Leadership Quote by John Hancock

In an era when “business” was inseparable from politics, patronage, and paper credit, Hancock’s line reads less like a self-help maxim and more like a survival manual for a fragile new elite. This is a man remembered for a signature, but he built power through networks: merchants, lenders, printers, dockworkers, fellow radicals, rival factions. “Greatest ability” is a demotion of the romantic idea that success comes from raw brilliance or impeccable virtue. Hancock elevates social navigation to the prime competency because, in his world, deals were personal, trust was scarce, and institutions were still forming.

The phrasing does two things at once. “Get along with others” is the velvet glove: civility, coalition-building, the careful management of ego in rooms where everyone thinks they’re indispensable. Then comes the steel: “influence their actions.” It’s not enough to be liked; you have to move people. The sentence admits, almost bluntly, that outcomes are produced by persuasion, pressure, and incentives - by steering behavior.

Context sharpens the subtext. Eighteenth-century commerce ran on reputation and relationships; one bad quarrel could freeze credit or ignite a political enemy. Revolutionary politics magnified that dynamic: organizing boycotts, raising funds, keeping a movement coherent required constant interpersonal maintenance and strategic messaging. Hancock’s intent is pragmatic, even slightly Machiavellian: the real currency is not ideas, but the ability to convert human tendencies into coordinated action. It’s an early American reminder that power rarely looks like domination; it often looks like amiability with an agenda.