Leadership—Benjamin Franklin Was The Man

As a kid, I often visited the Franklin Institute. Now as an adult I am even more excited about the museum. Benjamin Franklin was a bad-ass! If you are going for living a great life and if you’re interested in learning about effective leadership while being entertained I highly recommend his autobiography and other books that are written about him.

Last year I chose Benjamin Franklin as part of a masters degree in transformational leadership and coaching and I’m so glad I did. He is so American and reading about him helped me understand myself as an American.

By living his life as a process, he experienced life with an abundance beyond his commonplace upbringing, while massively and positively impacting the world. Below are some points I synthesized with Dr. Judith’s Wright’s Grounded Theory research on what it takes to be an Evolator—a transformational leader that transforms again and again—like Ben, who was dedicated to living life as an agent of change.

Stages of Dedicating

Stages of Dedicating include Self-interest, Authoring, Serving and being an Agent of Evolating.[1] These stages are a process that an Evolator like Benjamin Franklin cycles through again and again. Early in his life he acted with self-interest by leaving home. He looked to great thinkers in books to be his teachers even though he did not attend college. He determined what he liked and he learned to think for himself and to Author his own life experience.[2] He was then really able to serve others, something important to him, not simply because it was expected of him, but because he valued it. By having a more secure identity he was able to affect greater change in the world. He lived as an Agent of Evolating.

Choicing

Choicing “is a value-based approach of taking responsibility for full living.”[3] Ben Franklin formed the Junto, a group of twelve men who valued learning and positively influencing the community. He did this so he would have an environment that stimulated new ideas, plus the foster the necessary relationships needed to actually implement the new ideas. He demonstrates Choicing again, when the topic of growing the Junto was proposed. Rather than watering the group down with too many people, Franklin “generates a new choice in consonance with his own Evolating.”[4] Each member of the Junto formed a new group of twelve, which they oversaw, individually.[5]

Investing

Another property of Dedicating is Investing. For an Evolator, Investing means they invest in their values and their own process of transformation. It may mean “making personal sacrifices in the service of Evolating.” Benjamin Franklin repeatedly offered his discoveries and inventions to the public at “no cost.” He was opposed to creating patents, even though he undoubtedly would have made a lot more money if he had. An even more profound example is how he invested in possibilities. He was more concerned with creating conditions for positive outcomes and allowing for compromise, then he was with being right. By having an open mind, he not only signed, but more importantly helped create the four key documents establishing the United States: The Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Paris and the U.S. Constitution. Benjamin Franklin sacrificed immediate gain in the service of collaboration and innovation.

Purposing

Purposing is the final property of Dedicating. Purposing is happening when someone is orienting to their principles and their chosen mission.[6] Benjamin Franklin could have created many profitable businesses with his inventions. He could have retired to the tropics like peers of his. However, he chose to use his prominence as well as his diplomatic abilities to affect great change on earth.[7] Discovering and fostering his own potential as well as that of others was the mission he lived out.

Conclusion

Benjamin Franklin lived a life of Dedicating by continually inventing himself. He was self-accepting and observant enough to allow for compromise, trusting that he and the world he lived in and the people he engaged with could come to mutually beneficial terms. By learning about Ben Franklin as an Agent of Evolating, I am encouraged to pay attention to my desires and values seriously by trying new things I am interested, while also, not taking myself too seriously and allowing for personal change and for the world to be different from what I expected.

Reference:

[1] Wright, Judith. Living a Great Life: The Theory of Evolating. PhD diss., Fielding Graduate University, 2008, 91.

[2] Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Digireads.com, 2016, 79.

[3] Wright, Judith. Living a Great Life: The Theory of Evolating. PhD diss., Fielding Graduate University, 2008, 92.

[4] Wright, Judith. Living a Great Life: The Theory of Evolating. PhD diss., Fielding Graduate University, 2008, 92.

[5] Franklin, Benjamin. Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Digireads.com, 2016, 84.

[6] Wright, Judith. Living a Great Life: The Theory of Evolating. PhD diss., Fielding Graduate University, 2008, 97.

[7] Isaacson, Walter. Benjamin Franklin: An American Life. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2006. Accessed September 8, 2018.