Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times

The main idea of Chapter 9 is that Lincoln developed a clear strategy for listening to others’ ideas without allowing his own decisions to be overly influenced by them. Lincoln recognized that behaving like a dictator and not allowing others to have a say in the government would be disastrous and cause him to lose the support of his colleagues. As a result, he acknowledged the importance of having a range of voices contributing ideas so that everyone felt acknowledged. While Lincoln did not have to accept every idea proposed by members of the government, he understood that these colleagues needed to feel like they were contributing to the discussion, otherwise they would become dissatisfied and create divisions within the Union. Phillips provides the example of the Secretary of the Treasury, Salmon P. Chase, who wanted Secretary of State, William Seward, to be replaced. Chase “attempt[ed] to discredit William Seward” publicly (100), which caused members of the US Senate to rally behind Chase and ask Lincoln to replace Chase. Instead of being unduly influenced by this chaotic situation, Lincoln took steps to make sure all voices were heard so that an agreement could be reached among the senators and his cabinet. By getting these opposing factions in the same room together so they could hear each other’s perspectives, “Lincoln obtained the results he wanted while seeming to be almost naive in his actions” (102). The outcry against Seward died down, and the government was able to get back to more important business.

In addition to allowing all voices to be heard, Lincoln “readily accepted responsibility” when outcomes were unfavorable (103). According to Phillips, this is an important quality in a leader because it “encourage[s] innovation and risk taking” (103). Employees do not need to fear failure if they know their boss will accept the blame if something goes wrong (103). For Lincoln, accepting responsibility for potential failures is what allowed his generals to feel comfortable making bold decisions in battles. Without this important quality in their leader, the Union might not have won the Civil War. Phillips uses the examples of the battles of Gettysburg and Vicksburg to illustrate that Lincoln’s generals were often spurred to victory because they knew Lincoln believed in their judgment and supported boldness and risk-taking.

Chapter 10 is a short chapter in which Phillips discusses a principle that has been alluded to many times in the book already: Lincoln’s focus on achieving goals. By providing examples from throughout Lincoln’s life—spanning from his early career in Illinois up until he became president—Phillips shows that Lincoln was always ambitious to advance to higher leadership positions and tailored his activities to achieve this goal. Additionally, Lincoln was unique because setbacks motivated, rather than discouraged him. He always had his main goals in view and persevered to achieve them, even when he failed at some step along the way. Similarly, modern leaders need to recognize that “goals unify people, motivate them, focus their talent and energy” (110). It is impossible to achieve desired results when they are not articulated clearly to employees. This is why Lincoln would set short-term goals so that everyone who worked below him had a specific purpose and would not act blindly, which was especially important in war time . By focusing on “one battle at a time” (110), Lincoln made his goals easy to understand for his generals. Like Lincoln, leaders today must model a “sense of urgency” to meet goals for their employees, so that desired outcomes are taken seriously and prioritized within a company (111).

Unlike Chapter 10, Chapter 11 covers mostly historical ground rather than conceptual. Phillips provides a very detailed timeline of the succession of generals in the Civil War to illustrate Lincoln’s persistence in the face of difficulty. The Civil War was an unusual time in US history in that members of the opposing armies often knew each other and had even sometimes been educated together, making combat difficult. Many generals were unwilling to engage with the enemy in the way Lincoln wanted, choosing a passive rather than active approach. Instead of advancing on the enemy if they were winning in a battle, many Union generals would simply allow the Confederates to retreat to safety. This happened repeatedly, and Lincoln had to keep replacing people in key positions within the Union army.

Phillips explains Lincoln’s dilemma using the example of General Winfield Scott, who was too passive in battle. Lincoln appointed General Irvin McDowell as a field commander in hopes that he would be a more decisive leader of the army, but he too had shortcomings. Lincoln replaced McDowell with General George B. McClellan, and McClellan’s passivity resulted in a reconfiguration of the army so that Lincoln could appoint two new generals to command different geographic areas, with McClellan still in charge of the Army of the Potomac. These men were General Henry W. Halleck and General John C. Fremont. Lincoln struggled to make this dynamic work, and he once again had to shift personnel due to constant passivity among the generals (123).

On pages 116-117 Phillips provides a helpful graph that lays out the line of succession of all the generals. It was not until January of 1863 that Lincoln promoted Ulysses S. Grant to “[head] all the forces along the Mississippi” (124). By October of the same year, Lincoln had given Grant the Western armies because he was the only general who had proven his effectiveness in battle consistently.

Ambrose Burnside and then Joe Hooker commanded the armies of the East, both of whom disappointed Lincoln. Phillips explains that Lincoln personally went to the field to observe Hooker at Falmouth and then Chancellorsville, Virginia, on separate occasions (126-27). Lincoln’s hands-on approach, illustrated by this anecdote, strengthened the Union army because Lincoln was better able to make decisions about who should and should not have command based on his observations.

Ultimately, Lincoln promoted Grant to lieutenant general in command of the entire army (130). Even though it took several years, Lincoln had finally found the right person for this challenging position. Phillips believes that, like Lincoln, “all leaders should realize they can’t do everything on their own” (135). Lincoln recognized that delegating tasks in the massive project that was the Civil War was an absolute necessity, but he also knew that finding the right people for the work was paramount to success. Modern leaders can learn through the example of Lincoln’s eventual success with Ulysses S. Grant that refusing to compromise on quality when it comes to the work of employees will help an organization reach its goals.

Phillips concludes Part 3 with a short chapter about the benefits of a “climate for risk taking and innovation” in a company (138). During the Civil War, Lincoln wanted his generals to take risks and therefore avoided punishing them for failures. Lincoln “viewed failures [...] as mistakes, learning events, or steps in the right direction” (138). This is a model that we can apply in a modern context, as employees will rarely take risks if they are fearful of discipline or termination should their efforts fail.

Additionally, Lincoln valued learning, invention, and technology and was open to new ideas, especially if they could advance his cause in the war. Phillips describes how Lincoln actively worked to improve weaponry during the Civil War by experimenting with new technologies (140). He wanted to stay abreast of new developments in rifle design and other “technological advances” so that “they could be implemented first by the Union, well before the Confederacy had time to act” (141). Valuing innovation has a definite practical application for modern readers. While for Lincoln keeping an open mind and taking risks, whether with his generals or with new styles of weaponry, helped him achieve victory in the Civil War, modern leaders can similarly use these principles to achieve success and bring bold new ideas to fruition.