By Peter Jeff
The Leadership Mints Guy

Here’s an idea to help you foster greater integrity. Reading time: 3:58.

Pull out a dollar bill from your purse/wallet or pocket. Take a look at the photo of George Washington and realize that there’s even more currency in that dollar than you think. And it has nothing to do with the national debt.

But it does have everything to do with your ability to cash in on your leadership. And you can take that to the bank. At least artist Gilbert Stuart thought so.

Stuart was one of the first artists to paint dignitaries with a sole focus on their face, up close and personal. No palatial background. No prestigious clothing. No fine furniture. No sense of privilege or prominence. Just the face.

Call Gilbert Stuart the Facebook guru of the 18th Century. His focus on the face of George Washington became the most circulated piece of art in the world-thanks to the millions of George Washington dollar bills in circulation since 1869.

Ever since then-four years after the Civil War- we look to the face of a the chief executive officer to reflect the values of that organization. We look to the president to literally serve as the face of that organization.

You can’t go more than two or three pages into an Annual Report without coming face to face with the chief executive officers of that organization.

Check your Face Book account right now. Or your corporate ID badge. Or the photo on your driver’s licenses. Is your photo flashing the leadership message you intended -at the speed of light -visually? Or are you forced to putter along at a mere 761.2 miles per hour — the speed of sound- in telling/selling your leadership message.

At any rate, the face of the nation is clearly imbedded in the face of George Washington on the dollar bill. Stern, disciplined, independent minded. And even a bit feisty -at least according to the story that Abraham Lincoln liked to tell about the portrait of George Washington. The story goes like this:

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