Lincoln on Leadership

Lincoln on Leadership

Introduction

In this assignment we will be focusing on the leadership of Lincoln. His leadership can be viewed through the eyes of many historians. They have portrayed him as a dictator, incompetent, and a buffoon at some points. After going through the Donald T. Phillips book Lincoln on Leadership, the idea get completely altered. This book has been divided into four key areas that resulted in Lincoln being effective leader. These areas are character, people, endeavor, and communication. I will be sharing a principal from each key area that I found important and then conclude with an overall thought.

The first key area in Lincoln's Leadership was his interaction with people. Historians have often made fun at the idea that he was hardly in the White House and it was true but they were not able to understand. Phillips talks about Lincoln's “open door policy” and his philosophy of “roving leadership” during that he had to usually be out of the office. D. Phillips (1992) tells us one of the reasons why he did this with, “All leaders must seek and require access to reliable and up-to-date information” (pg 21). Leaders need to leave their office to truly understand the chores that are going on within the organization. Lincoln was clear about this idea and that is why he was always looking for ways on gathering information through the staff, constituents, and military leaders and sometimes he even had to gather information from the opponents (Kreitner, 2008).

The second reason for this idea of “roving leadership” should be adopted by most leaders of today including me. Phillips discusses that the way people feel about the leaders when they interact with them directly that shows that the leaders are caring. He didn't want to create distance between the organization and his people. They feel they have a valuable place in the organization and that their suggestions mattered to the upper authority giving them feeling of empowerment (Kreitner, 2008).

Secondly the main area that Lincoln focused as an effective leader is his own character. In this modern day this specific characteristic is missing from most leaders in the corporate world. Something that is always admired about Lincoln was his legendary honesty and the level of trust he demanded of himself and others. Everyone knows Lincoln's nickname as “honest Abe” and he lived as a lifestyle and example. Philips especially focuses on the point that once the level of confidence is broken it can never be gained. Bruce Avolio's (2005) book “Leadership Development in the Balance” supports this principal by the declaration, “There is no doubt that the bar has shifted upward in terms of what is required of leaders to build trust, as well as the impact their mistake has on our trust in them” (pg. 124). Both writers are calling our attention to the fact that we need leaders of integrity in their public leadership as well as their private lives. This life of integrity inspires trust, honesty, and loyalty in those ...