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Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson each suffered severe quarter-life or midlife crises – after considerable early success and acclaim, a reversal made it seem their world had crashed. Each suffered from depression in that crucible period but recovered to rise to the presidency of the United States, leading transformational change.

That’s a reassuring message from Harvard historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s new book, Leadership in Turbulent Times, those ordeals were an unexpected aspect of a book I unconsciously assumed would show straight-line trajectories to power. It’s not a scientific sample, but still a fascinating accident of the fact that these were the four presidents she has spent her life chronicling and, when she looked at them as a group to discern lessons on leadership, they shared this mid-career dip.

The quarter-life crisis seems new – an attribute of the millennial generation – but this historical reflection suggests it may be older and more prevalent than we think. It echoes, of course, the mid-life crisis, which is supposed to hit around the age of 40.

An interesting sidelight of the mid-life crisis is that it was discovered by Toronto-born psychoanalyst Elliott Jaques, who published only once on the topic before switching his focus to a scientific approach to management, specifically on hierarchy and accountability. His groundbreaking psychological document was a relatively simple study of writers and artists, showing that at around 40 they either trailed off, their impactful work over, or started their most significant work. More is known now, of course, but it’s helpful to keep his original finding in mind, particularly if you are in your 20s facing a malaise of meaninglessness. This kind of crisis can be – as with the presidents – a jumping-off point.

In 1840, Lincoln was so suicidal that friends confiscated his knives, razors and scissors. The 31-year-old subsequently retired from the state legislature, worried his reputation was shredded, having failed to deliver on his promise of dependable roads and navigable rivers, and breaking off his engagement to Mary Todd. “I must die or be better,” he said, as reflection and reading helped him to emerge from his affliction.

Theodore Roosevelt, a 26-year-old state legislator in New York, lost his wife immediately after childbirth to acute kidney disease and his mother to typhoid on the same day in 1884. “The light has gone out of my life,” he declared, eventually escaping to the western frontier, living a rancher’s life, until hard work and resolve brought him back to politics.

In August, 1921, Franklin Roosevelt, 39, after swimming in the ocean experienced chills and fatigue that proved to be polio. During his seven-year convalescence, he searched desperately for cures, eventually throwing two-thirds of his wealth, against friends’ advice, into creating a pioneering retreat centre, Warm Springs, for those with the disease. He hoped to walk again, but “he experienced a different kind of recovery, developed a more profound level of humility, and provided an inspiration for (and was inspired by) the vibrant community he created with his fellow polios,” Ms. Goodwin writes.

Lyndon Johnson lost a bid for a Senate seat in 1941 and, while Lincoln and Franklin Roosevelt lost elections without much effect, for the 33-year-old Johnson it served as “a referendum on his self-worth,” Ms. Goodwin notes. In a hurry, he left politics in despair, built a business empire, and then another Senate run led to an 87-vote victory and the sobriquet “Landslide Lyndon.”

He called the period after his loss “the most miserable period of my life.” But he rebounded, as did the others. Time, patience and reflection gave him a chance to restore energy and self-esteem. Throwing oneself into other ventures was also helpful.

For all of them, finding a new path ahead – and greater meaning for their lives – was critical.

Robert Thomas, in Crucibles of Experience, studied 200 people who faced a transformative challenge and emerged from that crucible with a lesson in leadership and learning. They refused to become trapped. “No matter how much they struggle, no matter how much they may grieve, and no matter how much they may chafe at finding themselves in situations they cannot immediately control, they are not paralysed by difficult situations. Where others see chaos and confusion, they see opportunities to grow and learn,” he wrote.

But they do struggle. And grow. So whether it’s a quarter-life or mid-life experience, or uncertainty as retirement nears, there can be better days ahead.

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