Timeless Leadership Lessons

We can’t get enough of Abraham Lincoln.

It’s not just because Americans celebrate his birthday every year. This year, February 17 is designated as Presidents Day, combining the birthdays of George Washington (February 22) and Lincoln (February 12) into a single commemoration to create a three-day weekend.

How American. Lincoln would’ve approved because Lincoln was, among other qualities, a practical president.

In addition to being practical, Lincoln’s strong moral character, his keen understanding of human nature, and his decision-making genius are among the leadership qualities that helped him steer the country through constitutional, military, and moral crises, preserving the Union, ending slavery, and promoting economic and financial modernization. All in just over four years.

Lincoln’s Leadership Lessons are Alive 

Did you know more than 16,000 books have been written about Lincoln? According to American Heritage, Lincoln is the most written-about person in American history, and the third-most in world history—ranking below only Jesus and Napoleon.

In the last five years at least twenty new books have been written about America’s 16^th president, including Jon Meachum’s humanizing examination And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle (2022) and last year’s gripping book by Erik Larson The Demon of Unrest: A Saga of Hubris, Heartbreak, and Heroism at the Dawn of the Civil War.

Other favorites of mine are:

• Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin, examining Lincoln’s decision to fill his cabinet with “the strongest of men” even though they loathed one another and coveted Lincoln’s job.
• President Lincoln: The Duty of a Statesman by William Lee Miller, examining Lincoln’s decision-making in his tumultuous—and masterful—four years in office.  
• Lincoln’s Sword by Douglas L. Wilson, examining Lincoln’s writing as a political tool.
• Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America by Gary Wills, examining the context and power of the greatest speech in American history.
• Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, examining the events leading up to and following Lincoln’s death.
• The Wit and Wisdom of Abraham Lincoln edited by Anthony Gross, examining the stories, humor and anecdotes that endeared Lincoln to millions. company.

For shorter reading, check out my blogs “Lincoln: 5 Leadership Lessons” (February 2013) and “The Wit and Wisdom of Lincoln” (February 2024).

It’s What You Say, Not How Long You Talk

Gettysburg National Cemetery was dedicated on the afternoon of November 19, 1863, more than four months following the July battle when Union armies defeated Confederate forces in the Civil War’s deadliest battle.
 
An impressive ceremony was planned for the dedication, featuring an opening prayer, music by the Marine Band (“Old Hundred”) and a hymn sung by the Baltimore Glee Club. The headliner was Edward Everett, who had served Massachusetts as a senator and governor, served his country as a diplomat to Great Britain and as secretary of state, and who taught at Harvard and served as its president.
 
Lincoln—though not quite an afterthought—was invited to follow Everett in order “to formally set apart these grounds to their sacred use by a few appropriate remarks.”
 
Everett’s speech numbered 13,607 words and lasted two hours.
 
Lincoln’s remarks numbered 272 words and lasted less than three minutes.

Lincoln’s speech—considered one of the greatest ever delivered—is a powerful reminder that the more you talk, the less people hear.

Humor Punctures Pomposity

Lincoln’s storytelling was one of his greatest skills. 
 
He used stories that he often sprinkled with humor to amuse himself (“if I did not laugh I should die”) and to puncture pomposity, defuse tense situations and engage people before diving into serious subjects.
 
Lincoln had no love for favor seekers, especially when they took his time away from the duties of the presidency during the Civil War. On one occasion, he gathered together a number of would-be officeholders and told them this story:

“There was once a king who wished to go out hunting so he asked his minister if it was going to rain. The minister assured him that it would not. On the way to the woods the king passed a farmer who was working the land with his donkey. The farmer warned the king that it would rain soon, but the king laughed and continued on his way. A few minutes later it was pouring, and the king and his companions were soaked.

“Upon returning to the castle the king dismissed his minister and sent for the farmer. He asked the farmer how he knew it was going to rain. ‘It was not me, your majesty,’ said the farmer, ‘it was my donkey. He always droops one ear when it is going to rain.’

“So the king bought the donkey from the farmer and gave the farmer a minster’s position at court. And this is where the king made his mistake,” said Lincoln.

“How was that?” asked the would-be officeholders.

“Because ever since then,” explained Lincoln, “every jackass wants an office.

“Gentlemen, leave your credentials and when the war is over, you’ll hear from me.”

So when the war was over—and Lincoln had but a few days to savor it before his death—he implored the nation to come together.

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds.

We can all learn from Lincoln.