22 August 4, 2008 CountyNews •
BY BEVERLY SCHLOTTERBECK
EXECUTIVE EDITOR
If you can relax in the middle of
chaos, listen to — indeed invite —
different points of view and share
credit for your successes, you are
on your way to exhibiting the same
leadership qualities as Abraham
Lincoln, said noted presidential
historian, NBC commentator and
baseball fan extraordinaire Doris
Kearns Goodwin.
Goodwin, author of the bestselling
biography, Team of Rivals:
The Political Genius of Abraham
Lincoln, shared her 10-years-inthe-
making knowledge of Lincoln
with conference attendees at the
closing general session.
She said Lincoln, throughout
his long political career, never
made a permanent enemy. By
way of contrast, each of his rivals
for the presidential nomination
of 1860 “had made enemies.”
Lincoln, like another master
politician, President Lyndon
Johnson — Goodwin’s old boss
earlier in her life — believed in
keeping his enemies in the tent,
not outside.
“The country is in a dangerous
place and I need the help of
the best and smartest men in the
country,” Lincoln told a critic of
his Cabinet picks — all former
rivals — Goodwin related.
Lincoln, like LBJ, too, was an
inveterate storyteller, Goodwin
said, often lacing his stories with
rough-humored jokes. In fact,
story and joke telling won Lincoln
his earliest support and became his
main way of relaxing.
After reviewing more details of
Lincoln’s life, Kearns outlined the
10 leadership qualities that marked
Lincoln’s presidency — ones, she
added, “we should be looking for
in our candidates for president
this year.”
1. Capacity to listen to
different points of view
Although Lincoln encouraged
his Cabinet members to
fully express their views without
fear of retaliation, he also knew,
Goodwin said, when to stop the
discussion and make his decision
because he realized, she said,
“that a search for consensus could
be paralyzing.”
2. Ability to learn on the job
Lincoln could acknowledge
and learn from his mistakes. He
encouraged a similar culture of
learning in his administration,
Goodwin explained.
3. Willingness to share credit
for success
Throughout his career, Lincoln
readily shared credit with everyone
involved in a successful venture.
4. Willingness to shoulder
blame for subordinates
One of the most telling examples
of this characteristic involved
a scandal in the War Department
in which his secretary of war was
accused of corruption in awarding
supply contracts. Lincoln came to
his defense, saying that he and all
members of the Cabinet shared
the blame.
Restore the
Partnership
Restore the
Partnership
A Campaign to Reestablish the
Federal - County Partnership
Learn more by visiting
www.naco.orgFor decades, county and federal governments have worked
together to answer the challenges facing the nation, but in
recent years that partnership has diminished.
To foster better coordination, NACo has launched a
campaign to “Restore the Partnership” between the Federal
government and America’s counties.
Goodwin shares lessons-learned from the nation’s 16th president
5. Awareness of his
weaknesses
Lincoln, Goodwin said, often
accused himself of being too
soft on people, giving them more
chances than they deserved. But,
knowing of this weakness, he
devised ways to offset its consequences.
6. Ability to channel his
emotions in a positive way
Lincoln was no saint. He
could get angry and frustrated.
However, he rarely let his angry
feelings show. Instead he would
often express them in a letter,
which he would put aside and
never send. And if his anger
did show, he would attempt to
mitigate its impact by a kind
word or let the individual know
that he did not harbor ill feelings
against him.
7. Understanding how to relax
and replenish his energies
He went to the theatre more
than 100 times even as the Civil
War raged. He relaxed with good
stories and good humor at the
homes of his Cabinet members,
and encouraged fun and relaxation
in his administration — all
ways of coping with the nearoverwhelming
stress of the Civil
War, Goodwin said.
8. At crisis moments, his
instinct was to go to the fi eld.
(“In your case,” Goodwin said,
“out with the people.”)
Lincoln visited Civil War battlefi
elds to encourage the troops, visit
the wounded and manage the war.
His forays onto active battlefi elds
boosted his troops’ morale and
cemented their loyalty to him.
9. Courage of his convictions
Lincoln was under intense pressure
from members of his party
and his Cabinet to forego issuing
the Emancipation Proclamation.
They claimed the so-called Border
States would bolt the Union if
slaves were freed, and the government
would lose the war. Lincoln,
however, held fi rm.
10. Ability to communicate his
message
Lincoln used his storytelling
talent to get across his vision to his
countrymen. He made concepts
simple and most importantly,
understood the concerns of the
citizens.
Goodwin ended her speech by
quoting the 19th century Russian
novelist, Leo Tolstoy, who revered
Lincoln. Tolstoy wrote of Lincoln,
“He was bigger than his country
— bigger than all the Presidents
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