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In this episode of 5 Minutes with Andy, Andy Freed sits down with Bill Sellers, Executive Director of the National History Academy, to explore how leaders can apply lessons from history to navigate today’s challenges and inspire their organizations.

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Andy and Bill discuss:
• How history serves as a valuable tool for leadership.
• The importance of historical context when applying lessons to modern challenges.
• Why biographies of historical figures offer powerful insights for leadership growth.

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Transcript

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Andy Freed: Hello, and welcome to Five Minutes with Andy. My name is Andy Freed. I'm the CEO of Virtual, Incorporated. For the last 25 years, we've been helping membership organizations as they're forming, growing and changing and looking to put their mark on the world.

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I'm joined today by a good friend of mine, Bill Sellers. Bill is the Executive Director of the National History Academy, and he's going to chat with us today about history and what we can learn from it as we seek to make organizations better.

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Bill, thanks so much for joining.

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Bill Sellers: Thanks so, so much for having me, Andy.

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Andy Freed: Bill, first question for you. What is the National History Academy?

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Bill Sellers: National History Academy is a program that I started seven years ago, that we started in 2018. And it's to bring together high school students from around the country to learn about the foundations of democracy and what it means to be an American. We bring students every summer. We bring together 90 students from 30, 35 states and five territories, 5 or 6 countries to learn about democracy.

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And we use place based learning to do that. So, over the course of a month, we'll visit 35 different historic sites. We'll have 30 speakers. We use case studies and a parliamentary debate program to get students to talk about not only history, but also what we're dealing with as a country today. And it's using history as a tool and a resource to understand our present.

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Andy Freed: So, Bill, you know, you're implying that any of us can learn something from history. So, when I try to figure out what I'm trying to do with my organization, I usually look to leadership books or read communications books. Should I be reading history books? And if so, which ones? You know, you appear to have them all behind you.

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Bill Sellers: Yeah. You absolutely should be reading history books. You know, behind me, I've got a whole room full of books, but I especially like biographies. I'm interested in the Constitution and the presidency and our congressional leadership. So, a lot of these books are biographies of presidents and political leaders. And you see both the successful leaders and, and unsuccessful leaders, through that.

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I think the most important leadership book written over the last 20 years is the Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. You can dive into these different moments and leaders where they have qualities that you admire and that you might be able to emulate in your business. And, you know, I think Lincoln perhaps was the most effective at that of our presidential leaders.

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Andy Freed: So, in simple terms, and you mentioned Team of Rivals. So, I take from that, like, one of the lessons a leader could take from history is to surround yourself with people who don't agree with you and are able to kind of give you different perspectives. What are other lessons that I might take away from history as a leader?

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Bill Sellers: As we go through the arc of American history, you know, there are many different ones. And we always try to dive into the moments in time and understand both the context of that time and the people who are influencing the direction of the country.

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So, it's you know, it's not coming in with a 21st century judgment of who they are and what they're doing. It’s more understanding their time and saying, are these people trying to move the country forward, or are they trying to maintain the status quo, or are they trying to move back to a time of the past?

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You know, George Washington is known as the father of our country and is still studied. You know, Mount Vernon has the largest visitorship of almost any historic site in the country, certainly any presidential home. But the precedents that he was able to establish as president, and to visit his home and to see the multiple facets of his mind—actually, all the founders are like that—you see, you know, you go to Mount Vernon, get a book. You know, one of the books behind me is, you know, George Washington, the first entrepreneur. He was the most successful businessman of the 18th century. He was a farmer. He was, you know, growing tobacco. He had the largest commercial fishery in the country, had massive real estate interests. But you go to the place, and you also see that all of this was run and built by enslaved people.

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So, you see the contradictions, especially when you go to these places. And you can admire aspects of their personalities, but also, you know, disagree, you know, entirely with other aspects of what they do.

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Andy Freed: Well, Bill, you do a really nice job of putting all that in context. I always really enjoy talking to you. And not just because with a bald head and glasses, I think you're an exceptionally good looking man. But, I appreciate all the things that you bring to the table, and I appreciate your perspectives. And I really appreciate you spending some time with us today. Bill Sellers from the National Academy, thank you so much for spending five minutes with Andy today.

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Bill Sellers: Yeah. Thank you. Andy, it's, you know, it's always a pleasure.

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Andy Freed: And to all of our listeners, thank you as well for spending five minutes with us today. If you enjoyed this, then wherever it is you listen to podcasts, make sure you subscribe and follow this so that you can pick up our next five minutes when, we'll continue to talk about leadership, communications and all the things you need to do in your organization to make sure you make your mark on the world.

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I'm Andy Freed. Thanks for spending five minutes with me. 

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