Lincoln and leadership Essay Example

style="text-align: justify">The chapter “Lead by Being Led” shows how one of Lincoln’s greatest strengths was his ability to choose the right people to execute his plans, act as sounding boards, and to come up with innovative ideas of their own. Lincoln liked to have subordinates who would take the lead – like Grant and Sherman – but he also maintained control, making sure their decisions followed his general direction; if they deviated too far from his plan, he would gently put them back on course.

In Chapter 10, “Set Goals and Be Results-Oriented,” Phillips notes that Lincoln was a hard worker and ambitious – he was a small business owner, a postmaster, a surveyor, and later a lawyer and politician. As president, he united his followers with a shared vision of preserving the Union and achieving the end of slavery, and he focused on concrete, short-term goals that could be accomplished. He took the war one battle at a time.

These goals weren’t always shared by his subordinates: one area where he disagreed with his generals, until Grant, was in his focus on Lee; Lincoln felt that defeating Lee’s army, not capturing the Confederate capital, was the key to victory. “Keep Searching Until You Find Your Grant,” Chapter 11, is the longest chapter in the book, and one of the most interesting. One area where Lincoln is often criticized is his search for a commanding general.

From 1861 to early 1864, Lincoln went through what is referred to as his “parade” of generals; he was searching for an aggressive tactician whose motivation to succeed match Lincoln’s own. Phillips compares these short tenures

– three to five months each – to the “honeymoon periods” for new managers/leaders in corporations. Lincoln did not have time for extended honeymoons, and when it became clear that a particular general was not the leader he needed, he was replaced.

It was not until Lincoln identified Grant – first giving him the Department of the West in mid-1863, then making him General-in-Chief in March, 1864 – that he found the leader capable of completing his goal of destroying Lee’s army. Phillips notes that “aggressive leaders tend to choose employees in their own image” (p. 136), and along with Grant came two particularly effective generals: Sheridan and Sherman, whose Virginia and Georgia campaigns, respectively, broke both the South’s supply lines and its will to see the war continue.

Still, Lincoln’s vision and leadership was a necessary element even in Grant’s victories: his encouragement and support were essential. Phillips quotes Lincoln as saying “I, who am not a specially brave man … have had to sustain the sinking courage of these professional fighters in critical times” (p. 135). Chapter 12’s title, “Encourage Innovation,” demonstrates how innovation was extremely important to Lincoln, who disliked “yes men” and tended to appoint subordinates with strong wills and opinions, forcing him to applying critical thinking to his own opinions before making tough decisions.

Lincoln’s open-door policy led to many businessmen and inventors visiting the White House, and he loved attending demonstrations of new weapons and other innovations. It was Lincoln who insisted, over the protestations of the Army’s chief of ordinance, that the Union army order new breech-loading rifles, a technological advancement that help the North

win the war “Communication,” the title of Part 4, is a theme that runs through the entire book.

Chapter 13, “Master the Art of Public Speaking,” focuses on Lincoln’s ability to both write and deliver messages that are models of effective rhetoric, often reaching the level of literature. His ability to motivate and inspire through carefully chosen words and, according to contemporary accounts, dramatic delivery, was what brought Lincoln to national attention in the first place. Phillips notes, “Lincoln built credibility by being consistent and clear when speaking to others.

But he did it with more than words; his actions mirrored what he said” (p. 153). Chapter 14, “Influence People Through Conversation and Storytelling,” focuses on the central role that conversation played in Lincoln’s success as a leader. Throughout the book, particularly in the “People” section, Phillips emphasizes the role inter-personal communication in leadership; according to Phillips, “Conversation was Lincoln’s chief from of persuasion and the single most important and effective aspect of his leadership style.

One on one, Lincoln could convince anybody of just about anything” (p. 155). Phillips cites Peters and Austin, who state, “human beings reason largely by means of stories, not mounds of data. Stories are memorable …. They teach” (p. 158). Lincoln knew this to be the case, and even once commented on the fact that he used stories to “a long and useless discussion … or laborious explanation … by a story that illustrates my point of view” (p. 159). This section ends with the chapter entitled “Preach a Vision and Continually Reaffirm It.”

Lincoln consistently re-asserted his vision – preserving the Union and achieving

equality for all men – throughout his presidency. Phillips focuses on how the president framed his vision for his audience, the soldiers and citizens who needed to be renewed and revitalized in order to finish the conflict. Phillips uses Lincoln’s best-known, and shortest, speech, to show how Lincoln effected renewal; he “called on the past, related it to the present, and then used them both to provide a link to the future” (p. 166).

Lincoln knew that renewal was necessary to complete his goals, and continue his followers’ belief in his vision: “Without question, Lincoln realized what every leader must – that the process of renewal releases the critical human talent and energy that is necessary to insure success” (p. 168). The afterword, added in 2009, explores Lincoln’s actions in dealing with financial crisis. With war looming in 1860, foreign investors pulled out of American markets; southern banks defaulted on their loans from banks in the North. James Buchanan left Lincoln with a $75 million budget deficit, which would balloon to $3. 8 billion by the end of the war.

Lincoln countered this dire situation with innovation, creating, among other institutions, the IRS and a national banking system. Conclusions Phillips points out several times that Lincoln’s character was evident in his ability to make tough and often unpopular decisions because he knew they were the right thing to do. He writes, “Lincoln tempered his unusually intense drive to achieve with an equally strong capacity to care,” pointing out that, “many leaders are unable to combine these two principles effectively” (p. 177).

This caring capacity extended to the South, as well, as evidenced in

his Second Inaugural Address: “With malice toward none, with charity for all … let us strive on to finish this work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds … to do all which may achieve lasting peace among ourselves” (p. 178). Phillips argues that Lincoln’s lack of experience and the state of crisis that existed at his first term’s outset are what make this study of Lincoln particularly relevant to those interested in acquiring effective leadership principles: Lincoln’s success was little short of miraculous.

I agree, and as a lover of history, I was pleased to find that this book was well-researched and filled with fascinating detail. Phillips relied heavily on Lincoln’s papers and the best-known biographies, but also scoured contemporary accounts and the remembrances of those who served on his cabinet, the “team of rivals,” as historian Doris Kearns Goodwin dubbed them. I am a student of politics, as well, and Lincoln’s surprise win in 1860 (and narrow victory again in 1864) are events on which Phillips’ offers a fresh, original point of view.

Phillips’ rationale for writing this book is that Lincoln in many ways exemplified the skills and behaviors that we currently identify with our modern concept of leadership. Contemporary leaders can see the “best practices” of their time reflected in Lincoln’s leadership style – he exhibited, in Phillips’ opinion, all of the qualities contemporary executives should strive toward. Consequently, the most effective aspect of Lincoln on Leadership is how it connects Lincoln’s “principles” – both declared and observed through an analysis of his behaviors – with contemporary writing on leadership.

I became aware of several authors

who I would like to read more of, particularly Burns and Peters; I would think that some who might read this book purely for the leadership aspects might also be encouraged to do more research in the other direction, as Phillips does an excellent job of conveying Lincoln’s fascinating character. I found Lincoln on Leadership to be a surprisingly insightful book, and I’d recommend it to anyone who wants to look beyond the “great man” myth of our 16th president and into the thoughts, feelings, and, most importantly, principles that guided his actions.