Lincoln’s Leadership

If ever there was a man who led, and led marvelously well, during times of crisis it was Abraham Lincoln. Secession and Civil War had been fermenting for decades in an increasingly divided country. Finally, with his election in 1860, the Southern states decided they had to withdraw from the Union and war began a few months later in 1861.

Nevertheless, Lincoln led and lived almost long enough (he was assassinated in 1865) to see all hostilities cease and healing begin in the country he loved.

So, what were his leadership traits? What made him the man for the hour?

1. Humility—while he knew what he wanted he could also listen to others, even putting men into his Cabinet that stringently opposed him at every turn.
2. Honesty—there seems to be no “spin” in his speeches or letters.
3. Boldness—he did what was necessary. Suspending habeus corpus, for example, while a highly criticized move, helped keep order during the crazy period.
4. Decision—if a general couldn’t get it done, he replaced him. The times were too dire to worry about feelings. Not until he found U.S. Grant did he believe he had the man to win the war and he went through several generals to get to him.
5. Focus—there was nothing else on his agenda besides reuniting the nation.
6. Passion—aged beyond belief by his time in office, Lincoln gave his energy, his health, and ultimately his life for his cause.

February 12 is his birthday. We need to lead like Lincoln today—in our companies and in our country!

Invaluable

In tough times, people are tempted to discouragement which leads to a kind of hopeless, lethargic approach to work. “What’s the point?" I’m gonna get laid off anyway!” Shake it off. Now is the time to make yourself invaluable to your organization—put in extra time, take on a new project, create a new solution, volunteer to handle the job no one wants. Sitting back with your head low is the surest way to lose. Stand out. It’s worth the risk.

Discouragement

Discouragement—what a word. If you break it down, it’s the opposite of en-couragement and the enemy of courage. Dis-courage. Negative courage. Controlling fear.

Fear is not the enemy. Everyone has moments of fear—even heroes. And courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the will to act in spite of fear. En-couragement is the help we provide to another to act in spite of their fear. Dis-couragement is the anchor we throw to a drowning man (or to ourselves). So….be strong and of a good courage. Be encouraging. And never be discouraging or discouraged.

Making Time

Willie Nelson once sang "If you've got the money, honey, I've got the time." He had it backwards. The real issue for us is "if you've got the time, you'll make the money." What I mean is if you have the time to do the most important things, the things that link to growth, then you'll make money! The problem is that we let the urgent crowd out the important and confuse activity with priority. Try this: break your activities (and all the new demands you think are being placed on you) and divide them into Rocks (the most important), Sand (next in importance), and Water (last in importance). Then, with a blank weekly schedule, put the Rocks into your calendar first, the Sand activities can work around the Rocks, and the Water tasks can flow around Rocks and Sand.

Cool Under Pressure

Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III--doesn't sound like a hero but he is. He was the captain of USAir Flight 1549 which he had to crash land into the Hudson River this week. His cool decision making, the professional focus of the flight crew, and the amazing response of the NYC rescue teams saved the lives of all 155 people on board. That's the leadership you and I need to exhibit to our teams. No matter what happens or how challenging--cool, focused, never forgetting our purpose, taking care of our co-workers, and clients. We need some heroes today

Quality and Common Sense

I was talking with a friend of mine in Kansas whose company is starting their lean transformation. They are a small manufacturing company that makes livestock management equipment. After they began their research (one of their board members does lean for GM), one of the senior leaders said, "This is just common sense." My friend replied, "It does look like it...after you're done." My friend is right. On the front end a lot of continuous improvement and lean stuff (like taking 1/2 hour for the team to brainstorm better ways to do things rather than doing data entry) seems counter-intuitive. One piece flow. Don't do what your client won't pay you for. Only produce exactly what you can sell. Etc. But once you've made a few improvements and you look back, it really is just good old common sense.

A Great Tool for Thought

2009 will require better thinking than ever. Analytical and non-linear. Strategic and Creative. There is a great and free tool available called FreeMind. It's a "mind mapping" application that helps free up your creative and non-linear juices. Check it out at http://freemind.sourceforge.net And, Happy New Year!