5 Leadership Lessons Agency Owners Can Learn from General Eisenhower
Key Takeaways
- Surround yourself with capable people and empower them rather than trying to do everything yourself
- Practice solitude before major decisions - create space to process inputs and maintain perspective
- Commit fully or do not commit at all - half-measures undermine leadership credibility
Andrew Dymski and Gray MacKenzie share five practical leadership lessons drawn from Jean Edward Smith’s biography Eisenhower: In War and Peace. These are not abstract principles - they are actionable lessons that agency owners can apply directly to how they build teams, make decisions, and lead their organizations.
1. Surround Yourself with Capable People
Eisenhower’s greatest strength was not his personal brilliance - it was his ability to identify, attract, and empower talented people. He managed personalities as diverse as Churchill and Patton, finding ways to leverage each person’s strengths while minimizing friction. For agency owners, the lesson is clear: build a team of experts you can trust, give them clear direction, and get out of the way.
2. Practice Solitude for Decision-Making
Before making the decision to launch the D-Day invasion, Eisenhower spent over ten minutes in complete silence - processing the inputs from his advisors, weighing the risks, and making his decision in solitude. In a world of constant noise and rapid-fire Slack messages, agency owners need to carve out time for quiet, focused thinking. The biggest decisions deserve more than a reactive response.
3. Protect Your Focus Ruthlessly
Eisenhower refused to open his own mail. He delegated administrative tasks so he could reserve his attention for the strategic priorities that only he could address. Agency owners often fall into the trap of handling every detail personally. The lesson: identify the work that only you can do and delegate everything else. Your attention is your most valuable resource.
4. Own Your Decisions
When the U-2 spy plane was shot down over the Soviet Union, Eisenhower accepted full responsibility rather than deflecting blame to subordinates. This approach allowed the nation to move forward quickly rather than getting mired in finger-pointing. In an agency context, owning decisions - including the wrong ones - builds trust with your team and your clients. When something goes wrong, take responsibility, learn from it, and move on.
5. Commit Fully or Do Not Commit
When Eisenhower sent federal troops to enforce desegregation in Little Rock, he deployed overwhelming force - not because the situation required it, but because half-measures would have undermined his authority and prolonged the conflict. The lesson for agency owners: think deeply before committing to something - a new service line, a new market, a new hire. But once you commit, go all in. Half-hearted execution wastes resources and signals uncertainty to your team.