Focus: How To Plan Strategy and Improve Execution To Achieve Growth 1st Edition Vikas Mittal Full Chapter Instant Download
Focus: How To Plan Strategy and Improve Execution To Achieve Growth 1st Edition Vikas Mittal Full Chapter Instant Download
Focus: How To Plan Strategy and Improve Execution To Achieve Growth 1st Edition Vikas Mittal Full Chapter Instant Download
https://ebookmass.com/product/how-to-achieve-inclusive-
growth-1st-edition-valerie-cerra/
https://ebookmass.com/product/smart-work-how-to-increase-
productivity-achieve-balance-and-reduce-stress-2nd-edition-
dermot-crowley/
https://ebookmass.com/product/introduction-to-software-testing-a-
practical-guide-to-testing-design-automation-and-execution-1st-
edition-panagiotis-leloudas/
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-hazop-leaders-handbook-how-to-
plan-and-conduct-successful-hazop-studies-philip-eames/
The Lean Strategy: Using Lean to Create Competitive
Advantage, Unleash Innovation, and Deliver Sustainable
Growth 1st Edition Daniel Jones
https://ebookmass.com/product/the-lean-strategy-using-lean-to-
create-competitive-advantage-unleash-innovation-and-deliver-
sustainable-growth-1st-edition-daniel-jones/
How to Make Your Money Work: Decide what you want, plan
to get there Eoin Mcgee
https://ebookmass.com/product/how-to-make-your-money-work-decide-
what-you-want-plan-to-get-there-eoin-mcgee/
https://ebookmass.com/product/breached-why-data-security-law-
fails-and-how-to-improve-it-daniel-j-solove-2/
https://ebookmass.com/product/breached-why-data-security-law-
fails-and-how-to-improve-it-daniel-j-solove/
“For CEOs strategy planning can be frustrating. Finally, a clean approach that can
focus and sequence the work, bring the voice of the customer to the center of the
plan, provide a concrete link between strategy and sales growth, and mitigate analysis
paralysis.”
—John Kaul, Chief Executive Officer, Allredi
“If you want to build a business strategy that drives financial outcomes like sales,
revenue & profitability, stop using your current approach. Customer-based strategy
is the only framework that links customer value to product portfolio & customer
segmentation choices, investment & budgeting decisions, aligned priorities for all
departments, and individual accountability & performance.”
—Maggie Seeliger, Senior Vice President—Strategy, Sodexo Energy and Resources
Worldwide
“I’ve been involved in strategy planning for numerous organizations. This book’s
approach is a quantum leap forward. It focuses, streamlines, and improves strategy
planning bringing customer value at the center of it.”
—Heather Wisialowski, Chief Revenue Officer, Allredi
“Implementing this strategy approach cut out all the guess work from strategy plan-
ning work. As the CEO, I can finally link strategy to financial outcomes, prioritize
initiatives, and focus my senior executives on what matters most to our clients.”
—Simon Seaton, Chief Executive Officer, Sodexo Energy and Resources Worldwide
“Boards, CEOs, and senior executives use a lot of gut feel and guesswork in strategy
planning. This book first documents why that can harm strategy planning and then
shows how a modern approach rooted in scientific thinking can reform the strategy
process. As the CEO of many successful companies, I highly recommend this book
to those aspiring to be transformative CEOs and strategy leaders.”
—Rahul Mehta, Chief Executive Officer, Mehta Family Foundation and
NuView, Inc.
Vikas Mittal • Shrihari Sridhar
Focus
How to Plan Strategy and Improve
Execution to Achieve Growth
Vikas Mittal Shrihari Sridhar
Rice University Texas A&M University
Houston, TX, USA College Station, TX, USA
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG,
part of Springer Nature 2021
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the
whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations,
recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or informa-
tion storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does
not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective
laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are
believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors
give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omis-
sions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published
maps and institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Preface
Shrihari Sridhar CEOs and senior executives have exciting and invigorating
jobs. They are charged with formulating a strategy to focus and align their
organization to deliver sales and profit growth. They are also responsible for
executing the strategy to the satisfaction of their board with the help of many
stakeholders, including employees and suppliers. In theory, senior executives
should view their charge as one of the most exciting opportunities to impact
their organization.
Executives’ jobs are also mind-bogglingly frustrating. On an ongoing basis,
senior executives develop their company’s mission and vision, finalize its bud-
get, manage stakeholder expectations, execute strategy, assess ongoing risks,
fight fires, and communicate with the outside world. Their efforts occur
against an industry backdrop in which they not only have less autonomy and
shorter tenure than two decades ago, but they also must deal with heightened
demands for accountability, transparency, and scrutiny. They must reckon
with increasingly rapid technological change and intense competition. It is
not surprising many executives feel worn out by strategy and execution.
According to CEOs, the biggest issue confronting executives is the need for
perennial and sustained focus. CEOs need ways to focus their senior execu-
tives’ efforts in developing and executing coherent strategy, a challenge height-
ened by the divergent goals and demands of diverse stakeholders—customers,
employees, suppliers, shareholders, and board members. As one CEO stated:
The board wants me to cut costs and grow margins, institutional investors want
me to promote a sustainability agenda, employees are frustrated with layoffs.
Customers seek better after-sales service. I’ve taken out over a billion dollars in
costs, but the strategy has left most customers and employees unsatisfied.
v
vi Preface
I hear from the sales team that safety is the key differentiator for winning new
work, even though every interaction with clients reveals that our bids are over-
priced. To this, the board constantly reminds me that we have not fulfilled our
strategy goal of being fully digital by 2020, and this has irked some institutional
shareholders who questioned the company’s lackluster CSR score in the last
investor call.
and goals and achieved financial success through three phases: a strategy
dilemma, a shift to customer-focused strategy formulation, and committing
to customer-focused strategy implementation. The story illustrates the diffi-
culties of strategy planning, common CEO frustrations, and potential strat-
egy inhibitors and enablers. It serves as a powerful reminder that implementing
an enabled strategy process requires complete and unwavering commitment
from the entire senior executive team.
For C-suite executives (e.g., chief executive officers, chief financial officers,
and chief strategy officers), senior executives (e.g., vice presidents, senior vice
presidents, and division presidents), middle managers (e.g., directors and
senior managers) and others aspiring to leadership positions, functional exec-
utives (e.g., sales, marketing, supply chain, and operations directors) seeking
corporate roles, and management students, this book provides a robust strat-
egy planning framework consisting of five repeatable and predictable mile-
stones. It should appeal to board members wanting to eliminate inhibitors
and inculcate enablers for budding CEOs.
Many change management consultants seek specific examples, frameworks,
and toolkits to help senior executives change their strategy process. Yet, most
available material focuses on personal change management and executive self-
improvement. This book takes the opposite perspective. To enhance its strat-
egy formulation, a company doesn’t have to make its executives smarter or
better. By identifying inhibitors and replacing them with enablers, companies
can allow ordinary CEOs and executives to achieve extraordinary results.
We invite you to read this book and embark on your transformational jour-
ney—to transform the strategy process in your organization. Start by taking
the quiz in Chap. 1 to calculate your strategy planning quotient, a measure of
your understanding of strategy planning. We challenge you to improve it!
We have many people to thank for this book’s beautiful four-year journey.
Vikas thanks his wife, Nandita Gupta, and daughter, Sukul Mittal, for
enabling him in more ways than they can imagine. Shrihari (Hari) thanks
his wife, Akshaya Sreenivasan, and son, Virat Shrihari, who are the very
purpose of his existence and for all things positive and worth appreciating
in life.
Beyond our families, so many people have contributed to making this
endeavor fulfilling. We are grateful to the many co-authors and doctoral
students who have provided unwavering commitment and support to our
research over the years. Shea Gibbs at Gibbs Communications has been
an invaluable ally throughout this journey. We thank all our undergradu-
ate, MBA, MS analytics, and executive students, whose questions and
suggestions have taught us new ways to look at the age-old problem of
strategy planning.
This book would not be possible without the fidelity and commitment
of dozens of CEOs and senior executives, who showed the flexibility neces-
sary to think differently in pursuit of their transformative strategy. Terry
Grier, John Kaul, Joshua Robinson, Simon Seaton, Maggie Seeliger, and
Heather Wisialowski generously shared their time and perspective, pro-
vided input, and listened to and critiqued ideas different from their own.
Bo Bothe, Jonathan Fisher, Bonnie Houston, and Ravi Kathuria shared
their perspective and frustrations on strategy implementation and provided
feedback on earlier drafts of our work. Paul DeLisi, Troy Thacker, and Alan
xi
xii Acknowledgments
Ying provided strategy planning perspectives from the private equity van-
tage point, underscoring the crucial role of senior executives in strategy
planning and execution.
Finally, we cannot adequately express our gratitude to Rahul Mehta—our
Yoda, personal mentor, and motivator. Rahul has consistently believed in us,
the ideas expressed in this book, and this endeavor’s potential more than even
we ourselves have.
Contents
xiii
xiv Contents
Index173
List of Figures
xvii
xviii List of Figures
xix
1
Strategy Planning in the Real World
help a company identify its top priorities, align resources to priorities, and use
the resources to drive accountability at all organizational levels.
How does strategy planning unfold at different companies, and does it help
senior executives achieve their goals? Whether through corporate retreats or
deep-dive sessions, small and large companies discuss viewpoints, debate
alternative strategies, develop mission statements, create goals, and use execu-
tion plans to implement and achieve their goals.
Look at Apple. We need a winning strategy that differentiates our brands, and
we can do that by offering the largest selection of freshly prepared foods at the
lowest price point in the marketplace.”
Machine Tools Solutions Company (TOOLCO). TOOLCO’s project
management division included 80 people: 10 senior leaders, 26 project direc-
tors, and 44 analysts, line managers, and support staff. Every year, the division
managed more than 200 projects worth $800 million. Division employees
spent almost 80% of their time fulfilling projects. They spent their remaining
time advancing strategic initiatives related to project management. The divi-
sion deployed 97 strategic initiatives, of which only nine were deemed
effective.
During a strategy retreat, TOOLCO’s senior executives reviewed the initia-
tives. They decided to add two initiatives to increase the effectiveness of their
current portfolio of initiatives. One initiative was to create a 360-degree view
of the project management process through an expensive CRM system. A
second initiative was to add more quality control training modules. The man-
agers prepared a proposal to increase TOOLCO’s annual strategy implemen-
tation budget from $31 million to $40 million.
U.S. Urban School District (SCHOOLCO). At SCHOOLCO, a large
K-12 school district and one of the largest nonprofit enterprises in the county,
the assistant superintendent for each function—academics, human resources,
operations, etc.—contributed to initiatives he or she deemed important. Each
assistant superintendent sought to obtain funding, increase staff size, and gain
influence and power within the district. SCHOOLCO’s strategic plan prom-
ised to implement 168 initiatives over five years. Each year, the district added
initiatives during the strategy planning process but rarely if ever removed
initiatives.
Onsite-Medical Company (MEDCO). The physician-owner of a medical
practice focused on the daily activities while running the firm. MEDCO
therefore made strategy decisions, such as upgrading medical-records soft-
ware, outsourcing billing, and adding new patient segments, on an ad hoc
basis. For MEDCO, action was primary, and planning was a support activity.
MEDCO’s weekly meetings functioned as strategy meetings. “I don’t have the
luxury that big corporations have,” the physician-owner said. “Strategy plan-
ning will cost me thousands of dollars in time and money. All I need to do is
maintain my daily average of 20 patients, and I’m good to go.”
Property Management Company (REALTYCO). The president of a
small property management company focused on ensuring all his firm’s prop-
erties were rented and maintained. While REALTYCO’s strategy goal was to
grow the number of properties under management, its daily activities were
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
his friends and bound them to him, where he entertained them and
gave them cheer. His business was a constant thing with him; he
never quit or laid it aside; and it was a great part of his business to
get acquainted. He took them to his home; it was open to all, and
there was a seat for any and all at his table. He kept open house the
year around. When friends came it was hard to get away; he would
hold on to them as he would to a book. He loved the people; they
were a study to him; a very joy and pleasure, a real delight. Among
the people he is perfectly at home, and they are made to feel that
“come and see me” means just that, and all that that means. He is
like a father or big brother out among them. They all knew him, and
knew where he lived,—in that “brown house on Green Street.” This
was back in those years before he was so largely in Washington,
and before he had his pleasant and more commodious house and
grounds near the capitol.
The whole care of the home was upon Mrs. Blaine, who looked after
everything down to the veriest minutiæ. She was thoroughly in
sympathy with him, was pleased with what he enjoyed; and so was
perfectly willing their home should be the rallying-place for his hosts
of friends, who might come and go at will. The Maine legislature met
at his house during the Garcelon trouble.
Mr. Blaine attended strictly to his work, and that meant the people,—
strangers, and townspeople, one and all. He never, I am credibly
informed, bought a pound of steak in his life, nor a barrel of flour;
never went to a grocery store to buy anything. He has had no time or
thought for things like these. He has been a student and teacher all
his life; a close, deep, careful reader and thinker. He had never been
in a printing-office in his life until he became editor, and had to learn
the people, study them, get politics from their ways of thinking and
looking at things; and it was a matter of principle with him to make
the thing go. It is not a half-dozen things, but “This one thing I do,”
with him, and he does it. But he has always been regular at his
meals, as a matter of health, and so a law of life. He was no
epicurean; cared only for the more substantial things of diet, and
never seemed to be particular about what he ate, except one thing,
and that he liked, and always wanted them in their season, and
always had them. It was baked sweet apples and milk at the close of
every meal. And then he would sit and read, and read, and read,
especially after supper, and Mrs. Blaine, if she wanted him to move
from the table, would say, “James! James!” and again, “James!” like
enough half a dozen times before he would hear, and she pleasant
and careful of him all the time. She has had mind and heart to know
his worth, and has needed no one to tell her that teaching school in
Kentucky has paid her a handsome dividend and is full of promise
for the future. He has made no move but what she has seconded the
motion. Her life is in his, and not a thing independent and apart from
it.
One who knew her well in those early years, and knows her well to-
day, said of Mrs. Blaine, “She is just as lovely as she can be; of
superior culture, and a real, true mother.”
The gentleman who was Mr. Blaine’s foreman, and for a year and a
half made his home with them, is most enthusiastic in their praise.
He tells what a real mother Mrs. Blaine was to him if he was sick, or
anything the matter with him, how she would take the best of care of
him. Every winter they published a tri-weekly during the session of
the legislature, and this kept him at the office late every-other night,
and she would be “worried about him because he had to work
nights,” and Mr. Blaine would say, “Howard, you are worth a dozen
boys (shiftless, good-for-nothing boys, he meant), but you must not
work so hard.” The humanities of life were the amenities to them.
This same man, who has since been editor and proprietor of Mr.
Blaine’s old paper, said with depth of feeling, and strong emphasis, “I
wish every voter in America had had my opportunity for eighteen
months, right in his own home, to see and know Mr. Blaine, they
would find out then what a royal man he is.”
In less than ten days after his nomination, parties of prominence,
connected with a paper favorable to his election, but located in quite
a city where a leading Republican paper affects to oppose him,
visited Augusta, and called upon his political enemies, and enquired
into his private, social, and domestic life, and they finally confessed
there was no lisp or syllable of aught to tarnish his name or cause a
blush. It is all pure, and sweet, and clear.
When Mr. and Mrs. Blaine first entered their Augusta home, a bright
and beautiful baby boy was in the arms of Mrs. Blaine. He was the
pride and joy of the home, their first-born. His name was Stanwood
Blaine, taking his mother’s maiden-name. One short, bright year of
sunshine, and prattle, and glee, and a dark cloud rested on that
home; a deep sorrow stung the life of that father, and heavy grief
oppressed the heart of the mother,—their little Stanwood was gone;
he was among the jewels on high, and there he is to-day, while a
lovely picture of him adorns the present home.
Since then, six children have been born to them,—John Walker, a
graduate of Yale college, and a member of the Alabama Court of
Claims; Robert Emmons, a graduate of Harvard college, now
connected with the North-western Railroad, in Chicago; Alice, the
wife of Colonel Coppinger; Margaret; James Gillespie, Jr., and
Hattie, named for her mother, Harriet. Walker, the oldest, is about
thirty-one years old, and unmarried. Hattie, the youngest, is fourteen
years of age. All of the children have been born in Augusta, and with
but two or three exceptions, in the old home on Green Street.
Mr. Blaine has been accustomed to sit up quite late at night with
books, papers, and letters, and make up his sleep in the morning. He
loves a good story, and keeps a fund on hand constantly, and they
serve his purpose well. There is one he has enjoyed telling to knots
of friends here and there, and especially when friends have gathered
at his table. The Maine law, in the interest of temperance, was a
leading issue in the state during Mr. Blaine’s connection with the
Journal. It fell to the lot of his partner, John L. Stevens, who had
been a minister, to write the temperance articles, and he would write
them long and strong. It was a custom with Mr. Blaine to go around
among the workmen and chat with them, a few words of good cheer.
Among them was an Irishman named John Murphy, who loved his
glass. He was a witty fellow, and generally had something to say.
One day while Mr. Blaine was around, Murphy had a large, long
manuscript from Mr. Stevens, on temperance, which he was setting
up in type. It was a hard job, and the day was hot. He was about half
through, when he called out to the foreman,—
“Owen, have you a quarter?”
“Yes, sir! What do you want of it?”
All were listening, including Mr. Blaine, for they expected something
bright and sharp.
“Well, sir, I thought I would have to be after having something to wet
me throat wid before I got through with this long, dry temperance
job.”
Everybody roared at the Irishman’s quaint sally. It struck Mr. Blaine
as particularly dry and ludicrous; he laughed outright, and he would
tell it as a good joke on his partner.
Mr. Blaine has never talked about people behind their backs; he is
no gossiper. He is a fearless man, and if he has anything to say to a
man he says it squarely to his face. There is a purity of tone and
richness of life in his home, that are both noticeable and remarkable.
There seem to be no frictions, gratings, or harshness. One of ample
opportunity has said, “I never heard him speak a cross word to his
children.” He is rather indulgent than otherwise. While he may be, as
case requires, the strong, central government, they are as sovereign
states; no rebellion manifests itself, requiring coercion.
Mr. Blaine’s family have been accustomed to attend church, and the
family pew is always full. Father and mother are both members of
the Congregational Church, and have the reputation of being
devoted Christians and liberal supporters of the church. Mr. Blaine
tells them to put down what they want from him, and he will pay it.
He has the reputation of being one of the best Bible-class teachers
in the city. His long drill at college, reading the New Testament
through in Greek several times, has helped him in this. A Mission
Sabbath-school was started down in the lower part of Augusta, and
he went down with the others and taught a large Bible-class. His old
pastors, Doctor Ecob, of Albany, N. Y., and Doctor Webb, of Boston,
Mass., bear the highest testimony to his Christian character and
integrity. It was said of him at Cincinnati, that “he needed no
certificate of moral character from a Rebel congress,” and a very
careful examination proves it true. No man could, it would seem, by
any possibility, stand better in his own home community than does
Mr. Blaine. It is not simply cold, formal endorsement, as a matter of
self-respect and state-pride, but the clear, strong words of a deep
and powerful friendship, that one constantly hears who will stand in
the light and let it shine on him.
There were in his Green-street home, parlor, sitting-room, dining-
room, and kitchen, down-stairs, and corresponding rooms up-stairs.
There was quite a large side-yard, with numerous trees, and garden
in the rear. The barn and rear part of the house were connected by a
long wood-house, as is the custom in New England. It was an ample
and respectable place for a young editor and politician to reside, and
while it was up on the hill or low bluff from Water Street, down near
the Kennebec River, where the business portion of the city was, and
his office was located, still it was quite convenient for him.
His old office was burned in the big fire of 1865, which destroyed the
business portion of the city, but the desk was saved at which he did
much of his writing when in charge of the office of the Journal during
the presidential campaign of 1860.
During this campaign there was so much to excite him, so much
news to read, so many speeches to make, so many ways to go, and
such a general monopoly of time and attention, that very early in the
morning they would get out of “copy.” The foreman would say,—and
he was a very kind-hearted man, and loved Mr. Blaine,—
“I don’t see any way for you to do, Dan, but to go up to Mr. Blaine’s,
and wake him up, and tell him we must have some more copy.”
Up he would go to the Green-street home, and rouse him up. Mr.
Blaine would come down in his study-gown and slippers and say,—
“What, that copy given out?”
“Yes, sir, and we will have to have more right away!”
“Well, what did he do, sit right down and dash it off for you?”
“Yes, sometimes, and sometimes he would take the scissors.”
This was said with a mild, significant smile.
Mr. Blaine could write anywhere, and did much of it out in the dining-
room on the supper-table, with his family all about him. He would
become oblivious of all surroundings, and with his power of
penetration and concentration, adapt himself to his work, utterly lost
to circumstances.
He had no mercy on meanness. It roused his whole nature. He
would walk the floor at home, plan his articles, think out his
sentences, and send everything to the printer just as he had written it
first,—but when he came to correct the proof he would erase and
interline until the article had passed almost beyond the power of
recognition. His finishing touches were a new creation.
Of course the poor printers never said anything either solemn or
wise at such times, especially when driven to the final point of
desperation. But they could not get mad at him, and there was no
use trying. Dan said,—
“He would just as soon shake hands with a man dressed up as I am
now, with this old suit of overalls on, and sit down and talk with him
as with the richest man in town.”
“The men knew this, and saw and felt his power. He looked at the
man, and not at the clothes?”
“Yes, that is just it.”
Mr. Blaine’s business and home-life are so blended, it is impossible
to separate them. He never left his business at the office. It was all
hours and every hour with him, except upon the Sabbath.
He took some time to look after the education of his children,
something as his father and grandfather had dealt with him. But Mrs.
Blaine, having been a teacher, took this responsibility upon herself.
They all attended the public schools of the city, and were early sent
away to academy, college, and seminary. The home always had an
air of intelligence. Busy scenes with books were common, day and
night. Materials for writing, papers, magazines, and books for
general reading, and for review, seemed omnipresent. There is order
and system amid all the seeming confusion.
Mrs. Blaine’s hand and touch are felt and seen everywhere. She is a
large, magnificent woman, a born queen, as fit to rule America as
Queen Victoria to rule England. She has a quiet, commanding air,
with nothing assumed or affected about her. A gentle, wholesome
dignity makes her a stranger to storms, and her clear, strong mind
makes her ready and at home in society. She is not a great talker,
and encourages it in others by listening only when it is sensible. She
is too wise and womanly to ever gush, and never encourages talk
about her husband. There is nothing patronizing about her.
The fact is, the presidency, since the death of Mr. Garfield, and the
terrible ordeal through which they then passed, has been very
serious business to them. They have not labored for it. It has been
thrust upon them,—for they are one in every sympathy and every
joy.
About a year ago, while calling upon his old friend, Ex-Gov. Anson P.
Morrill, Mr. Morrill said,—
“Are you going to try for the presidency again, Blaine? Come, now,
tell me, right out. I want to know.”
“No, sir,” was the reply. “I do not want it. If you could offer it to me to-
night, I would not accept it. I am devoted to my book at present, and
love it, and do not wish to be diverted from it.”
Mr. Morrill went on to say, that “eight years ago, when they tried to
nominate him at Cincinnati, I was opposed to it, and told my
neighbor, Mr. Stevens, I would not vote for him. I thought he was too
young, and had not grown enough.”
“Well, how is it now?”
“O, he is all right now, well-developed, solid, and strong. The nation
can’t do better than put him right in. He will make a master president,
and give the country an administration they will be proud of.”
This shows the honor and honesty of the old governor, and that he
loved the nation above his friend. The happy, blessed, prosperous
years of home-life ended on Green Street, when Mr. Blaine was
advanced to the third office in the nation, as speaker of the House of
Representatives in congress,—and they removed to the larger
home, with ampler grounds, on State Street, next to the capitol. Here
they have since resided, except when living in Washington. Mr.
Blaine loves home, and has his family with him.
There is nothing extravagant about the home on State Street, either
in the house or its furnishing. It is plain, simple, and comfortable. The
sitting-room and dining-room upon the right of the main hall, and the
two parlors on the left are thrown into one, making two large rooms,
which have always been serviceable for entertaining company, but
never more so than since his nomination for the presidency. The
hallway extends into a large, new house, more modern in
appearance than the house proper, erected by Mr. Blaine for his
library, gymnasium, etc. Mr. Blaine is careful about his exercise, and
practises with dumb-bells, takes walks, rides, etc.
He has a large barn for horses, and generally keeps a number of
them. The house is of Corinthian architecture, without a trace of
Gothic. Corinthian columns, two on each side, indicate the old
division of the large room on the left of the hallway into the front and
back parlor, but all trace of doors is removed, and they are practically
one. A large bay-window, almost a conservatory, built square, in
keeping with the house, looks out upon the lawn.
It is, all in all, a very convenient, home-like place, with nothing
pretentious or to terrify the most plebeian who would care to enter,
and they have been there by the score and hundred. Not less than a
thousand friends, neighbors, and visitors were cordially invited to
come in and shake hands with General Logan, when he visited Mr.
Blaine soon after the convention that nominated them, and received
a quiet serenade, declining any public reception.
A bright, important feature of Mr. Blaine’s home is his cousin, “Gail
Hamilton,”—Miss Abigail Dodge,—the gifted authoress. She is an
intellectual companion, and an important factor in the social and
home-life of the family, deeply interested, but with native good grace,
in all that pertains to the honor and welfare of her distinguished
relatives. Books, music, bric-a-brac, abound in their present home.
They do not “fare sumptuously every day,” though feasts of course
there are, but continue in their simple, democratic ways. Eating is not
a chief business in that home. The children are very intelligent, and
minds, rather than stomachs, have premiums on them. When Walker
was a little fellow, long before he could read, less than two years old,
he could turn to any picture in a large book; he knew them all. But
none of them have surpassed, or equalled, their father’s work at
books,—going through those great lives of Plutarch by the time he
was nine years old,—and this we hear from Mrs. Blaine herself. Only
the three younger are at home,—Margaret, James Gillespie, Jr., and
Hattie, who, although she is the baby, wears glasses. She is a wide-
awake and pleasant child, and finds so much of life as is now a daily
experience, a burden rather than a delight. James has many of his
father’s characteristics, it is said. He is a tall, noble, manly fellow,
and, though still in his teens, has been tutoring in Washington the
past winter. Margaret, older than Hattie or James, has achieved a
national reputation by a dexterous use of the telephone at the time of
her father’s nomination. She was the first to receive the intelligence.
She has mature, womanly ways, and is very like her mother, though
the children all resemble their father,—have his strong, marked
features,—unless it may be Emmons or Alice.
Alice was the oldest daughter, and would accompany, with perhaps
other members of the family, Mrs. Blaine herself, at times, back in
the editorial days, upon the press-excursions. Upon those occasions
Mr. Blaine was in his glory, full of facts, full of life, and full of stories.
There was none of the wag or loafer about him; he was never idle or
obsequious; but he knew all about the bright side of things, and
never failed to find it. His own life seemed to light up all around him.
The ludicrous side was as funny as the mean was despicable. He
was very popular among the journalists of the state. He was an
honor to the craft, and they felt it, and easily recognized him as a
royal good fellow,—a sort of leader or representative man. He was
called out when toasts were to be responded to or speeches to be
made, and was the captivating man on all occasions. The crowd
gathered about him. He never would tell a story but that any lady
might listen to it without a blush. They were well selected, and
always first-class, and told in the shortest, sharpest manner possible.
He would never spin a long yarn. It must be quickly told, and to the
point, and have a special fitness for the occasion.
A story that he enjoyed hugely, and could tell with a gusto inimitable,
was of a country-man elected to the legislature, and for the first time
stopping at a large hotel. The waiters were busy, and while he
awaited his turn he observed a dish of red peppers in front; taking
one of them on his fork, he put it in his mouth, and began the work of
mastication. All eyes were turned on him. The process was a brief
one, and he very soon raised his fair-sized hand, and, taking that
pepper from his mouth, laid it beside his plate, and said, as he drew
in a long breath to cool off his blistered tongue, “You lie thar until you
cool!” This was only matched by one regarding a man from the
interior, at a hotel-table in St. Louis, who, observing a glass of iced-
milk on the outer circle of dishes that surrounded the plate of a
gentleman opposite to him, reached for it and swallowed it down.
The gentleman watched him closely, and, with some expression of
astonishment, said simply,—
“That’s cool!”
“Ya-as,” the fellow blustered out, “of course it is; thar’s ice in it!”
Few toasts touch the heart of Mr. Blaine more deeply than the great
toast of the family and of friendship, and one to which he could
respond with the happiest grace and the liveliest good cheer, “Here’s
to those we love, and those who love us! God bless them!”
Mr. Blaine drinks no liquors, not even the lightest kinds of wine, I am
credibly informed by one who was with him on those occasions, and
frequently at his table.
Mrs. Blaine, like her husband, is a great reader, and while a devoted
mother and faithful wife, never neglecting her home, husband, or her
children, has kept herself well informed, and is intelligent and
attractive in conversation.
Old friends say, “I do love to hear Mrs. Blaine talk; she has a fine
mind, is so well educated, and so well informed.”
An old school-mate testifies that she was a fine scholar when at the
academy over the river from her present home, and that she also
studied and finished her education at Ipswich.
She has trained her children with a skill that few mothers could
command. Her children are her jewels, and are loved with a mother’s
affection. They are as stars, while her husband is as the great sun
shining in the heaven of her joys.
The present Augusta home has been, for years, little more than a
summer-resort, to which they have come the first of June. Their
great home has been in Washington. This, for twenty years, has
been life’s centre to them. Here home-life has reached its zenith; its
glories have shone the brightest; it has been at the nation’s capital,
and husband and father among the first men of the nation. Wealth
has been at their command, to make that home all they desired.
They could fill it with the realizations of their choicest ideals, and
friends, almost worshipers, have come and gone with the days and
hours, from all parts of the nation. They have lived in the nation’s life.
They have been in the onward drift and trend of things, ever on the
foremost wave, caught in the onward rush of events. Life has been
of the intensest kind, rich in all that enriches, noble in all that
ennobles. They have occupied a large place in the nation, and the
nation has occupied a large place in them; and yet, though at the
very farthest remove from the quiet, simple life of the cottage or the
farm, it has been an American home; it could be no other with such a
united head, and retains much of the old simplicity. The habits of
early life are still on them, and in nothing are they estranged from the
people.
It has been an experience with them so long, and came on so early
in its beginnings, and gradually, that they have become accustomed
to honor and distinction.
Another home is likely to be theirs in Washington, the crown of all the
others. But in it they will be the same they are now; just as glad to
see their friends, as home-like as themselves, as genuine and true.
Their heads cannot be turned if they have not been, and home in the
White House will be, if in reserve for them, the same dear, restful,
cheerful spot, for the loved ones will be there, and that makes home,
not walls, and floor, and furniture.
Photographs of the family abound at Mr. Blaine’s, all except the
picture of Mrs. Blaine,—she has not had it taken. “They are not true,”
she says, and she brought a half-dozen of her husband, and only
one seemed good, and she admitted it. The others showed, I
thought, how terrific has been the conflict of life with him. They show
him when haggard and worn, and perhaps prove, by her judgment
on them, how consummate is her ideal of the man of her heart. Mr.
Blaine loves the open air. The hammock, seen in the back-ground of
the picture of his house, is soothing and restful to him, and to a man
of such incessant activity rest is very welcome. He was out in the
hammock, as shown in the picture of his home, with his family and
some of his nearest neighbors about him, when the balloting was
going on in Chicago. The third ballot had just been taken when his
neighbor, Mr. Hewins, came on the grounds.
“Well, Charley,” he said, “you don’t see anybody badly excited about
here, do you?”
“Mr. Blaine,” he said, “was the coolest one of the company.”
These lawn-scenes are a part of the home-life, a very large and
pleasant part; for there are no pleasanter grounds in Augusta than
those surrounding Mr. Blaine’s modest mansion.
XIX.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MR. BLAINE.