By Ricky Thompson

To Tina Flaherty, author of “What Jackie Taught Us: Lessons from the Remarkable Life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis,” it was the former first lady’s more unheralded characteristics that distinctively set her apart from other women who had previously held her position.

“No one concentrated on her leadership abilities and keen intellect,” Flaherty said at an Oct. 27 Ford Hall Forum that focused on Onassis.

The event, held at the Boston Center for Adult Education, was the fifth in a series of nine lectures featured since September dealing with different aspects of American politics.

“As Americans, we benefited from her ability to lead and do the things that she did,” Flaherty said. “I think that [Onassis] was one of the best role models women can have … also an inspiration to men.”

Mary McTigue, the evening’s moderator and the executive director for the center, described Flaherty as having set “new paths for women in business while still in her twenties.”

More recently, Flaherty is noted as having been the first female vice president at three American media corporations: Colgate-Palmotive, GTE and Grey Advertising. She was named by Business Week as “one of America’s top corporate women” and in 2000 was selected by America’s Elite as one of “100 Amazing Americans.”

Other individuals among the hundred are President George W. Bush, Oprah Winfrey and Diane Sawyer.

Flaherty’s book, published in a year that coincides with the tenth anniversary of Onassis’ death, is “not a biography,” Flaherty said. Instead, it focuses on what the author considers Onassis’ life lessons, such as style, focus and motherhood.

“[Onassis] was one of fashion’s greatest muses,” Flaherty said. “She was willing to look at her image every day of her life so she didn’t take any chance on how she looked.”

Flaherty also said from an early age, Onassis “would never take no for an answer when she had her eye on something. She was a dreamer, yet definitely a doer.”

The author described her personal relationship with Onassis as a “nod and smile acquaintance.” The pair spent a number of years living as neighbors in the same Manhattan apartment building. During this time, Flaherty said they had met but were not close friends, and she firmly chose to respect her privacy and observe from afar.

“[Onassis] had a lot of brains under that pillbox hat,” she said.

Flaherty’s other books include “Talk Your Way to the Top” and “The Savvy Woman’s Success Bible.”