The 80 Percent Rule (Not the 80/20 Rule) I believe it was Ronald Reagan who said about the Republican Party that there are a lot of people in it with a lot of different views, but that as long he agreed 80% with someone, he was solidly “with them.” The older I get, the more I find this to be a great rule of thumb. Certainly in politics, it must be true. In a two-party system that handles an infinite number of issues, you’re never going to agree 100% with someone. You just have to get close. That’s why it will be interesting to see how things like the candidacy of Giuliani works, with him running as a pro-choice Republican….
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Ronald Reagan
Lessons from the Gipper
There’s been much coverage in the news of Saturday’s passing of President Ronald Reagan, but I will add a new wrinkle by trying to distill down what I know and remember of The Great Communicator’s leadership style into a few simple lessons of note for CEOs. Lesson 1: Sunny optimism motivates the people you lead, but only when it’s balanced with hard-headed realism. Reagan’s message that tomorrow can be a better day than today was powerful and timely for the American psyche, but he didn’t just assume that because he said it, it would be true. He backed up his message with (a) an understanding that the American economy itself was in the doldrums in the late ’70s, and (b)…