LINCOLN AS ROLE MODEL FOR TODAY’S LEADERS
How do you teach today’s managers integrity, honesty? How do you guide business executives to simplify and clarify their writing? How can you teach managers the importance of guiding stressed employees to focus on the organization’s mission instead of their daily tasks? Today’s business and government employees need strong role models.
Some 30 years ago, my husband Everett and I began teaching leadership using Lincoln and his challenges in guiding the country through a civil war. The subject matter and the role model resonated deeply with our first class, and it still does. Over the years, we have added other leaders—Winston Churchill, Frederick Douglass, Lewis & Clark, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sitting Bull, George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, and others—but Lincoln continues to be the most popular leader, attracting adults from government, business, non-profit, and education. Why?
Lincoln’s challenges. He worked in a world of divisive politics, with emotions running at fever pitch. He lived in a country that had changed as it expanded, with some regions grasping new technologies and industrialization, while others fought to keep the old ways. At the same time, Immigrants poured into the growing country, changing the workforce, seeking new lands to cultivate, and looking for education for their children. Do these challenges sound familiar?
We always begin our classes with a look at Lincoln’s challenges in leading a country undergoing massive change—in its workforce, in its very structure, in the products and services it produces, and in the technologies it explores. If Lincoln’s challenges are similar to those of today’s workplace, then perhaps Lincoln’s solutions might be applicable to our own times.
Understanding Lincoln. There is no way to understand this leader’s thinking than by reading his own words, so we jump right into the speeches and letters. What values did Lincoln believe were the heart of this young nation? Where did those ideas come from? How did those values guide his political career and take him to the presidency? And would they change as civil war tore the country apart?
These are the issues we explore, and we watch as discussion groups tackle the values and vision of Lincoln, from his early writings to his presidential oratory. Students get excited, pointing out how hard Lincoln worked to make sure that people understood his goals for the war and his vision for the nation.
Some 30 years ago, my husband Everett and I began teaching leadership using Lincoln and his challenges in guiding the country through a civil war. The subject matter and the role model resonated deeply with our first class, and it still does. Over the years, we have added other leaders—Winston Churchill, Frederick Douglass, Lewis & Clark, Eleanor Roosevelt, Sitting Bull, George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, and others—but Lincoln continues to be the most popular leader, attracting adults from government, business, non-profit, and education. Why?
Lincoln’s challenges. He worked in a world of divisive politics, with emotions running at fever pitch. He lived in a country that had changed as it expanded, with some regions grasping new technologies and industrialization, while others fought to keep the old ways. At the same time, Immigrants poured into the growing country, changing the workforce, seeking new lands to cultivate, and looking for education for their children. Do these challenges sound familiar?
We always begin our classes with a look at Lincoln’s challenges in leading a country undergoing massive change—in its workforce, in its very structure, in the products and services it produces, and in the technologies it explores. If Lincoln’s challenges are similar to those of today’s workplace, then perhaps Lincoln’s solutions might be applicable to our own times.
Understanding Lincoln. There is no way to understand this leader’s thinking than by reading his own words, so we jump right into the speeches and letters. What values did Lincoln believe were the heart of this young nation? Where did those ideas come from? How did those values guide his political career and take him to the presidency? And would they change as civil war tore the country apart?
These are the issues we explore, and we watch as discussion groups tackle the values and vision of Lincoln, from his early writings to his presidential oratory. Students get excited, pointing out how hard Lincoln worked to make sure that people understood his goals for the war and his vision for the nation.
That “central idea” in our political public opinion, at the beginning was, and until recently has continued to be, “the equality of men. . .”
SPEECH AT A REPUBLICAN BANQUET IN CHICAGO, December 10, 1856
I have never had a feeling politically that did not spring from the sentiments embodied in the Declaration of Independence. . . I have often inquired of myself, what great principle or idea it was that kept this Confederacy so long together. It was . . . something in that Declaration giving liberty, not alone to the people of this country, but hope to the world for all future time.
ADDRESS IN INDEPENDENCE HALL, PHILADELPHIA, February 22, 1861
We shall nobly save, or meanly lose, the last best hope of earth. . .
ANNUAL MESSAGE TO CONGRESS, December 1, 1862
Applying Lincoln’s Leadership Tools to Today’s Workplace.
Most business managers today have never studied Lincoln’s amazing language. They inevitably come under the spell of his words in class, and it is so rewarding to hear them calling out to their classmates, “Listen to this!” and then quoting some Lincoln passage that fits an exercise they are working on. Then I hear them talking about work-related issues. They are figuring out that Lincoln’s language is relevant today.
In another class, which studies Eisenhower and Churchill, we take a tour of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, stopping by graves of WWII veterans who died at Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Battle of the Bulge. Before leaving the cemetery, we stand in the WWII section and read aloud the Gettysburg Address, with Lincoln’s words causing many to choke up.
Lincoln’s Literary Lessons. We study the way Lincoln used clarity and simplicity to make his goals clear to the public, to the military, to government leaders. He reached out with language that anyone could understand, to focus his listeners on what was important for the war and for the country, if it was to survive.
Then we try our hands at writing—reviewing contemporary mission statements. Can today’s managers re-write these documents into simple, uncluttered statements that can make sense to a young person? Can they inspire a jobseeker to want to work for an organization that is doing important work?
Once the words and message are crafted, how often does a manager remind his/her team members of the importance of their work? Most of our days are spent on trivial decisions, worries about limited resources, pressure to perform. How much better would it be to remind people of purpose/mission, instead of tasks and petty issues? People want to be inspired, and they want to feel that their work is important. Help them focus on the big picture.
Most business managers today have never studied Lincoln’s amazing language. They inevitably come under the spell of his words in class, and it is so rewarding to hear them calling out to their classmates, “Listen to this!” and then quoting some Lincoln passage that fits an exercise they are working on. Then I hear them talking about work-related issues. They are figuring out that Lincoln’s language is relevant today.
In another class, which studies Eisenhower and Churchill, we take a tour of the Gettysburg National Cemetery, stopping by graves of WWII veterans who died at Pearl Harbor, Guadalcanal, Battle of the Bulge. Before leaving the cemetery, we stand in the WWII section and read aloud the Gettysburg Address, with Lincoln’s words causing many to choke up.
Lincoln’s Literary Lessons. We study the way Lincoln used clarity and simplicity to make his goals clear to the public, to the military, to government leaders. He reached out with language that anyone could understand, to focus his listeners on what was important for the war and for the country, if it was to survive.
Then we try our hands at writing—reviewing contemporary mission statements. Can today’s managers re-write these documents into simple, uncluttered statements that can make sense to a young person? Can they inspire a jobseeker to want to work for an organization that is doing important work?
Once the words and message are crafted, how often does a manager remind his/her team members of the importance of their work? Most of our days are spent on trivial decisions, worries about limited resources, pressure to perform. How much better would it be to remind people of purpose/mission, instead of tasks and petty issues? People want to be inspired, and they want to feel that their work is important. Help them focus on the big picture.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain. . .
THE GETTYSBURG ADDRESS, November 19, 1863
Staffing for Success. Turning from broad concepts to daily staffing interactions, students examine Lincoln’s challenges in building an administration and expanding the military. How did he find competent leaders for key positions, and how did he guide them toward success? We study his generals, contrasting Grant and McClellan. We read correspondence between the generals and Lincoln to understand Lincoln’s leadership style. Then we turn to the Cabinet, with its immense egos, ambition, and hostility toward one another.
Workshop participants love the readings, the movie clips, and the team discussions. They can relate to all sorts of “difficult” people, telling us that every office has a George McClellan, a Salmon P. Chase, or a Dan Sickles. How did Lincoln deal with these individuals, we ask? Students conclude that Lincoln accepted the strong-willed personalities (for who can change a personality?) and channeled their talents to achieve his goals for the nation,
As long as they are on the same path, working toward the same mission, then let them do their work in their own way. No need for micro-managing, checking their every move, changing their decisions. And develop a thick skin against personal insults. Lincoln’s focus was on the bigger picture—his vision of a nation that could be a model of democracy for the world—and not on the personal slights and internal fighting.
These leadership lessons are simple. They do not involve memorizing 10 steps to success. They are not dependent on gimmicks. The lessons stick because the stories stick. Recall Lincoln’s dealings with Stanton, Chase, or Cameron, and you realize your staff is not nearly as difficult, and that there is a way to work with them.
Students walk away with pictures and stories of success in hard times. They are inspired to return to work with renewed energy and to focus on what is important.
Workshop participants love the readings, the movie clips, and the team discussions. They can relate to all sorts of “difficult” people, telling us that every office has a George McClellan, a Salmon P. Chase, or a Dan Sickles. How did Lincoln deal with these individuals, we ask? Students conclude that Lincoln accepted the strong-willed personalities (for who can change a personality?) and channeled their talents to achieve his goals for the nation,
As long as they are on the same path, working toward the same mission, then let them do their work in their own way. No need for micro-managing, checking their every move, changing their decisions. And develop a thick skin against personal insults. Lincoln’s focus was on the bigger picture—his vision of a nation that could be a model of democracy for the world—and not on the personal slights and internal fighting.
These leadership lessons are simple. They do not involve memorizing 10 steps to success. They are not dependent on gimmicks. The lessons stick because the stories stick. Recall Lincoln’s dealings with Stanton, Chase, or Cameron, and you realize your staff is not nearly as difficult, and that there is a way to work with them.
Students walk away with pictures and stories of success in hard times. They are inspired to return to work with renewed energy and to focus on what is important.
When you return to your homes rise up to the height of a generation of men worthy of a free Government, and we will carry out the great work we have commenced.
Speech to the 164th Ohio Regiment
Washington, D.C., August 18, 186
Washington, D.C., August 18, 186