December 18 - Lincoln on Leadership

The next five entries will cover book reviews for our leadership class with Dr. Dale Galloway. The reviews are brief, terse, and much less reflective than my work in our anthropology class. I have that these reviews will peek your interest in these books.

Grace and peace,

Trav Wilson

Introduction. Many leadership books are criticized for providing only a steady diet of platitudes wrapped in different packages ranging from Churchill, Attila the Hun and Captain Picard. However, these so called platitudes are actually the meat and potatoes of leadership. As the wise person said, vision leaks. A good leader needs to repeatedly hear the same basic leadership material and digest its nutrients lest the vision and call of the leader disappear. Lincoln on Leadership guides me to greater effectiveness as a leader for presenting basic leadership skills in the context of one of leadership’s finest American practitioners. Phillips gives direct, basic guidance on four delicate matters: people, character, endeavor and communication.

People. The best guidance Lincoln gave on how to work with people was on building strong alliances as well as discerning which alliances to build. I was superficially aware of the Lincoln-Stanton-McClellan dynamic. However, because of the presence of Lincoln’s leadership, in McClellan’s absence of true leadership, an effective person like Stanton rose to the occasion and jumped on board Lincoln’s program. Similarly, in church leadership, I have been in situations where I worked to satisfy a McClellan rather than inspire a Stanton. By working to ally with all, I became the ally of none. In the name of peacemaking, alliances that might have propelled a ministry left it sputtering and marginally effective. There is a difference between peacemaking and minimizing conflict. As the sage said, there is a time for everything: a time for building alliances and a time for allowing them to fall.

Character. The most helpful guidance that Phillips provided on character was being a master of paradox, specifically managing one’s dark side. Much of my educational and professional training is in engineering. There is little place for paradox in that field. However, the fundamental reality of leadership in ministry is flexibility and working with paradox. Even our theology carries paradox: be in the world but not of it; the poor are rich; life comes from death. I appreciate the brief study of how Lincoln kept matters and himself in balance. For instance, when I read of Lincoln’s anger management program I am blessed. His method of writing letters to people yet never sending them seems helpful. Many times in leadership I have allowed clergy and laity to see my frustration and anger. This has never proven helpful. The one time that I managed it well, I wrote a letter and never sent it. This is a lesson that I will remember.

Endeavor. In the section on endeavor, Lincoln developed my leadership by encouraging me to keep searching for my ‘Grant.’ In leadership, decisiveness is important, as is conversation, setting goals, maintaining a results oriented environment and encouraging innovation. However, a minister cannot do all things in a high stakes leadership situation like the church. Leadership must come from the top, but effective ministry comes from the grass roots. In these situations, one has to find a ‘Grant.’ In several ministry settings, as I wrote above, I preferred to pour energy into a McClellan rather than to search for a Grant. I need to change that about myself.

Communication. In his final section on communication, Phillips gave the greatest challenge to my leadership development in his chapter on influencing people through conversation and storytelling. Coming from engineering, my tendency is to persuade rationally. However, it is narrative that fires the imagination. It is story that communicates our values and our vision. It is imagery that electrifies our souls. Some of my worst sermons are complicated and tightly reasoned. Some of my best sermons are stories. Even intellectually I know that storytelling is superior for influencing and communicating. The great challenge for my leadership in the next 2-5 years will be how I can embrace the use of imagery and storytelling in my public speaking.