Leadership Lessons from Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is best known for leading our country through what many think was its most challenging time. Lincoln was in fact, an amazing leader who inspired people when he was living and does so still today.

What made him such a great leader?

We have explored leadership in many of these blogs. We have discussed leadership qualities, leadership characteristics and leadership do’s and don’ts. Not all great leaders share these things. Some are motivational, some are consensus builders, some are innovators, some are just geniuses.

Abraham Lincoln was all of these and more. Lincoln was a hard-worker (came from a very poor, working class family); Lincoln was self-educated (he didn’t have any formal schooling); Lincoln was a great, and motivational communicator; Lincoln had “street smarts” before “street smarts” even existed. He had the innate ability to understand people and connect with them empathetically.

I recently saw this post emphasizing four lessons learned from Lincoln about leadership:

1.  Say no to “yes” men.

2.  Be decisive.

3.  Look for inspiration in unlikely places.

4.  Connect with people on a personal level.

For these and all too many more reasons to be mentioned in one blog posting, Abraham Lincoln was one of the greatest leaders this country has even seen.  We can all learn from his example.

If you have suggestions on additional leadership qualities demonstrated by Abraham Lincoln, please share them here.