Week 23.06 Don't Be Late To Life

I had dinner with Marshall last night, and over a couple of glasses of Prosecco, we toasted and remembered the extraordinary life of Frances Hesselbein. This past weekend was the celebration of life service, honoring and celebrating her extraordinary life. She passed away at 107 this past December, leaving a legacy of friends from the highest levels of power to the most humble, changed forever for having known her. We remembered how Frances was the same no matter who she was with, President or janitor, seeing and celebrating the humanity, the divinity in each person. And in so doing, her brand of love and attention, combined with a steadfast commitment to making lives better, leaves a permanent mark on countless people. Here are just a few of Frances' frequent sayings and insights. 

Love and Be Loved in that Order. Peter Drucker famously called Frances the greatest CEO in America. The work that she did as CEO of the Girl Scouts is legendary. She brought diversity to the Girl Scouts at a time when that took courage, which she had in infinite capacity. She and Alan Mulally, the legendary CEO of Ford and a close friend of Frances, shared the same motto: "love and be loved in that order." It was evident in every interaction with her that Frances was committed to loving the people she worked with and for, always considering employees no less than peers and often as her boss. She was committed to seeing and bringing out the best in each individual, for which she expected them to be their best and share their love. 

To Serve is To Live. Frances saw leadership as a life of service. One of Marshall's favorite stories about Frances was the time Frances asked Marshall to speak at an event, to which he automatically said yes. He noted that he had been on the road for some time and would continue to travel after the talk; he asked if it would be possible to have someone help with his laundry while he was working. Frances was pleased, declaring that he was doing her a favor and the least she could do was to take care of his laundry. As Marshall began to speak to the leadership team, he saw Frances with his bundle of laundry in her arms, heading off to take care of the job. Her message to her team was clear: no work is beneath me, and none should be beneath you. At her memorial service, Secretary of Defense, retired four-star general Lloyd Austin, recounted how Frances, out of gratitude for the work of the armed forces and to set an example for the troops, would offer to scrub the floors of West Point if that provided service to the cadets. 

Be Positive. Frances was fond of recounting how her blood type was B Positive, which is how she seemed to live every moment of every day. Marshall told at dinner how when he visited her in her final days, weak from lack of food and liquids at the age of 107, when she saw Marshall, she lit up with a big smile. In response to his question, she declared she was doing great and wanted to hear what he was up to. She was celebrating life to the end. In 2009, Frances was appointed the Class of 1951 Chair for the Study of Leadership at the United States Military Academy at West Point, in the Department of Behavioral Sciences and Leadership. She was the first woman and the first non-graduate to serve in this chair. She was 94 years old and, in that role, significantly impacted countless cadets and the people they led.

Not everybody can be Frances. It is incredible that anybody was. She possessed a vitality and love of life and people. She partied hard and often long into the night, even late into her years. And she always retained sight of her primary goal, to improve the lives of those she touched and to support the growth of leaders so they could improve the lives of the people they led. She accomplished this with consistency to her values, a heart of gold, and a backbone of titanium. Her life demonstrated what is possible for one person to achieve in a lifetime and, equally important, that there is always time in life to make a significant impact. My favorite expression of Frances', which I had the privilege to hear from her directly during one of the celebrations I shared with her, was "don't be late to life." Frances woke up each morning, got herself ready, and brought her best to each day and to everyone lucky enough to meet her. Her messages are timeless, and we would all be better if we kept a little of Frances's love in our hearts. She certainly had enough for everyone.

A Lifetime Of Selfless Service To The Nation by Diane M. Ryan

Hesselbein was born in South Fork, Pennsylvania, in 1915 and lived more than half of her life in nearby Johnstown, Pennsylvania. She often described this community as “big coal, big steel, big hearts” and credited it with developing her appreciation for the inherent worth of all people and preparing her for a lifetime of service. Following years as a Girl Scout troop leader and United Way volunteer, Hesselbein accepted her first paid job in 1970, directing the regional Girl Scout Council in Western Pennsylvania. Six years later she was invited to New York City to interview for the CEO role of a declining national organization — a position no internal candidate had ever held in over 50 years. Among her many accomplishments include reversing a sharp decline in membership by adding over a quarter million new members and 130,000 adult volunteers; tripling underrepresented minority membership; implementing a new series of handbooks ensuring all types of girls were represented and introducing new badges for topics of growing importance including STEM, leadership and physical fitness, and instituting a professional leader development program designed by Harvard Business School. 

Her success prompted leadership scholar Peter Drucker to declare her “the best leader in America” and, in 1990, she was the first woman and the first non-profit leader to be featured on the cover of BusinessWeek magazine. That same year, she stepped down from Girl Scouts and became the founding director for the Peter Drucker Institute for Non-Profit Management, subsequently named Leader to Leader Institute, and then renamed the Frances Hesselbein Leadership Institute. “Frances Hesselbein was one of the most impactful and admirable ‘Level 5’ leaders of the last century,” bestselling author and subsequent Class of 1951 Chair Jim Collins noted. “She taught me that one of the greatest sources of energy is leadership done in a spirit of service. Her most enduring impact is through the multitude of leaders — in business, in the military, in the social sectors — inspired by the guiding principle of her life: ‘To serve is to live.’ We have lost an irreplaceable light in our world, and in our lives. Her greatest gift was her uplifting example.”

Frances Hesselbein, transformative leader of Girl Scouts by Emily Langer in the Washington Post

At the Girl Scouts and in her nonprofit leadership training, Mrs. Hesselbein practiced and promoted what she described as a “circular management” style, rather than a traditional hierarchical reporting structure, to include more people in decision-making. “The more power you give away, the more you have,” she told the Christian Science Monitor in 1992. “I truly believe in participatory leadership, in sharing leadership to the outermost edges of the circle.” Her aversion to hierarchical language became known to Clinton, who gamely respected her preferences when he awarded her the Medal of Freedom. “Since Mrs. Hesselbein forbids the use of … words like ‘up’ and ‘down’ when she’s around,” he said, to laughter in the assembled audience, “I will call this pioneer for women, volunteerism, diversity and opportunity not up, but forward, to be recognized.”

With love, gratitude and wonder for the glorious Frances! Scott