Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)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.
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Lincoln on Leadership is the first book to examine Abraham Lincoln's diverse leadership abilities and how they can be applied to today's complex world.
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