Lincoln On Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times [Format Kindle]

This book purports to be about business leadership, and if you find it helpful for that purpose, good for you. The author clearly did. The genesis of this book project was an epiphany for the author while taking a management seminar and reading a history of Lincoln during the war years. He realized that the principles in the seminar were all ones that Lincoln employed.

Each chapter explores one broad principle, and then lists subprinciples at the end of the chapter. These subprinciples will feel like leadership or management axioms to most. Few of the chapters have any reference to the management literature or to modern day management situations.

But I found that okay. Whenever I read about Lincoln, I notice things about his leadership and management style that interest me, but I have never seen a book that focused on that element until this one. I thought it was useful to have a history that emphasizes just that slant. I think you will, too, unless Lincoln is someone you don't care for.

The first chapter was especially interesting to me, because it talked about Lincoln's inclination to visit the scene and find out what was going on. There's a very interesting chart that shows how many days a month he was traveling during the war. The author makes a connection to Management by Wandering Around from In Search of Excellence that works.

Everyone will have their favorite part of the book. The sections are divided into things about people, character, endeavor, and communication. I found the communications sections to be unusually good. As outstanding as Lincoln was in many areas, he was probably a better communicator than just about anything else. There is a chapter on public speaking, another on influencing people through storytelling, and one on getting your vision across. These are as timely today as they were in Lincoln's day.

I think that this is the significant aspect of the book for us today: What was important then, that we still resonate to as important today? Whatever themes strike you that way are probably telling you something very fundamental about people and human organizations. Pay attention!

One of the chapters that meant a lot to me personally focused on how Lincoln handled unjust criticism. He often ignored it, but other times he challenged it when it was harmful to the nation not to. The abuse heaped on Lincoln and his wife make today's TV headlines about politicians seem like nursery rhymes by comparison. We can all benefit from thinking about his experiences and how he handled them in this regard.

The book's main weakness is that it makes Lincoln a little too perfect. He had a lot of weaknesses, as we all do. For example, I think a good case could be made for him not being a good judge of people considering the bad results he got from so many generals until he linked up with Grant.

Anyone with an interest in Lincoln will like this book. If you also find leadership lessons you can use, that's a wonderful bonus!

Be sure to banish you stalled thinking about the need to communicate thoroughly and often. This book is a great stallbuster in that area.

Before my review, let's have a quick reference of it per chapters/principles delivered by the author.

1. Get out of the office and circulate among the troops

2. Build strong alliances

3. Persuade rather than coerce

4. Honesty and integrity are the best policies

5. Never act out of vengeance or spite

6. Have the courage to handle unjust criticism

7. Be a master of paradox

8. Exercise a strong hand - be decisive

9. Lead by being led

10. Set goals and be results oriented

11. Keep searching until you find your "Grant"

12. Encourage innovation

13. Master the art of public speaking

14. Influence people through conversation and storytelling

15. Preach a vision and continually reaffirm it

Simple and common as found in many other leadership or management books, huh? Definitely! However, the beauty of it comes from the author's excellent story telling and writing skill, that Lincoln's biography had been intermingled vividly and interestingly with leadership axioms extracted by the author. For sure it's much easier to bear in mind the learnings from a real person, recall them and put them into practice. A good and helpful read, I must say. Dont miss it!

p.s. The chart No. of days per month on pg 23 demonstrating Lincoln's practice of MBWA (management by walking around) during the course of his presidency is really unique and impressive.

Lincoln on Leadership tells the tail of one of the most influential presidents of American history. It's a quick read that really touches at the core of leadership and the man who exemplified the subject best, Abraham Lincoln. The way the book is titled makes you think that it was Lincoln himself who actually wrote it (this is not true). Although there's a good amount of writing by Lincoln in the book, the lessons are mostly interpreted by the author Donald T. Phillips, through actual historical events taken from the president's life in office. The author does a great job of extracting the jewels of leadership wisdom by analyzing Lincoln's actions. Lincoln on Leadership is not a step by step guide on leadership theory, it is more of a biography on Lincoln's life in office. If your looking for a thorough history on Lincoln don't bother, most of the items covered are during the Civil War, the time where Lincoln displayed most of his leadership abilities.

The contents of the book are presented in four parts, each part breaks down into several sub-parts pertaining to the main topic:

Part I - People

Part II - Character

Part III - Endeavor

Part IV - Communication

I must tell you, after reading this book I am definitely interested in learning more about our sixteenth president (AKA - Honest Abe). Lincoln on Leadership helped me see the extraordinary attributes of an American legend. His honesty, integrity, and tenacity are all characteristics that should be mimicked by all students of leadership.

Excellent job Donald...