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She listed Lincoln’s key leadership strengths:
He was confident. Kearns Goodwin said that while Lincoln is often thought of as brooding and sometimes depressed, he in fact had a lot of self-confidence. Despite his failures in numerous elections, it was that confidence that allowed him to put his three strongest rivals in his cabinet.
He had empathy. Lincoln once went to a temperance group meeting because he believed in their cause, Kearns Goodwin said. But once he heard how the members of the group demonized the behavior they were against, he told them they would never be successful. He said that you must understand what people are feeling and then reason with them to get them to change their minds or their behaviors.
He was willing to share credit and failure. Kearns Goodwin told of Gen. U.S. Grant at a reception at the White House during the Civil War. Grant was surrounded by attendees to the reception, leaving Lincoln standing relatively alone. When someone approached Lincoln and asked him if he was bothered by Grant getting so much more attention than him, Lincoln replied that the path to success is wide enough for two. Similarly, when errors occurred, Lincoln stood up for those who had erred and took some of the responsibility himself.
He learned from his mistakes. Lincoln wasn’t rigid in his beliefs, Kearns Goodwin said. He was a life long learner, and Kearns Goodwin said that affected his beliefs. He said that would inevitably lead to a person changing his position on some subjects.
He understood himself. Lincoln was able to understand his emotions and knew the effect his personal example could have on others. Kearns Goodwin said it’s easy to imagine how Lincoln’s visits to battlefields and hospitals could lift the spirits of soldiers, and she said it also lifted his spirits as well. He felt he could better communicate to Americans his confidence in the Union Army and their cause by making the visits. Kearns Goodwin also said Lincoln also understood the need to take time to relax in order to be most effective when at work.
He never forgot where he was from. Before civil service jobs, people would line up at the White House to talk to the president in hopes of getting a job. Kearns Goodwin said that Lincoln never minded meeting with those lining up outside his office, calling the people “public opinion bats.”
He had a sense of timing. Kearns Goodwin said the day before Lincoln was to have signed the Emancipation Proclamation, he shook some five thousand hands. The next day his hands were shaking so bad that he put off signing the document, saying that if he signed it with a shaky hand, it would look like he was hesitant to sign it. He later said that he ended up signing the proclamation at just the right time; signing it six months earlier would have angered some border states, while signing it later would have hurt support for the war.
Lincoln was driven by the desire to leave a good, positive legacy, Kearns Goodwin said. She recounted how, when rival-turned-friend Edwin M. Stanton learned of Lincoln’s assassination, he said, “Now he belongs to the ages.” That quote could not only apply to the policies that shaped Lincoln’s legacy, but it could also apply to the leadership qualities he demonstrated.
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