The Civil War understandably overshadows a lot of Abraham Lincoln’s political prowess, which is unfortunate, because studying his methodologies and strategies can not only teach us a lot about leadership, but it can also teach us a lot about how to be a human being. The way that Lincoln formed his cabinet, which is one of the core stories of Team of Rivals, illustrates what kind of leader Lincoln really was.
Letting other people knock each other out
Going into the Republican Party’s convention in 1860, Abraham Lincoln’s greatest goal was to be everyone’s second choice. It seemed pretty well written in stone already that William H. Seward of New York would be everybody’s choice. He had been in politics for a long time, he was from New York, and he had political mastermind Thurlow Weed as his mentor. It seemed impossible that anyone could bring him down. Lincoln thought his best chance might be to win the nomination as Seward’s Vice-President.
Something very interesting happened at that convention though, and it really only worked out for Lincoln because he paved the way for himself.
You see, Weed and Seward had ticked off a very important man – Horace Greeley. Greeley was the editor for the New York Tribune, and as such, he had worked hard to support both Weed and Seward, but they didn’t pay him back with any offices or money. Greeley made it seem like he had forgiven both of them, but when he got to the Chicago convention, he told everyone that they really couldn’t trust Seward. He built enough of a case against Seward, in fact, that he started making people doubt whether Seward was really the best choice.
Against all of this, Lincoln had done his best to keep an extremely low profile. He waited as long as possible to announce that he was interested in the nomination so that no one could build up a case against him, and he was extremely careful not to become “objectionable” to anyone that would be at the “wigwam” in 1860.
History would tell you that this all turned out pretty well for Abraham Lincoln. He did indeed become everyone’s first choice because he had established himself as such a strong second choice.
Acknowledging your rivals’ finer points
Here’s the part that historians still marvel at today. After that very anxiety-ridden convention, Abraham Lincoln immediately began to think about who he would want in his cabinet should he be elected President. According to Goodwin, Lincoln sat down in his room the night he was elected and sketched out his entire cabinet much like someone would work out a crossword puzzle. The very first name he included, as his Secretary of State, was William H. Seward. He also invited Bates and Chase, who had run against Lincoln and Seward in the election. Why would he do this?
Lincoln clearly realized two important lessons that we would do well to study and remember today.
1. If someone comes close to beating you, they must be pretty darned good.
2. If someone comes close to beating you, you want them on your team as fast as possible.
The hardest part of engaging
The example that Lincoln set in 1860 has long been overtaken by people who become so embittered against their rivals that working together becomes impossible. Can you imagine Obama inviting McCain into his cabinet? It was shocking enough that Obama and Clinton were able to work together.
More to the point, can you imagine promoting and supporting a rival of your own?
If a person who you feel does not surpass you makes it onto one of those “best of” lists, do you congratulate them?
If a person whom you think of as a competitor wins recognition for their blog or for their product or for their accomplishments in general, do you applaud them or do you plot revenge?
It seems to me like a lot of people these days only are interested in being the best. At everything. They take no interest in partnering with people who might be slightly different or who might offer a slightly different perspective.
Maybe we all need to take a look back at Abraham Lincoln, who on the eve of the destruction of his nation worked to bring several disparate views together under his own Presidential roof.
What do you think?
This is post #61 in the engagement series. I hope you are still finding it useful!
image by sanja gjenero. http://www.sxc.hu/profile/lusi
Acknowledging talent and skill is always a wise choice for a leader. I make it a habit to look for people who can do things better than me, because I want them on my team. Lincoln was very competitive and he liked to win, but I love that his strategy included not giving anyone time to find reasons to oppose him, staying out of the limelight but ready to step into it at any time.
Margie, I will take your words with me through my day today. Thank you.
I agree, Kat. One of the most often overlooked characteristics of a good leader (imo) is the eye for talent in fellow human beings. That’s how you make a great team, even if you don’t see eye to eye on everything.
Glad you liked the post 🙂
Excellent, learning some history while getting to learn more about how to “Engage” perfect.
I think this is the core of the post.
1. If someone comes close to beating you, they must be pretty darned good.
2. If someone comes close to beating you, you want them on your team as fast as possible.
I guess it is human nature to become defensive and try to protect as much as possible. I try to surround myself with great people but I like a challenge so keeping people on the other side for me is how I operate. Maybe I need to take those two lines into consideration. Awesome post Margie!
Thanks, Raul. I agree, I think those 2 lines are probably what guided Lincoln through a lot of his choices. There’s also the idea that teaming up with people who have views different from yours can help you yourself reach other people you might not otherwise have gotten to know.
I never really knew the details behind Lincoln being elected as I really had no interest in history as a whole until about 10 years ago, now I find it fascinating. It’s not every day that you walk away from a blog post learning something, not to mention I love how you put this together.
The reality is that I attempted about 6 months ago to make some form of networking connection with a long-time rival. We had just finished doing a charity event that we promoted heavily on ou social media profiles and our company blog, it’s a well known fact that this particular competitor spends most of their time watching what we do, then they mimic it or at least try to.
Anyway, after our event I knew they had a charity event coming up as well, I have a soft spot for helping out the local community and always have. So, I decided to use my social media profiles to spread the word about their event.
Needless to say… No thank you or anything ever came of it, but I can always rest my head on the pillow at night knowing that I not only helped the charity they were sponsoring (which my customers helped support as well), but I also showed my customers and anyone else that connects with me that I’m always willing to take the next step and try new things.
Sounds like you’ve already got these ideas well-grounded inside your head. Good for you! Thank you so much for sharing! 🙂
Great post Margie. Your post reminds me of a scene from “The Fighter.” Mark Walberg’s character is attending a pre fight press conference. His opponent, the young British champion, is brash, over confident and does everything he can to disrespect Walberg. Walberg plays the role of the gentlemen. He acknowledges his opponent’s strengths and skills. I won’t spoil the movie for you if you haven’t seen it yet, but based on your post, I bet you can guess who wins.
Keep up the great work!
@jwsokol
I can’t remember if I found her or she found me, but we are following each other on twitter now. Almost every one of her tweets related to agriculture gets me riled up. You would think we agree on almost nothing. I replied to one of her tweets and presented my side of the argument. To my surprise she emailed me. It turns out we have a lot of the same concerns, and we are having quite a friendly ongoing email discussion. We even retweet each other’s stuff now. Both of are just thankful someone on the other side is willing to listen.