Usually I start to think about what I am going to post early in the week.  The ideas percolate throughout  the week and then on the weekend I usually prepare and publish the post.  This week I have thought about and disgarded several concepts and topics ranging from consent agendas to how boards can evaluate and sustain themselves to the use of focus groups in the strategic planning process.  For some reason I just can't move forward with any of these ideas.  Hopefully I am not suffering from writer's block after only three months of blogging!

Maybe my self-imposed expectation of posting once a week was unrealistic.  Or maybe I am just annoyed by the rash of spam that I have received in the comment section.  Instead of comments pro or con on the posts,  some lame brains are sending along gibberish that I have to read, delete and block.  I'm opposed to spam - the kind that comes in the can and the kind that proliferates in our in-boxes.  Having said that I don't want to write a post about spam or blogging either.

So I am going to write about leadership.  On Thursday I had the opportunity to hear Doris Kearns Goodwin, renouned historian and best selling author.   Based on her book "Team of Rivals: The Genius of Abraham Lincoln", she gave an hour long presentation "Leadership Lessons from Abraham Lincoln." She is not only a prominent historian, and gifted writer but a warm and witty story teller as well. She captivated the audience of close to 1000 ( I did not do a head count, but the gentleman two seats away did and shared the tally with his wife and me. I asked her if he was an accountant or worked with numbers and she said no, He was German and that is the way his mind worked).  

According to Ms. Goodwin, President Lincoln had only about 12 months of formal schooling throughout his lifetime, and also suffered terrible personal and political losses.  Yet his ambition was to accomplish something worthy so that he could live on in the memory of others.  She touched on the leadership traits that he possessed and how once elected he surrounded himself with his better-educated and better-known former politicals rivals because they were best suited for the roles and responsibilities he needed filled. Imagine that in today's political climate. 

I can't do justice to her presentation, and I haven't read the book but the leadership traits ranged from a capacity to listen to different points of view but to be the final decision maker and stand behind the decision to acknowledging failures and mistakes and learning from them while sharing credit for success with others.  Lincoln also shouldered blame for the actions of subordinates, was aware of his own weaknesses, understood the importance of not letting resentments fester. He would write what she called "hot letters" in which he poured out his frustrations but never mailed.  He knew how to relax and enjoyed telling jokes and stories and loved attending the theater.  Additionally, he was able to connect with people from all walks of life.

Humility, perserverance and seeing the best in everyone were key characterists of President Lincoln. Today's leaders in the public, private and non-profit sector would do well to emulate him and put his leadership lessons into practice. 

Kudos to Ms. Goodwin for her elegant reminder of what true leadership is really about.

Until next time,
Pat