No leader communicated so plainly and effectively as Ronald Reagan. With an acting and public-speaking background, Reagan’s approach was simple: Say what you mean, say it directly and make folks smile as often as possible. Reagan was a champion of capitalism, a defender of freedom and never met a regulation he didn’t hate.

Because Reagan believed, “We are a nation that has a government—not the other way around,” he accomplished a great deal as president despite the liberal establishment’s unrelenting opposition.  He solved the energy crisis by deregulating energy prices.  He lowered tax rates from confiscatory levels, thereby giving people incentives to work and save and invest.  Contrary to the claim that this resulted in runaway federal deficits, Reagan forced Congress to stop the exponential growth in non-defense federal spending, which was lower as a percentage of GDP when he left office than when he entered.

Reagan also waged war on the regulatory state, perhaps the most serious and least noticed threat to freedom and prosperity. From 1970 to 1981, the year Reagan took office, the number of pages published each year in the Federal Register increased from around 20,000 pages a year to 80,000.  The Reagan Administration beat it down rapidly to 45,000.

Leadership is more than vision, more than directing, it is motivating and inspiring others to have greater vision, capacity, desire, and involvement in making a better America. This leadership ability is sorely needed at all levels of government and within the business community.