responsibility for what he did, and he
shared responsibility for the mistakes of
others, and so people became very loyal
to him.
History also shows that it’s essential
to know how to connect to the larger
public, whether that’s through radio,
in the case of Franklin Roosevelt, or in
popularity almost came from the inside out. His cabinet was the first to see
something unusual about him.
Take William Seward, who originally
was a rival. Some eight weeks after becoming secretary of state, Seward wrote
to his wife that Lincoln was unlike anyone he’d ever known. Other members of
Again and again, Lincoln shared
responsibility for others’ mistakes, and
so people became very loyal to him.
Lincoln’s case, through speeches that
were filled with such poetry and clarity that people felt they were watching
him think and that he was telling them
the truth.
I would add here that one more success factor is key for great leadership,
be it in business or politics, and it’s one
that’s usually overlooked. As a leader
you need to know how to relax so that
you can replenish your energies for the
struggles facing you tomorrow.
Lincoln went to the theater about a
hundred times while he was in Washington. And although he suffered from
a certain melancholy, he had a tremendous sense of humor and would entertain people long into the night with his
stories. Franklin Roosevelt was the same
way. He had this cocktail hour every evening during World War II when you just
couldn’t talk about the war. He needed
to remain free from thinking about the
bad things for a few hours. Or he would
play with his stamps. This ability to recharge your batteries in the midst of
great stress and crisis is crucial for successful leadership.
the cabinet came to think so, too. One after another, they came to power thinking
Lincoln was rather unexceptional and
ended up believing that he was as near a
perfect man as anyone they’d ever met.
What Lincoln had, it seems to me, was
an extraordinary amount of emotional
intelligence. He was able to acknowl-
edge his errors and learn from his mistakes to a remarkable degree. He was
careful to put past hurts behind him
and never allowed wounds to fester. The
rare example I could find of Lincoln’s
being unable to forgive someone was
his father. Lincoln never visited his father when he was dying, which suggests
that he could not let go of the anger he
felt toward the man who considered the
future president’s fierce desire to learn
a sign of laziness.
He had flaws, of course; every leader
has flaws. Lincoln’s greatest flaw came
out of his strength, which was generally
liking people and not wanting to hurt
them. He always wanted to give somebody a second or even a third chance.
This weakness proved disastrous with
George McClellan, who was head of the
Union Army for some months near the
beginning of the war. Lincoln should
have fired McClellan within weeks of seeing how narcissistic and insubordinate
he was. In part, Lincoln didn’t because
More books have been written on
Lincoln than on any other American
president. What does Lincoln’s magic
as a leader really come down to?
Well, it wasn’t anything so immediately
felt as charisma. In fact, it took the country some time to warm to Lincoln; his
