Leadership lessons from Lincoln apply to today
LAS VEGAS (6/7/07)--Credit union leaders can learn several leadership lessons by reviewing the leadership of Abraham Lincoln, according to Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the best selling "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."
Kearns Goodwin was the closing general session keynoter at America's Credit Union Conference & Expo in Las Vegas. The conference, sponsored by the Credit Union National Association, ended Wednesday.
She outlined "leadership qualities that enabled Lincoln to pull together a team of his chief rivals--all of them better known and qualified for the presidency than he was--to develop a team that won the (Civil) War and ended slavery."
The traits "we should be looking for leaders today" include the ability to:
- To build quietly and with self confidence on a steady, slow forward and surround oneself with people who can question and debate assumptions.
- To read emotions;
- To share credit for successes and share blame for failures of subordinates;
- To acknowledge errors to learn from past mistakes--something that Kearns Goodwin said is a presidential issue today with decisions about Iraq;
- To control one's emotions and to have a sense of humor;
- To stay in touch with one's countrymen to understand the pulse of public opinion.
"Abraham Lincoln continually motivated himself in the face of adversity throughout his entire life. Although he had the thinnest resume at the time for the presidency, he had the power and emotional strength to carry him," she said.
Kearns Goodwin was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1995 for her best-seller "No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The American Homefront During World War II."
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