By Rhonda Abrams
Gannett News Service

All of us need role models, especially those of us who run our own businesses.

When I first became a manager, I searched for people to emulate when developing my leadership style. I didn't have much luck. After all, it was an era when using the term "chainsaw" to describe a chief executive was considered a compliment.

However, this year I discovered a leadership role model I truly admire - a person who exemplifies the values I'd hope to bring to my work and life.

That role model is Eleanor Roosevelt.

Since Roosevelt's birthday falls in October (she was born Oct. 11, 1884), it seems an appropriate time to celebrate some of her traits and philosophies I find inspirational for entrepreneurs.

While she came from a wealthy, prominent family, her childhood was dismal. Orphaned before she was 10, her mother ridiculed her and her father was an alcoholic. Her early years of marriage to her distant cousin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, were suffocating and humiliating.

Yet, she somehow found within herself the strength to overcome whatever obstacles life put in her way. She forged her own path.

During her years as first lady, 1933-1945, she was the country's strongest champion of civil rights, women's rights and compassion for America's depression-era poor. She fought for anti-lynching laws when the Democratic Party, including FDR, didn't want to alienate Southern Democrats. She truly became the conscience of our society. After FDR died, she chaired the United Nations committee that drafted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Roosevelt accomplished all that not because it made her popular - quite the contrary. She didn't follow opinion polls or focus groups.

She learned that to be a success in life, you had to have a set of values that guides your actions. Over the years, I've learned that same lesson applies to business: To be a long-term success, you have to be driven by values - not just by profit.

We have many leadership lessons for entrepreneurs in Eleanor's own words:

• "A stumbling block to the pessimist is a stepping stone to the optimist."

• "The things you refuse to meet today always come back at you later on, usually under circumstances which make the decision twice as difficult as it originally was."

• "No one can make you feel inferior without your consent."

• "Do what you feel in your heart to be right - for you'll be criticized anyway.

• "Surely, in the light of history, it is more intelligent to hope rather than to fear, to try rather than not to try. ... Nothing has ever been achieved by the person who says, 'It can't be done.' "

• "It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself."

• "A woman is like a teabag; only in hot water do you realize how strong she is."

• "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

Rhonda Abrams is the author of "The Successful Business Plan: Secrets & Strategies" and president of The Planning Shop, publisher of books and tools for business planning.