Anyone who idolizes you is going to hate you when he discovers that you are fallible. He never forgives. He has deceived himself, and he blames you for it." — Elbert Hubbard, 1901

Did you ever send a fan letter to someone?

Maybe you were just a teenager with a crush on a TV star. Or a Sherlock Holmes fan who addressed a letter to 221B Baker Street. Or perhaps you were a member of the 'Weird Al' Yankovic fan club: Close Personal Friends of Al.

Did you get a response?

If you wrote to that TV star, you might have gotten back an autographed headshot.

For a number of years if you wrote to Sherlock Holmes, you received a reply from a secretary that Abbey National had employed just to a....

And while Weird Al may not be the best correspondent, he creates opportunities to engage with his biggest fans at V.I.P. sessions at his concerts and wherever else he finds them. According to a must-read New York Times Magazine feature:

"Weird Al’s bond with his fans is atomic. He will stop and speak with them anywhere — at airports, outside the tour bus — for so long that it becomes a logistical problem. The fans approach him like a guru, and Weird Al responds with sweet, open, validating energy."

That level of dedication and personal communication is what separates great leaders from others.

When Lyndon Johnson was 46 years old and elected as the youngest majority leader in the history of the U.S. Senate, he suffered his first heart attack. That landed him in the hospital for an extended stay, which itself cast him into a deep depression, resulting in him just lying there day after day.

Then one day, he miraculously got moving, hopping out of bed, shaving, and assembling an ad hoc secretarial pool with typewriters, stenographers, and activity. According to Doris Kearns Goodwin, who was on Johnson's staff during his presidency, the "crucial tonic" was something other than medical care:

"What animated him was the spate of more than four thousand letters of concern, condolence, and love… Just as he would answer constituents immediately, so he rose to action now to reply to every single letter."

As a leader, Johnson knew how important it was to maintain a connection with people, whether they were his constituents or not. As a young man who went from farm to farm in the Texas hill country to canvas for votes, he understood the power of the personal.

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