First Name:
Haley
Last Name:
Kearns
Major Department:
History, Secondary Education
Thesis Director:
Michael Krenn
Date of Thesis:
May 2013
"Leadership doesn't matter much, until the rare moment comes when it's the most important thing." This quote from Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Gautam
Mukunda argues that leaders often "got their jobs through fluke circumstances." The fact that it takes a "rare moment" to create a great leader is the reason why there is often only one per generation. This thought is the ideal jumping off point for observing the background of those who are considered great leaders. What are the "fluke circumstances" that allowed these people to become who they are remembered as? It is a specific event, close advisor, economic high or low? Through looking specifically at Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Julius Caesar, one will delve further into the idea that it is certain factors and not the person him/herself that ultimately leads to achieving the position of great leadership. "All of our great presidents were leaders of thought at a time when certain ideas in the life of the nation had to be clarified." This quote by Franklin Delano Roosevelt conveys the idea that Roosevelt himself believed that great leaders were born out of certain circumstances, and not necessarily specific backgrounds. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was born on January 30, 1882 in Duchess County, New York to James and Sara Delano Roosevelt. Unlike most people, Roosevelt was lucky enough to be born to a well-established and extremely privileged family.