Is the bully pulpit always successful

Theodore Roosevelt speaking to a crowd in Asheville, NC (1902)

“President Roosevelt, sitting at his desk, was reading to a few friends a forthcoming message. At the close of a paragraph ‘of a distinctly ethical character’ he wheeled about and said: ‘I suppose my critics will call that preaching, but I have got such a bully pulpit!’”8 This Roosevelt quote published in the New York Times coined a term that is still widely used today. The bully pulpit is an office or position that provides the incumbent with an immense opportunity to speak out on an issue. Roosevelt’s theory of the president as a steward of the people was naturally conducive to the beginning of the rhetorical presidency and the view of the executive as a bully pulpit. Seeing himself as governing in the interest of the country, he spoke directly to the American people very frequently. Roosevelt ushered in the era of the rhetorical presidency whereas the president uses popular rhetoric as a principal technique of presidential leadership.9 Every president to follow Roosevelt has used this as a tool to garner and mobilize public opinion to their favor. This is evident when considering the advent of modern technology and the use thereof such as: the first radio broadcast of the State of the Union, FDR’s fireside chats, and Jimmy Carter’s energy crisis televised address.

Political cartoon depicting three Republican Stalwarts attempting to block Roosevelt's proposed railroad regulations against public opinion

The Iroquois Club Banquet awaiting a speech by President Theodore Roosevelt at an auditorium in Chicago, IL. (May 10, 1905)

The Roosevelt administration used the bully pulpit most effectively to pass the Hepburn Act. The Hepburn Rate Act of 1906 gave vast power to the Interstate Commerce Commission to regulate railroad shipping rates.10 This act was an expansion of the Elkins Act of 1903 which had loopholes that railroad executives were too pleased to use. The bill passed through the House of Representatives with ease but did not have the same luck in the Senate. The Senate held drawn out public hearings and ultimately took enough time so that a vote would not be able to take place before Congress’ summer recess. Roosevelt saw the passage of this bill as of utmost importance and in the spring of 1905 he embarked on a campaign trip in support of the Hepburn Act. In Chicago at the Iroqoius-Republican club, Roosevelt declared that the first step toward better oversight of corporations, “should be the adoption conferring upon some executive body the power of increased supervision and regulation of the great corporations engaged primarily in interstate commerce of the railroad.”11 Roosevelt traversed the Southwest and Midwest to much success and returned with the same purpose the following fall. Upon his return to the White House and with public opinion on his side, the Hepburn Rate Act passed through the Senate comfortably in the late winter and early spring of 1906. Even senators who were in opposition to the bill were too afraid of voting against the public opinion that Roosevelt had masterfully amassed in the year since the Senate failed to vote on it. It is worth noting that the president’s political party was in opposition to the bill the entire way and it still passed. The power of Theodore Roosevelt as a bully pulpit cannot be understated.

It is difficult to understand the importance of the beginning of the rhetorical presidency and its bully pulpit in a contemporary lens. In the 21st century world leaders are able to communicate with the public digitally or in person on a whim to persuade or mobilize public opinion. Roosevelt set this precedent and by doing so increased the power of future presidents to lead the charge in policy-making. Before Roosevelt's ascension to the presidency, many presidents had solely been a pen-wielding figurehead who sat on the back-burner of domestic policy creation.

8 “Roosevelt Administration.” New York Times, 4 Mar. 1909, pp. 8

9 Sidney Milkis and Michael Nelson, The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2002 (CQ Press, 2007)

10 The Interstate Commerce Act: Full Text of the Act to Regulate Commerce as Amended to Date Including the Elkins and Hepburn Acts (Railway Age, 1906). //hdl.handle.net/2027/hvd.hl4nbd

11 Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Roosevelt Papers: Series 5: Speeches and Executive Orders, -1918; Subseries 5B: "White House Volumes," 1901 to 1909; Vol. 11, 1905, Mar. 4-June 22. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/mss382990708

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As he prepares to assume the presidency of the United States on Friday, Donald Trump formally inherits the world’s most powerful platform for communicating. No, not Twitter! It’s called the "bully pulpit," a term coined by President Theodore Roosevelt near the turn of the 20th century to mean a platform or position of influence from which to carry out an agenda.

Today, however, we see many leaders using the bully pulpit to literally bully others into accepting his or her particular point of view. In Roosevelt’s time, the term "bully" was used to mean something was wonderful, excellent or good. So, a bully pulpit meant an excellent and legitimate platform from which to express his or her views.

In both these instances, the bully pulpit is an effective medium to convey messages, but leaders every moment are faced with a choice of how to best use it. Will they bully others into line with their position, or help others understand and adopt their position?

Here are five ways you as a leader can better exercise the power of your position’s bully pulpit:

1. Shape the bully pulpit to fit your personality as you work on your flaws.

In her book, The Bully Pulpit, Doris Kearns Goodwin provides fascinating insights into the relationship between the two former presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Kearns explains Roosevelt’s admiration for Taft (his secretary of war before succeeding him as president). Early on, Roosevelt recognized qualities in Taft that he himself lacked, such as Taft’s capacity for personal intimacy with people.

Kearns also notes that Taft “marveled at Roosevelt’s self-confidence, talent for publicity, delight in confrontation, and rousing rhetorical manner.” Taft exercised the bully pulpit, too, but in a much different way that best reflected his identity and character.

Properly exercised, the bully pulpit should reflect the leader’s personality, strengthening a natural and genuine extension of the leader’s communications relationship with followers. Don't just be yourself when using the bully pulpit; seek to be your best self.

2. Communicate a greater common good, not your personal interests.

As the nation’s top chief executive, Roosevelt understood his role to lead the public toward the common and greater good. He wrote: “I do not represent public opinion; I represent the public. There is a wide difference between the two, between the real interests of the public and the public’s opinion of those interests.”

The lesson for leaders: If you want followers to really listen, don’t prevaricate to curry favor or boost your popularity. Focus on the organization’s real aim and the means to achieve that aim. Employee and customer surveys can help identify obstacles and barriers to achieving goals, but the real good — not popular sentiment — should drive the message. Use the bully pulpit to sharpen the organization's focus on achieving the noble purpose it exists to pursue.

3. Connect directly with followers to bust up the status quo.

Leaders who understand the nature of the bully pulpit are never captive to the chain of command. Kearns says in her book that the new President Roosevelt “struggled to reconcile party allegiance with the drive to address social problems, a balancing act that became more difficult as the troubling aspects of industrialization intensified.” Roosevelt came to understand the reactionary orthodoxy of his own party that “distrusted anything that was progress.” So, he made his appeals directly to the people. Trump took on the status quo of the establishment much the same way.

Status quo thinking is resistant to progress. Bob Benmoeshe, the late CEO of AIG, was a big man who understood how to use the bully pulpit of his position to change AIG for good. He traveled constantly throughout the vast company pushing and prodding his employees to bust through the status quo. It worked. Benmoeshe brought AIG out of the financial crisis, repaid the government fully plus interest, and restored the company’s balance sheet and reputation.

4. Channel your energy and enthusiasm to activate the emotions of followers.

Theodore Roosevelt’s energy was legendary. Trump’s stamina and energy in the 2016 election was a remarkable contrast to Clinton’s, who often required extended periods of rest to recover from campaigning. In contrast, Trump sometimes did up to six or seven election rallies in a day, infusing and gathering energy from his self-made bully pulpit. The result was a visible “enthusiasm gap.” Occupants of the bully pulpit must demonstrate vitality if they hope to inspire the confidence of followers.

Sometimes senior executives are too tentative in using the bully pulpit, fearful their flaws will be exposed, and thus, squandering opportunities to show passion for their company’s products and services. The bully pulpit sorts the weak from the strong; the genuine from the counterfeit.

5. Bypass formal communications mediums to get your message out.

Kearns explains the tension between power and the press in the Roosevelt-Taft era and how the emergence of the new technology of print photography changed communications by putting a face to the names in print.

Trump sensed and exploited a different tension — between the people and the press — and turned the bully pulpit against the ubiquitous medium of the modern press itself, shaming and attacking them for their liberal bias. He went around establishment journalists going directly to his audience through rallies, Twitter, alternative news channels and sympathetic talk show hosts. Are you using alternative information platforms to broadcast and control your message?

As part of your leadership learning this year, study how past leaders have used the bully pulpit. Roosevelt and Taft may be one place to start, but don’t limit yourself to that single time period. Understanding the various ways this unique platform has been used throughout history holds valuable communications lessons for all leaders.