What Joe Biden’s Decision Tells Us About Leaders Leaving Office

President Biden is being praised by Democrats for his long and dedicated service, and for putting the nation’s interests above his own by stepping back from the campaign.

Political analysts, wealthy donors, and prominent political leaders were surprised by President Biden’s decision to take a break from the campaign. These critics didn’t realize that their pressure was actually backfiring. It seems that a private conversation with trusted advisors was what ultimately made the difference.

The difficult decision to withdraw from the close re-election race highlighted the struggles I’ve seen regularly over the past 40 years studying leadership transitions. My insights are drawn from decades of research on top leaders’ exits, dating back to my 1989 book, The Hero’s Farewell (Oxford University Press), a study on top leaders’ departures across various sectors, countries, continents, and centuries.

Top leaders face two main obstacles when it comes to stepping down: what I call Heroic Mission and Heroic Stature, both of which many of Biden’s advisors and detractors didn’t understand as they tried to convince him to leave the campaign.

Heroic Mission is a leader’s pursuit of a lasting legacy with significant impact. Biden viewed the preservation of democracy as his crucial mission in his later career and sees as a serious threat to American values of the rule of law, constitutional governance, and respect for core government institutions like the courts, the military, government service, as well as global trade, immigration, and international security alliances.

Driven by this lofty desire for lasting renown, he was frustrated by what he saw as short-term anxieties over his , confident that he would prove his strength in the weeks ahead. Biden was never one to give up, from his childhood struggles with a stutter and a family with uncertain income. He was accustomed to overcoming adversity and learned to disregard the cynicism of self-interested party critics.

However, until this weekend, he wouldn’t quit. He always believed in defying fate and resented those trying to deny him his proven ability to persevere. Despite life’s , Biden rose above it, used to being underestimated.

At one of the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute CEO Summits in 1991, former President sobbed before the assembled corporate titans confiding about the trauma he suffered by “being fired by the American public,” as he discussed his then new focus on Habitat for Humanity as well as his initiatives advancing global health and election reform. He promptly got a standing ovation from this largely Republican crowd and an outpouring of financial support. Dwight Eisenhower, in leaving office, was quickly embraced by as mentor, despite JFK’s victory over Richard Nixon, Eisenhower’s protégé.

The quest for Heroic Stature is a drive to distinguish oneself as unique in society. Top leaders regularly confide in me about this are worried about moving from the topping the venerable “Who’s Who” list of influencers to falling to onlookers’ question “Who’s That?” Few top leaders are used to being one of the crowd. Top leaders want to be seen as unique, to differentiate them from the crowd and often recreate an heroic image of themselves. No one ever called Alexander III of Macedonia Alexander the Great until he invented that image himself and fabricated a lineage to such mythic leaders as Odysseus and Achilles—even believing it himself.

Throughout his 54-year career, since age 29, Biden has been defined as an elected public official, serving on the New Castle County Commission in 1970 and then in the U.S. Senate since 1972 until becoming Vice President in 2008. Imagining himself leaves him with no easy identity. A violinist can retire from the orchestra into the role as a solo performer or member of periodic chamber quartets. However that transition from the orchestra is far harder for the conductor, as the conductor’s instrument for contribution was the orchestra itself, the organization left behind.

When Johnny Carson retired as the of late-night entertainment in 1992, he declared, just his audience peaked, “Everything comes to an end, nothing lasts forever. Thirty years is enough. It’s time to get out while you’re still working on top of your game and you’re still working well.” While pointing proudly to the new comedians he’d launched as successors, when Bette Midler sang a farewell tribute to him on his last show, he cried on camera.

These exits of such devoted public figures are emotional affairs not just the rational tradeoffs of game theorists. Too often leadership succession is focused on the rising stars and total disregard for the exiting incumbents, however heroic they were. Those who succeeded in reaching Biden to encourage reflection, did so with appreciation and sensitivity instead of threats and humiliation. Many celebrate Biden’s wisdom over his decision. I salute him over his lessons to us on the succession process.