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When thinking of leadership, consider Lincoln's qualities. |
Times
when organizations must face choices over new leadership are times of
crisis. Because much depends on the quality of the outcome, they are
times of both danger and opportunity.
What constitutes good leadership? And to what extent do the candidates offering themselves possess it?
Those are important questions and well worth serious thought and argument. After all, the next leader of the Union County Democratic Committee is likely to serve decades (like the late Charlotte DeFilippo) rather than just a few years (as in the case of Jerry Green). It's important to try and get it right.
Abraham Lincoln came to the presidency during another time of crisis. In her book on Lincoln and his cabinet (Team of Rivals, 2005, available on Amazon here), author Doris Kearns Goodwin considers the qualities that made Lincoln a great leader.
We should keep them in mind as Union County Democrats wrestle with the decision facing them:
But perhaps the last word -- again appropriate for our own circumstances -- should be given, as Goodwin does, to Abraham Lincoln himself:
What constitutes good leadership? And to what extent do the candidates offering themselves possess it?
Those are important questions and well worth serious thought and argument. After all, the next leader of the Union County Democratic Committee is likely to serve decades (like the late Charlotte DeFilippo) rather than just a few years (as in the case of Jerry Green). It's important to try and get it right.
Abraham Lincoln came to the presidency during another time of crisis. In her book on Lincoln and his cabinet (Team of Rivals, 2005, available on Amazon here), author Doris Kearns Goodwin considers the qualities that made Lincoln a great leader.
We should keep them in mind as Union County Democrats wrestle with the decision facing them:
[Team of Rivals] then, is a story of Lincoln's political genius revealed through his extraordinary array of personal qualities thatWe must remind ourselves (though every day it grows harder) that when founded in the 1850s, the Republican Party was a progressive -- even revolutionary -- force in the American experiment, a "curious amalgamation of former Whigs, antislavery Democrats, nativists, foreigners, radicals and conservatives" (Goodwin again).
- enabled him to form friendships with men who had previously opposed him;
- to repair injured feelings that, left untended, might have escalated into permanent hostility;
- to assume responsibility for the failures of subordinates;
- to share credit with ease;
- and to learn from mistakes.
He possessed an acute understanding of the sources of power inherent in the [office];
- an unparalleled ability to keep his governing coalition intact;
- a tough-minded appreciation of the need to protect his presidential prerogatives;
- and a masterful sense of timing.
His success at dealing with the strong egos of the men in his cabinet suggests that in the hands of a truly great politician the qualities we generally associate with decency and morality -- kindness, sensitivity, compassion, honesty, and empathy -- can also be impressive political resources.
But perhaps the last word -- again appropriate for our own circumstances -- should be given, as Goodwin does, to Abraham Lincoln himself:
"Of strange, discordant, and even, hostile elements," Lincoln proudly claimed, "we gathered from the four winds and formed and fought the battle through."
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