February 20, 2008

• abraham lincoln was sexy.

  my father and i went to colorado state university last night to hear a lecture from historian doris kearns goodwin, part of their voices of america series.  my father had been a fan for awhile, and recently read her latest book on lincoln, which he could not stop talking about at christmas.  i happened to hear on npr that she was going to be giving a lecture, and so i investigated and off we went, on a school night.

  to pueblo.

  twice, actually, because we drove the 45 minutes last tuesday, mistaken about the date.

  it was phenomenal.  i mean, i'm a nerd anyway, so i knew i would enjoy a lecture from a lady who has written bestselling novels on subjects from the kennedy era (which was turned into an abc miniseries), to fdr, lyndon johnson (for whom she worked at the white house and on his memoirs), winning the pulitzer, and being the first female journalist to enter the red sox locker room.

  she happens to be a baseball fanatic, contributing to ken burns' documentary about baseball, which if you haven't watched, is absolutely amazing.  i don't care if you don't like sports.  i remember watching it with my dad and brother when it aired on PBS years and years ago, riveted.

  as she spoke, i remember an old episode of The West Wing, President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen) comes back from church and confesses his frustration about with the homily and preacher:

  He had a captive audience. The way I know that is that I tried to tunnel out of there several times. He had an audience and he didn’t know what to do with it. . . . Words, when spoken out loud for the sake of performance, are music. They have rhythm, and pitch, and timbre, and volume. These are the properties of music. And music has the ability to find us and move us and lift us up in ways that literal meaning can’t.

  mrs. goodwin did not have such a problem.  some of the students were required to be there, and many people there were over twice my age.  but as she spoke about how she began to love history, baseball, lincoln's leadership, anecdotes about him and his life, working for president johnson, the current political climate - i was riveted.

  it's no surprise to me either that she was a teacher for years.  the kind i really hope to be.

  anyway.

  what i find myself thinking about today are the qualities lincoln had in the area of leadership.  beyond the legend of lincoln there is a fascinating life.  however, the legend itself is absolutely merited, and it reaches farther in world than one could imagine. 

  she wove many things into this lecture, but spoke much about the qualities that make lincoln the gold standard of presidential leadership.  i love a list, and this is no different.  i find that this list is nothing new - pick up any of the myriad of lessons on leadership, and you'll find some or all of these.nine key aspects of lincoln's leadership that brought him success.  however, seeing it all in one place has stuck with me today:

  1. the capacity to listen to different points of view.

  he created a culture where it was safe to disagree, and even encouraged, but once he made a decision, the debate was over.

  2. the ability to learn on the job.

  it is not our mistakes that hurt us primarily, it is moreover how we respond to them.

  3. a ready willingness to share recognition and success with others.

  he created a resevoir of good will from the people he worked with.

  4. the willingness to shoulder the blame of the mistakes of his subordinates.

  5. an awareness of his weaknesses, which gave him the ability to compensate for them.

  lincoln was born with a melancholy temperament, which made him prone to sadness.  the many failures and humiliation he bore in his life contributed to this frequently.  as one who tends to battle this more often than i'd like to admit, i like seeing a leader who many would describe as sad, but not a victim of it.

  6. he was able to control his emotions - not ceasing to feel them, but to give them adequate place.

  lincoln wrote many "hot letters" - understanding the need to verbalize the full effect of his emotional range and anger.  when his letters were uncovered, you can see his notes at the bottom "never sent."

  7. he understood how to relax and replenish his energies.

  8. at a moment of crisis, he went onto the battlefield.

  in the heart of the civil war, lincoln went on the battlefield and met more soliders than any president in history.   they did not all necessarily support the way, or him, but it was important for him to be there  when things were bad.

  9. his remarkable ability to communicate his ideas and goals.

  as mrs. goodwin said about lincoln, his greatness consisted in the greatness of his integrity, character ad the moral fiber of his being. 

  and that, dears, is what is on my mind today, amidst a flood of work and muddying my way through chaucer and the dream of the rood, dishes and tacos.

  for all the challenges that await me, no doubt, i am still ready to leave the business world for education.  and read read read read.

  • 10:45 pm
  • 3 Comments