Abraham Lincoln A TRUE Leader

ABRAHAM LINCOLN
A TRUE LEADER

By: Isaac Noble

Who Is Abraham Lincoln


Abraham Lincoln was the 16th republican
president during the Civil War.

He Showed INTEGRITY


Abraham Lincoln showed a lot of integrity
throughout his career. Obviously he was willing to
compromise; however, those around him could be
confident his principles would not change from day
to day depending upon the circumstances around
him or his perceived popularity at the time.
Lincoln showed integrity by following his
principles. One of his principles was his honesty.
The phrase “Honest Abe” came from him telling
the truth. It is believed he was given this nickname
as a young man. Abraham Lincoln worked in a
small store as a clerk. Once a person came to buy
an item and Abraham Lincoln did not give him the
correct amount in change. Abraham Lincoln
walked a long distance to give this person the
correct amount of change. After this incident, it is
believed that Abraham Lincoln was called “Honest
Abe.” Such leadership and truthfulness inspires
the hearts of many who followed him.

He Showed SELF-AWARENESS


Lincoln was “self aware” as Kearns Goodwin
says, meaning he understood that he had
the potential to have serious mood shifts.
Like all leaders, he could get angry, but
Lincoln had the uncanny ability to
understand that the way he communicated
his anger toward those around him was
critical to his success. When Lincoln was
particularly angry he had a habit of writing a
letter to the person he was angry with and
setting it aside, often not sending it, but
rather expressing those emotions on paper.
Further, when Lincoln did verbally
communicate his anger, he would quickly try
to resolve the situation, refusing to allow
unresolved conflict to keep going.

He Was A great COMMUNICATOR


Lincoln was not even a great public
speaker. Further, Lincoln refused to
speak in public without a prepared text.
However, Lincoln’s greatest gift as a
communicator was that most people
believed that he believed what he was
saying. In many ways that is where the
expression, “Honest Abe”, came from.
Wilson says the 16th president wrote
speeches himself, took public opinion
seriously, and had an unwillingness to
demonize his opponents. When people
believe that you believe, it speaks
volumes about your ability as a leader
to get them to follow.

He Showed
COMMITMENT


"COMMITMENT is what transforms a promise into
reality. It is the words that speak boldly of your
intentions. And the actions which speak louder than
the words. It is making the time when there is none.
Coming through time after time after time, year after
year after year. Commitment is the stuff character is
made of; the power to change the face of things. It is
the daily triumph of integrity over skepticism." That is
a quote from Abraham Lincoln. Leading others to
join you in that vision is a difficult task, and one that
can be fraught with self-doubt, frustration and other
negative emotions. Before and after the signing of
the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln confronted a
variety of trials and obstacles, but remained
committed to his vision to create a free nation. These
were some of the hard ships Lincoln was faced with.
People doubted him, thought he would fail, but
through all that he still wouldn’t give up.

If Only You Could Meet
Him


Abraham Lincoln seemed like a really cool guy. Sometimes I even wish I could meet him and ask him a few questions. The first question I would ask him is, “ How was it like back then with all of the slavery issues and public opposes?” I would ask him that question because no one knows the experience or how it felt back then, but the people who lived at that time. It must have been a terrible time to live in. The second question I would ask him is, “If you could be the president for our modern day society, what would you do to help improve the economy?” Lincoln seemed like a very intelligent guy, who probably would have been a lot more useful if he was not assassinated. In the present day we deal with debt, in his time he dealt with war and slavery. It would have been interesting if we could see what else Abraham Lincoln could have done if he wasn’t just involved in war. The third question I would ask him is, “If you absorbed the modern day information, and you had it at your time, along with the public, how would you use it to your advantage?” I would ask him that because in the present day we have a lot of technology and gizmos, but in his time he only had simple war machines and not much else. What could he have done to make the war have less blood shed with our current technology. More importantly what could he have done with the technology so the war wouldn’t even have started? Abraham Lincoln seemed like a very interesting guy. It would be impossible to meet him, but would have been the most amazing thing that could happen to me.