{"id":49,"date":"2009-07-08T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"\/news_blogs\/john\/?p=49"},"modified":"2024-11-27T13:53:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-27T18:53:03","slug":"a-team-of-rivals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cccc.org\/news_blogs\/john\/2009\/07\/08\/a-team-of-rivals\/","title":{"rendered":"A Team of Rivals"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

It’s not often I buy a book at Shoppers Drug Mart (I think I really mean never), but the title of this book caught my eye, the topic (a bio of Abraham Lincoln<\/strong>) was already on my list of ‘someday’ reading, and at 916 pages I was sure the author had done a thorough job! And now that I’ve finished it, I recommend it highly to anyone in leadership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Most Unlikely Team<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Doris Goodwin, a Pulitzer prize <\/a>winner, wrote Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln<\/a>\"\"<\/em> to show how Lincoln assembled a team of long time rivals to make the Cabinet that would get the country through the Civil War. Not only were the teammates<\/strong> rivals<\/strong> of each other, but they were also all Lincoln’s rivals too! I’ve since read that Barak Obama loves this book and it is clear in his choice of cabinet members that he is following Lincoln’s strategy pretty closely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m not sure if Lincoln’s team-building strategy<\/strong> is necessarily the best one to use because there is debate about its success.  However, what every leader should consider emulating is Lincoln’s gracious approach to dealing with people, a leadership style that helped him recruit whoever was best able to help him accomplish his goals. I’ll give some examples below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Goodwin researched not only Lincoln’s papers but also those of his rivals, she can tell you what Lincoln was thinking, and what the others were thinking at the same time. You will appreciate Lincoln’s leadership wisdom all the more as you see how he overcame the different personal agendas and got his team focused on the good of the nation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book is about more than just leadership.  It is a fascinating history of the Civil War. I did not know that some slave-owning states stayed in the Union and fought for the North. I also didn’t know that the war wasn’t about slavery until it was halfway over<\/a>. And Lincoln’s assassination was just one of three coordinated assassination attempts <\/a>planned for that night. The Vice President’s assassin chickened out at the last moment, but the Secretary of State was very seriously wounded and nearly died.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Goodwin’s book is also a political thriller as you follow the backroom negotiations that took place as the Republican party was cobbled together from many different parties including the Whigs<\/a> (Lincoln’s original party) and the incredibly named Know-Nothing Party<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leadership Lessons from Lincoln<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But most of all, A Team of Rivals<\/em> is a leadership<\/strong> book. Rather than a how-to book, Goodwin tells the story of Lincoln’s life and allows the reader to draw out the leadership lessons. I’d like to share some of the lessons because they are profound, they should inspire you to a higher level of leadership, and I hope to entice you to read the book yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n