This is the second episode in our three-part; series sharing the top 10 leadership qualities of Abraham Lincoln, based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Do you lead like Abraham Lincoln?
Podcast Transcript
Joshua MacLeod:
There’s not a single instance where Abraham Lincoln, did what everybody else in his entire community did. They made excuses and blamed somebody else. Abraham Lincoln always said, “It was my fault.” No matter what it was.
Podcast Announcer:
Welcome to the Growability Podcast, teaching business and nonprofit leaders, a more excellent way to run a business. Visit growability.com for your leadership, coaching consultation, and business collaboration needs. This is the second episode in our three-part; series sharing the top 10 leadership qualities of Abraham Lincoln, based on the book Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Do you lead like Abraham Lincoln? Here are your hosts, Joshua MacLeod and Bernie Anderson.
Bernie Anderson:
Last week, we started talking about a book that you’ve read about Abraham Lincoln.
Joshua MacLeod:
Yes. So last week we talked about, the power of pause, where you want to pause before any important decisions. Never use the first draft and then appointing leaders in your organization based on their strengths. Not necessarily based on affection or affiliation,
Bernie Anderson:
I could give you three different occasions in which all three of these things were something that I used this week. And I was like, huh, Abraham Lincoln. Power the pause. Not a first draft. Don’t do your first draft, hiring by strengths. And not by just because you like somebody, all three of those things I literally use this week. So yeah…
Joshua MacLeod:
That doesn’t mean you want to not like the people that you hire.
Bernie Anderson:
I only hire people I hate. Yeah.
Joshua MacLeod:
So let’s talk about the fourth major point…
Joshua MacLeod:
So I’ve got 10 points here, top 10 points from Abraham Lincoln. The fourth thing that I learned from Abraham Lincoln was the incredible importance of becoming a storyteller. So Abraham Lincoln’s dad, one of the things that Abraham Lincoln learned from his dad is how to tell a great story. So even as a child, he would watch his dad, make everybody laugh and make a point that people would remember. And as a leader, it’s crucial. I can’t think of actually something more fundamental for a leader than to be able to tell a story. Humans learn through story. The things that we remember the most, are when they’re connected to a story, when we try to make a point and we don’t connect it to a story, people forget the point. When you make a point and you connect it to a story, they actually will remember that story. So three things that Abraham Lincoln did is; one is he kept a notebook of great stories.
Bernie Anderson:
Hmm
Joshua MacLeod:
So he would constantly, he had this book that was like a story collector and he would have this notebook and he would write down any time that he heard a good story, as a leader, one of your jobs is to keep a story notebook where you’re collecting. Good, good analogies. When you read a book and you come across a good story that you could use to share with somebody else, write that down.
Bernie Anderson:
Yeah.
Joshua MacLeod:
The second thing is he would spend hours and hours practicing his stories. Even if he didn’t understand the punchline as a kid, he would see where the punchlines were and like where the data was important. And then he would learn how to craft that story and then tell it to his friends.
Joshua MacLeod:
So he would listen to stories from his dad, go practice it, go share it with his friends. Eventually when he was in debates,