Prologue: Lead with Empathy

Tell them what you really think, Joey. Let the chips fall where they may.

-Joe Biden's Grandfather Finnegan

Joe Biden landed in the White House with empathy on full display. The evening before his inauguration, President-Elect Joe Biden and Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris held a somber, thoughtful memorial to the 400,000 Americans killed by Covid-19. Biden acknowledged the unspeakably large sum of dead Americans. "To heal, we must remember. It's important to do that as a nation." He promised America that, if he were elected, he would make conquering Covid-19 and its ill effects on the economy his top priority.

A month into his administration, President Biden and Vice President Harris held another memorial, this time for the 500,000 who had died from the virus. Once again, Biden led with empathy: "We have to resist becoming numb to the sorrow." He asked Americans to avoid "viewing each life as a statistic, or a blur, or 'on the news.'" With feeling, he said we must "honor the dead, but equally important, care for the living, those that are left behind."

It felt like an odd but familiar moment and event. In celebrating and mourning the ungodly number of the Covid-dead, Joe Biden was playing a role played by other presidents in perilous moments: consoler-in-chief. He was better at the role than most presidents because few doubted Biden's authenticity. Even his greatest opponents liked and respected him.

The president-elect continued on that evening: "We often hear people described as ordinary Americans; there is no such thing. There is nothing ordinary about them. The people we lost are extraordinary. They spanned generations. Born in America, emigrated to America. But just like that so many of them took their final breath alone as Americans.. I know all too well what it's like . not to be there when it happens. I [also] know what it's like when you are there, holding their hands . and they slip away."1

Joe Biden's long-cultivated empathy was on display when he spoke of knowing about death. He had spent a lifetime remembering the deaths that so profoundly touched his life. The first tragedy was the loss of his first wife, Neilia, and their 13-month-old daughter, Amy, in a life-altering car crash in December 1972. Biden's two sons, Beau and Hunter, were also injured in the crash, but survived with serious injuries. A very shaken Joe Biden spent most every night with his two surviving sons, enduring a multi-hour, daily commute from Delaware to Washington, D.C., and back again. Far more recently, in 2016, Joe Biden lost his son Beau to brain cancer, the same disease that took his dear friend, war hero, senior senator, and former presidential contender John McCain.

His empathy as a leader has infused his storied career. Especially as president, Joe Biden has proven to be a likeable and reassuring figure, the importance of which was amplified because the Biden presidency followed one of the most chaotic administrations in recent memory. Even Republicans in Congress like the good-natured, avuncular Joe Biden. That has been true ever since he won his first Senate race at 29 years of age in 1972.

Early in his political career, a Democratic strategist named John Martella taught a young Senator Biden a lesson he never forgot: "You know, Senator," he said, "You should not run for president because tactically you can win. The questions you have to ask are why you are running for president and what you will do when you are president. You shouldn't run until you know the answers to those questions."2 Joe Biden knew the answers to them. Being someone other than Donald Trump was not a good enough reason to be president. He had learned that a positive vision of the future is a politician's most essential driving force.

In fact, Biden's driving force has been to help level the playing field so that the impoverished and people of color get a fair shake. In words and deeds, Biden has demonstrated his penchant to help the Americans who had been left behind by the previous administration. As you will see, there is significant evidence of Joe Biden's earnestness in helping the neediest among us.

***

It is important to note one important point about this work from the outset: this is not a Trump-bashing book; nor is it an anti-Republican book.3 This is a leadership book based on the actions and words of Joe Biden. Nonetheless, Donald Trump, the 45th president, and several of his allies are important to this work for two key reasons. First, to accomplish his sweeping legislative agenda, Joe Biden needed Republican votes in Congress, and Donald Trump remained the de facto head of the GOP heading into the 2022 mid-term elections. Second and as important, the acrid political environment that existed in Biden's first months as president were, in large part, due to Trump, Trumpism, and the enablers who helped give sustenance to what were previously viewed as conspiracy theories.

Tell the Truth and Embrace Competence

Against the most unstable and troubled time in America since 1968, Biden found himself being named the victor on his third serious attempt at becoming America's chief executive. Within hours of the race being called, a seemingly rare commodity started to pour out of the new administration: truth.

The newly minted press secretary, Jen Psaki, gave her first daily briefing seven hours after the 2020 race was called for Biden. The new Biden briefings should have been regarded as unremarkable events, but given the absence of both probity and press briefings in the previous administration, they were a noteworthy and reassuring ritual for many Americans.

The other consistent commodity flowing from the new Biden administration was competence. When any member of the administration spoke, in briefings or television interviews, each looked calm, confident, and competent. There was one reason above all that ignited that confidence and enthusiasm: the fact that every member of the Biden administration knew if they upheld their integrity vows, their boss would have their backs.

Two examples of Biden's superlative cabinet picks were Antony Blinkin for secretary of state and Rochelle Walensky for director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. These two accomplished individuals epitomized the Joe Biden way. Blinkin served as America's 26th deputy national security advisor and America's 18th deputy secretary of state under President Obama. Walensky held degrees from Johns Hopkins University and the Harvard School of Public Health. Before Biden selected her for the CDC post, she was chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases at Massachusetts General Hospital while maintaining her post as a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

From day one, Biden's cabinet stood in stark contrast to his Republican predecessor. For example, Trump's first choice for secretary of state was Rex Tillerson, who never worked a day in government (he was the CEO of Exxon when tapped for that key post). Tillerson, like many of his fellow cabinet members, did not last long in that administration (in fact, Trump experienced a head-spinning 85 percent turnover of his so-labeled A-team).

With a superb cabinet in place, Biden was able to focus on his key priorities. At the outset that meant mitigating the crushing health and financial effects of Covid-19. He became a better communicator, learning to strike just the right note with the American people. He learned to "level" with people while also transmitting a message of hopefulness. That form of messaging became Joe Biden's way of communicating with the American people.

Here is how Biden summed things up in the second month of his administration: "Today we are living through another long dark winter in our nation's history. Combatting the deadly virus, joblessness, hunger, racial injustice, violent extremism, hopelessness, and despair. But I know we'll get through this. Better days are ahead. I know it because I know the story of the journey of this nation."4

Embrace Diversity

At his first cabinet meeting a few months into his administration, Biden looked at the multiracial group he had selected and declared the following: this is a cabinet that "looks like America." Hiring a multiracial cabinet and team became Biden's calling card, his raison d'etre. His commitment to enlisting and empowering a diverse team to serve the nation-and not him-was one more Biden promise kept. Keeping promises, as the world was finding out, was of immense importance to the 46th president of the United States.

On his very first day in office, President Biden issued an executive order on "Advancing Racial Equity and Support for Underserved Communities Through the Federal Government." The order begins with Biden's true thoughts on the topic of diversity. We know he believes them because he repeated the sentiments often during his presidency: "Equal opportunity is the bedrock of American democracy, and our diversity is one of our country's greatest strengths. But for too many, the American Dream remains out of reach. Entrenched disparities in our laws and public policies, and in our public and private institutions, have often denied that equal opportunity to...