual relationship with him. The title, ‘The Stage of Economic Growth: A Non-Communist Manifesto,’ sounded like a textbook, but it was really a long essay… ….The author, Walt Whitman Rostow, had been kibitzing on issues with Kennedy for a year. He was a source for an unusual blend of economic as well as foreign policy material, reflecting his interests as well as his expertise. He influenced Kennedy’s thinking about subjects as wide-ranging as developing countries like India and advanced nations such as the slow growing United States of the late 1950’s.”

Rostow was not the only professor that Kennedy kept close. During one of the defining moments during his time on the Senate Labor Committee, Kennedy took a risk and made a bet crafting a bill that would show 20 million labor union members that he could get things done:

“As the Senate lawmaking process began after the dramatic hearings wound down, Kennedy imported Archibald Cox, one of the country’s top labor law experts and a Harvard Law School professor, to advise him every step of the way. Cox quickly convened his own group of experts to the help Kennedy pull together a legislative proposal that was ready the by the end of the year.”

These are two examples of dozens where Kennedy brought in experts to provide counsel to the subject and situation.

In 1961, John F. Kennedy swore in as the 35th President of the United States at the age of 44. These are 4 very good leadership examples from JFK you can take to your day to day.

Picture: JFK Library

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