Leadership Theory

The book Lincoln on Leadership written by Donald T. Phillips is evidently one of the most interesting books as it embraces not only the basic truths for all people, who want to become managers, and leaders, but also describes leadership strategies derived from the life of one of the most famous U.S. Presidents. This book presents a thorough and in-depth discussion of Abraham Lincoln leadership principles and strategies from the many sources and reliable details available concerning Lincoln's life. Each chapter of the book describes a specific leadership strategy used by Abraham Lincoln, and provides the readers with actual examples and illustrations on how the 16^th president was developing, and shaping these strategies that allowed him to choose the most successful leadership strategy and handle his responsibility.

The author presents and explains the basic ideas and methods as well as the results obtained by Lincoln with the help of these strategies. Although the book is relatively short, it is rich in fresh and old ideas that allows the reader to find an inspiring source of education on leadership, and makes the book a delightful and quick read.

Lincoln on Leadership

Indeed, there are many theories on leadership, as well as there are many theorists and philosophers, who assert that their theory of leadership is the only correct one. However, it seems that all of them have much in common, as the leadership is an important trait of human character that plays a decisive role in any vitally important situation, when two and more people pursue the common goal. The ability and talent to become a leader is an essential skill the person needs to learn as soon as possible in order to succeed in his life.

Indeed, there are too many books dedicated to the leadership and to the lives of the most famous citizens of our country; many talented writers and many famous philosophers were trying to achieve a clear understanding of what does the person need in order to become a real leader. The most comprehensive definition of leadership is, probably, one from the book by James MacGregor Burns, "leadership is leaders inducing followers to act for certain goals that represent the values and the motivations - the wants and needs, the aspirations and expectations - of both leaders and followers. And, the genius of leadership lies in the manner in which leaders see and act on their own and their followers' values and motivations" (Burns, 1978)

Evidently, Donald T. Phillips was inspired by Abraham Lincoln's life in his "Lincoln on Leadership", as the author tried to create more than just a book - he created the guidebook for managers written by a manager who managed to successfully implement all these great techniques into his own life and professional career. Instead of making the book a usual and a little bit dull, sophisticated reading, the author allows Lincoln to speak for himself, as Donald T. Philips doesn't lecture about the president, but uses plenty of Lincoln's quotations, sayings, excerpts from his speeches, letters, jokes, and anecdotes, thus providing an enjoyable glimpse into the character of the strongest American leader.

In his book Donald T. Philips discovers Lincoln's secrets of leadership, such as to seize the initiative and never relinquish it, to wage only one war at a time, to encourage risk-taking and at the same time to provide job security, to avoid issuing orders and to issue requests instead, to imply and to make suggestions, and many other important techniques and strategies that are essential for any person, who either wants to discover the leadership strategies, or simply to perfect his own.

This book is not only yet another book about a leadership and leadership theory. Many talented philosophers were trying to define which traits are important in order to become a leader, and which things the person may neglect or should avoid in order to win. Some scholars, who discuss leadership strategies, consider that leadership theories seem to fail, as there are too few leaders in the world, despite of an abundance of books devoted to the strategies and theories of leadership. Some of the scholars consider that these failures are rather not the crisis, but a chance to discover new opportunities and possibilities, and, in case the person will manage to discover the real leaders, or to become a leader himself, the future will run for him.

Donald T. Philips by the example of Abraham Lincoln inspires the thought that it is important to realize that there are many potential leaders who can become the real ones, because to be the real leader is not as difficult as it may seem to be. Although many philosophers and scholars undertake efforts to discover the secrets of leadership, as well as to develop the theories of leadership, it seems that only few of them try to find out which personal traits and qualities the person may need to become a leader. In contrast to all these authors, Donald T. Philips uncovers the secrets of leadership by the example of the 16^th president of the United States.

Among other things the book offers the theory of leadership, according to which a successful leader requires at least three important things - to ensure the support of other people, to have the skills of listening to the others, and to have a high opinion of other people. All these traits are very important for the leader. "Lincoln on Leadership" tells the readers how to develop all these qualities, and, moreover, this book tells about the so-called potential dangers. Among other things, the book uncovers the most essential sides of the leadership style, and describes numerous leadership qualities peculiar to Lincoln, who was the man of great honesty and integrity. Donald T. Philips reminds the readers that Lincoln was called the "Honest Abe", and combined this feature with his skill to be compassionate and direct at the same time, thus setting himself apart from many other leaders. Lincoln, being a leader, wasn't afraid of competition, and, on contrary, did all his best to provide his staff with all possible opportunities for growth and advancement in their careers.

Lincoln also offered an outstanding support for all his staff to develop into the types of leaders Lincoln required. Yet another important trait of character that made Lincoln the most powerful leader in the United States, was his desire to learn and to feel himself prepared for all difficulties, dangers, challenges, and everything he could face during his presidency and professional career. Taking into account all these things, "Lincoln on Leadership" offers five important points that are "the must" for the leaders, such as:

- The leaders are encouraged to leave their offices and workplaces in order to interact with their working teams, in the team's work environment;

- The leaders should be the people of great integrity and honesty;

- The leaders should undertake all efforts to provide coaching for their personnel and to provide the staff with all possible opportunities for professional and personal growth. At the same time, the leaders should balance the necessity to provide coaching and feedback to their personnel with the ability to transition personnel that are unable to get in alignment with the leader's vision (Phillips, 1993);

- The leaders need to be compassionate and, among other things, should show understanding for their personnel, both professionally and personally;

- The leaders should have the desire to learn, and to be responsible for all their actions, as well as to be prepared and able to think on their feet.

Donald T. Philips within the frameworks of his book examines the conceptions of leader and leadership, and considers that this knowledge will allow the readers to understand the specifics of leadership more thoroughly. So, as we have already found out, the term 'leader' is referred to the person who has strength enough to manipulate and control other people. Indeed, the very meaning of this word reflects the so-called predestination of the person, who wants to become a leader, along with his place and role he plays in the society, the processes he is responsible for, and the functions of leader in general. By the example of Abraham Lincoln Donald T. Philips explains that in case to examine the leadership qualities more carefully, the leader has the ability to influence other people and to encourage them work together in order to achieve specific goals. The leader should have the exceptional feeling of responsibility, as he is the authoritative member of social group, whose power and legal authority are voluntary recognized by other members of society, who are ready to follow the leader and to assist him in achieving common goals.

In such a way, Donald T. Philips in his book embraces the most important concepts of leadership, and explains that the leader itself as an objective and universal phenomenon in society is natural and even necessary, because any kind of mutual activity requires an appropriate organization process, and the development of rational and appropriate methods to reach the mutual goals by the most effective way. Therefore, the functions of leader are usually fulfilled by the people, who enjoy the trust and support of the social groups. Leaders should be active and energetic persons able to make people believe in common goal and to make the people undertake all possible efforts to achieve it.

The term 'leader' implies somewhat a broader context, such as 'leadership'. Leadership, according to Donald T. Philips in his "Lincoln on Leadership" is a complex mechanism of interaction between the leader and his followers, where the main component parts of this conception are, first of all, the ability of the leader to estimate the given situation, to make an appropriate and correct decision concerning vitally important tasks and issues, and to influence both the emotions and minds of the followers in order to mobilize all their power to achieve a common goal. From here it follows that, as it is claimed by Abraham Lincoln, the issue of leadership is closely related to the process of group decision making, because the decision making is one of the crucial functions of the manager, and the proper organization of group of people aimed to make the most appropriate decision is, indeed, the challenging task.

In such a way, according to Donald T. Philips' "Lincoln on Leadership", the leadership relates to complex conceptions, as, on the one hand, the leadership implies generation of the new ideas by the leader, active and effective influence on people, and, on the other hand, the leadership is based (and heavily relies) on the belief in leader, trust, submission, willingness to follow the leader and participate in tasks the leader asks to fulfill.

As the aim of this paper is to examine the conception of leadership more thoroughly, there is a necessity to explore its characteristics and principles, as they are given by Donald T. Philips by the example of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is a political leader. To a certain extent, political leader differs from the leader in organization, as it is not simply a person who needs to control and manage political processes, but also controls and manages social processes, and is responsible for management of organization, society, political organization, and various movements. As we can see from Lincoln's biography, political leader is the person able to change the route of history and the coloring and direction of political processes. In this respect, it is logically to suppose that not every politician is able to become a political leader. Political leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, intensify and accelerate political processes in society; they develop and promote programs that have decisive impact on the historical development of society. Indeed, various important historical events would have never occurred without strong leadership qualities of the persons, who able to transform not only their own lives, but the lives of society.

As we can understand from "Lincoln on Leadership", the conception of leadership is quite ambiguous. Yet, there are three major decisive aspects - the leader's personal traits, the methods, tools, and technologies the leader uses to gain his power, and the situations the leader faces during his life and activity. The combination of these three aspects to a great extent predetermines the formation of the leader; however, the principles of leadership are of the primary importance. So, what are the major traits and qualities the leader should have in order to gain trust and to ensure support from public, as it is asserted by Donald T. Philips in "Lincoln on Leadership"? Which personal traits are the most important to allow the leader winning public recognition? First of all, it is important to note that despite the abundance of leadership theories, it is quite difficult to find out some certain set of specific personal traits that allow a person becoming a real leader. Indeed, there are many leaders, who have different personal traits, but continue to be leaders in a literary sense of the word.

Abraham Lincoln, being the exemplary model for Donald T. Philips, had the following traits, such as self-confidence, courage, decisiveness, persistence, tolerance, initiative, the integrity of character, common sense, the feeling of justice, and tactfulness. According to Donald T. Philips, all these traits are essential for a leader. In addition, there are some similarities in a leader's behavior. For example, the leader is able to send challenges to any hardships and difficulties; he likes to experiment and risk. The leader takes active (but not passive) position. He inspires for heroic actions, creates a common vision and common goals. Indeed, is it is claimed by Donald T. Philips, "effective visions and organizational mission statements can't be forced upon the masses. Rather, they must be set in motion by means of persuasion. The people must accept and implement them wholeheartedly and without reservation" (Philips, 1993).

The leader also explains the people the necessity to reach the goal and unites them in order to successfully accomplish the mission. The leader never acts alone. On contrary, he motivates people, inspires them to act, and makes them stronger. The leader encourages interaction and cooperation between the followers; he models and shapes the way, develops a plan, sets an example, and assists his followers. Finally, the leader gives incentive to his people, recognizes the contribution made by each member of his group, and celebrates the victory that was achieved by joint efforts.

Donald T. Philips places high emphasis on simple truths and principles of a born leader. Indeed, the leader, as it is claimed by the author needs to get out of the office and circulate among the troops (this conception is quite similar to Managing by Wandering Around (MBWA), introduced by Robert Waterman and Tom Peters in "Search of Excellence", "getting out of the ivory tower", "roving leadership", or "being in touch". This is the technology of the obvious that implies that the real leader cannot find out what is going on by sitting behind a desk). Next, the leader needs to build strong alliances, to persuade rather than coerce, to understand that honesty and integrity are the best policies, never act out of vengeance or spite, have to courage to handle unjust criticism, be a master of paradox, the importance to be a decisive person and exercise a strong hand, to lead by being led, to set goals and be results-oriented person, to keep searching until you find your 'grant', to master the art of public speaking, to influence people through conversation and storytelling, and to preach a vision and continually reaffirm it.

As we discuss the book within the frameworks of various theories of leadership, we can make an assumption that Donald T. Philips has drawn much from earlier philosophy. As it was already mentioned before, in case we examine the course of the history of the XX century as the period, where the leaders were replaced by the others, we can easily trace four major periods: 1900-1945 (this period was influenced by the theory, according to which the history is ruled by great personalities and great leaders), 1930-1970 (this period was influenced by the theory of behaviorism, where the leader was treated as the exemplary model), 1970-1980 (this period was influenced by the theory of randomness; so-called situational or occasional leadership), and, finally, 1990s - the leader in the capacity of manager).

To a certain extent Donald T. Philips' book allow to understand the difference between the leadership and management. The leadership is a conception that is present in almost every type of interpersonal relations; however, it is significantly wider than management with its concentration on accomplishment of specific goals and objectives of a specific organization. The management is a process that allows an organization to accomplish its strategic tasks, and to achieve desired goals by organizing and managing the employees' potential. At the same time, the leadership, as we can understand from Donald T. Philips' "Lincoln on Leadership", is the process that allows the person, who has specific ideas, to influence the behavior of other people. Although the managers have power due to their positions, the companies prefer appointing the leaders able to influence people not only by their official posts, but rather by their experience, charisma, and other important traits of character. Therefore, while examining Abraham Lincoln's biography from Donald T. Philips' book, it is also possible to make a difference between the management and leadership by means of comparison between the traits of ideal manager and ideal leader.

Conclusion

In conclusion it may be said that Donald T. Philips was inspired by Abraham Lincoln's life as the author tried to create more than just a book devoted to Abraham Lincoln's biography - he created the guidebook for managers written by a manager who managed to successfully implement all these methods and principles of leadership into his own life and professional career. Donald T. Philips focuses attention on some principles of leadership he derived from Lincoln's biography, such as the necessity to advocate a vision and reaffirm it continually, to build strong alliances, to consistently look for intelligent and capable assistants, to circulate among followers in order to gain support and to facilitate the process of interaction, to encourage innovation, to persuade rather than coerce, to influence people through illustrations and stories, and, probably, the most important one, - to be results-, but not the process-oriented, thus providing the readers with actual illustrations and examples on how Lincoln developed and shaped the principles that allowed him to handle his responsibility and choose the most successful leadership strategy.

References

Burns, J. M. (1978). Leadership. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.

Phillips, D. T. (1993). Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times. Business Plus .