Maria Theresa of Austria: Full-Blooded Politician, Devoted Wife and Mother-to-All by Regine Neuhauser
As an Austrian national and with a keen interest in conscious leadership, I wanted to learn more about one of the greatest leaders of my country: Maria Theresa. That’s how I’ve found this book, and I’m so glad I did!
Maria Theresa made the seemingly impossible possible:
never meant to rule, trained as a young lady, in the dullest sense of the term, to become a submissive wife in the background of some king or duke. But then, when deaths in her family and fate unexpectedly sweep her to the top of the Habsburg throne, the twenty-three-year-old, innocent greenhorn is transformed into a highly talented, energetic, hard worker with an iron will and great courage, ready to fight tooth and nail against a host of enemies who threaten to strip her of her inheritance. She successfully parries the onslaught of her enemies. Not only that, Maria Theresa, the political realist, becomes one of Austria’s greatest reformers…At the same time, she bore sixteen children in twenty years.
I was curious to learn her “secrets” and hoping to find inspiration for my own leadership journey as founder of Fair Voyage. To my pleasant surprise, I didn’t need to look hard—the book was packed with quotes illustrating her superb qualities as a conscious leader; and I found many parallels between Maria Theresa’s character strengths described in this book and principles of contemporary leadership literature.
Amongst others, the following leadership qualities and principles stood out to me:
- Courage—As the only female ruler of the Habsburg empire, without much political education and only 23 years old when her father died, surrounded by hostile male leaders ready to attack, she had the courage to stand firm against her enemies, as well as the courage to follow her heart against the advice of her aged male councilors.
She needs every bit of her intrepidity, for now it is Austria against the rest of the world… Just over a year after coming to the throne, Maria Theresa has grown into a calculating, hard-core politician. If harshness is required, well, harsh she will be…. she had had the courage to face the challenge.
- Faith—Prior to the age of spirituality, Maria Theresa had an indomitable faith in “god”, a bigger power guiding and supporting her. Her courage to listen to her own heart, combined with her faith that it will work out OK, even though she didn’t always have all the answers how, reminded me of the concept of “bending reality” which Vishen Lakhiani, founder of MindValley, describes in his latest book The Buddha and the Badass: The Secret Spiritual Art of Succeeding at Work. It’s the notion that when we have the courage to follow our hearts and intuition, as Steve Jobs taught us and is so well described in his biography by Walter Isaacson, doors will open up to make the previously seemingly impossible possible. In other words, the divine providence will manifest itself:
There is this unshakeable, deep conviction inside her that the Lord will never forsake her. Now she needs His help again, for the war against her enemies is not over yet….But then, quite unexpectedly, Divine Providence manifests itself in Maria Theresa’s favor: in January 1745, the “Mock Emperor” dies from severe gout and general debility.
- Vulnerability—Connected to her femininity, Maria Theresa wasn’t shy of showing her emotions and shedding tears in front of her people. What might have been perceived as weakness turned into on of her biggest strengths, just as vulnerability researcher Brené Brown writes in her books Daring Greatly and Dare to Lead. By exposing her vulnerabilities and speaking to her people as a human, not as a sovereign, Maria Theresa managed to enlist their support to protect the Habsburg dominions:
“I am a poor Queen, but I have the heart of a King.”… As she mentions her children, tears trickle down her face, and when she ends her plea, she chokes with emotion. Enthralled by the magic emanating from their grief-stricken, young King, the men leap to their feet, draw their swords and cry: “Our life and blood for Our Majesty! Let us die for Our King!” For the very first time in their history, a Habsburg is speaking to them as a partner.
- People management skills—Maria Theresa understood how to ask for help when needed. She acted as servant leader and used superb people management skills tap into the pride of her male contemporaries and let them shine as heros, so that she could achieve her objectives. She fundamentally understood the meaning of the saying—you can accomplish anything you do not care who gets the credit:
“Here, my dear … Khevenhüller, you have before your eyes a Queen and her son who have been deserted by the whole world. What do you think will become of this child?” reads the epistle-like masterpiece of female maneuvering. “To you as a loyal servant … your most gracious sovereign entrusts herself… Act, O my hero, as in boldness you can take it upon yourself … Fame the world will bestow upon you!”
- Playfulness—Her joy of life, especially during the first half of her rein up to her 40thies, reminded me of Richard Branson’s Screw It, Let’s Do It: Lessons in Life—that it’s possible to achieve the impossible whilst having (or perhaps precisely “by” having) fun and living life to the full.
since her ascension to the throne, all her natural high spirits, vivacity, and affability are bubbling out of her like a dormant, suddenly erupting volcano. She is in love with life and bursting with energy. And she happily seizes every opportunity to celebrate…
- Exercise & time alone in nature—Maria Theresa loved the outdoors, including walking and horse-riding. This reminded me of the concept of “flow” for peak performance, as first researched and popularized by Mihaly Csikszentmihaly in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, and further developed by Steven Kotler, author of The Art of Impossible and many more books on peak performance. According to Steven Kotler and his Flow Research Collective, peak performance as a leader demands time away from work, to release stress and recover. For release and recovery, exercise and time alone in nature are very effective; and physical activities that require full body-mind immersion—such as surfing or rock climbing—can be effective triggers for more mental and creative flow at work. In the case of Maria Theresa, it seems to me that walking and horse riding might have been her way of releasing stress and recovering from the heavy burden of her responsibilities as a leader:
Since her early childhood, Maria Theresa has been in love with the outdoors. She enjoys taking regular walks that last three to four hours, and there is another outdoor hobby she indulges in: right after ascending to the throne, she had discovered riding for herself, a purely male activity at the time…. This clever, political move creates a habit in her – and develops into a passion…. She rides like the devil, racing across country like a storm wind, and neither Francis nor the courtiers manage to deter her from it.
- Coaching & self-consciousness—Both history and the present are full of leaders who were well-intentioned to start with, but failed to serve the very people they had set out to serve and turned into tyrants throughout their reigns, often due to arrogance, not recognizing their flaws and not having the courage to expose their own vulnerabilities and ask for help when needed. Not Maria Theresa:
She is aware of her tendency to overdo it and self-conscious enough to realize that she is not perfect. This is why, in 1741, she appoints Count Silva-Tarouca, president of the Ministerial Council for the Austrian Netherlands, to the position of what the 21st century would call a life coach….“Show me my character flaws and make me recognize them,” she commands the Count, “this being most necessary for a ruler, since there are few or none at all to be found who will do this, commonly refraining out of awe or self-interest.”
Like many leaders, Maria Theresa also suffered the consequences of overwork—depression. The advice of her coach for “walks in nature and talks with friends” reads just like modern life coaching. What moden research has proven scientifically, he already understood to be true over 200 years ago! Maria Theresa seems to have had a special gift to know who to trust as her advisor:
she is more than hopelessly overworked, she tells the Count. She finds it hard now to enjoy entertainments and she has become extremely serious. In fact, more serious than is healthy – for the correspondence with her coach reveals that she suffers from spells of severe depression… she frequently uses the phrases “I am sick in body and mind” to describe her mental state. Her coach replies impatiently, pointing out to her that this is a “malady periodically recurring every six months … particularly in mid-fall”. As a cure, he recommends walks in nature and talks with friends.
- Friendship & connection— Maria Theresa maintained close lifelong friendships and frequently made time for her friends:
Maria Theresa and her sister grow up well-protected as “normal” children. They adore Countess Fuchs [who] remains Maria Theresa’s best friend and confidant until her death….She frequently rides out of town to country estates or to private palaces in order to have breakfast or a cup of coffee with her friends…Three to four times a week she organizes dinners for her husband and friends…. Silva-Tarouca becomes one of Maria Theresa’s friends for life
- Servant leadership—Maria Theresa understood herself as servant leader for her people. Whilst male leaders of her time were striking wars to enlarge their empires, Maria Theresa focused on creating and preserving peace for her people:
Preserve peace at any cost! preaches Maria Theresa. She would move mountains to spare her peoples another war… “War is a despicable business! It is against humanity and happiness”, she warns him. And “Never forget. Better a mediocre peace than a glorious war.”…Maria Theresa is willing to forgo any territorial gain for the sake of a quick peace.
- Stamina & discipline—
She proves to be a born worker, a natural political talent with great resolution and a tremendous amount of energy. She keeps an iron discipline… Being in labor is the “war” for the women in her era. Like men going into battle, women survive childbirth either unscathed or crippled, or they die from it. Yet outwardly Maria Theresa puts on a brave face, maintains an iron discipline and never neglects her duties.
- Authenticity—
“this woman has the special God-given talent to endear herself to people with her kindness so that they cannot refuse her anything.”… “Everything one can say about her is nothing compared to what one feels in her presence. As far as I am concerned, I would give my possessions and my life to her with all my heart.”… in this way Maria Theresa raises about 1.2 million guilders in loans.
- Closeness to her people—
Maria Theresa does not need, nor want this type of “protection”. She walks on foot through the streets of Vienna to the different churches on the occasion of some jubilee and gets close up and personal with the town folks who, in the face of such a miraculous occurrence, stand gaping with their eyes wide open.
- Appreciation for her loyal staff, reward them well—
But life is a give-and-take, she feels, and so she never forgets that “her” Hungarians saved her throne, and rewards her loyal staff, high- and low-ranking alike, with all kinds of financial benefits and her life-long friendship.
To sum it all up:
the crisis has brought out the best in her: determination and stamina,… confidence in her feminine instincts, a tremendous self-assurance and superb people management skills.
It was a joy to read this book and, in addition to what I was looking for, I learnt a lot about the history of Austria without getting bored by facts and figure.
If you are interested in history and examples of great leadership, you will likely enjoy it too.
Here’s the link once again: Maria Theresa of Austria: Full-Blooded Politician, Devoted Wife and Mother-to-All.
Enjoy 🙂
