"The British spirit of enterprise, which had transformed half the world in Queen Victoria's day, seemed to have been put to sleep."
The above words were from U.S. President Ronald Reagan commenting on the formidable task Margaret Thatcher and Britain faced after almost 40 years of socialism in the country.
What Reagan was referring to was called there "the British Disease," a reference to zero growth a very high inflation, one year reaching 25 percent.
But it was worse than that, the 40 years of socialism had ingrained within the British inefficient working habits and the loss of enterprising business leaders. It was those ingrained habits that Thatcher had to deal with, and she did.
What Reagan says next of Thatcher is what any leader, especially business leader needs to do: have a well thought out plan and the guts to fight to get it implemented.
Thatcher had both these as she set out to get the British economy flourishing again. According to Reagan, she had seriously studied and understood the matter before she ever entered office, and had a clear set of policies in place to deal with the problems she clearly understood.
Second, it was simply her courage and inner strength that won the day. Reagan called it "the true grit of a true Brit."
What all of us can learn from this is she took the time to completely understand the disease, and once understood, drew up a plan that would cure it. All that was left was the resolve to see it through.
She also understood it wasn't something that could be changed quickly. Ingrained habits and beliefs change slowly in people; it's just the nature of how we are. If her expectations had been wrongly placed, she could have been devasted from the pressures of believing her policies weren't working.
How we measure that is in knowing how long things had been ingrained and how deeply. Understand that, and we can manage reasonable expectations over a period of time, and also manage expectations for others.
Margaret Thatcher Resources:
The Best Quotes From Margaret Thatcher's 'Statecraft'
Margaret Thatcher & the Revival of the West
Interview with Margaret Thatcher
Magaret Thatcher's Life in the Shadows
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