On April 30, 1789, George Washington took office as the nation's first president. The man who would one day be eulogized as "first in war, first in peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen" faced monumental problems as the executive of a fledgling nation.
Of Washington's many troubles, America's economy loomed the largest. The United States of America had no international credit, a worthless national currency, and no definitive means of taxation or raising revenue.
To address America's overwhelming fiscal problems, Washington turned to his most trusted advisor--the gifted thirty-four-year-old Alexander Hamilton--and appointed him as the first United States secretary of the treasury.
Hamilton's 1790 report on the public credit and his subsequent reports on the national bank and a manufacturing-based economy have been called "the most important and influential state papers of their time" and remain among "the most brilliant government reports in American history." With them, Hamilton provided America an effective description of how to accomplish his vision.
In the "The Leadership Secrets of Hamilton", author Gordon Leidner's little book is packed with tons of applicable wisdom of Hamilton's vision of respecting your people and getting them to aim for more.
As the United States brings in a new U.S. President this week, it is our hope that he will be more like the first Secretary of the Treasury Alexander Hamilton and less like the Vice President Aaron Burr who shot him.