Abraham Lincoln on Empowerment

Leading in Times of Conflict

Have “Malice toward None and Charity for All”

Lincoln and Empowerment I

• Spend time letting your followers learn that you are firm, resolute, and committed in the daily performance of your duty.• Inspires respect and trust.

• Attempt to gain an in-depth understanding of human nature.• Human action can be changed but human nature cannot

be changed.• Demonstrate a compassionate and caring

disposition.• Key to forging successful relationships.

Lincoln and Empowerment II

• Seek compromise whenever possible.• Nurture the belief that what others think genuinely

makes a difference.• Delegate responsibility and authority by

empowering people to act on their own.• Conduct full and frequent consultations with the

heads of various departments.• Know when to issue orders and when to make

suggestions.• The best leaders never stop learning.

Lincoln and Empowerment III

• Give subordinates an opportunity for success.• Set, and respond to fundamental goals and values

that move your followers.• Be fair and decent in business and personal life.• An organization will take on the personality of its

top leader.• Ignore “minor” transgressions.• Truth is generally the best vindication against

slander.

Lincoln and Empowerment IV

• The probability that you may fail in a struggle ought not deter you from supporting a cause that is just.

• Consistency should be one of the main forces in your organization.

• Correct errors when they are shown to b e errors.• Work with the paradox of providing employee

security while also encouraging an environment for risk-taking.

Lincoln and Empowerment V

• Avoid major conflict in the form of quarrels and arguments.• No time for this.

• Seize the initiative and never relinquish it.• When making a decision, understand the facts,

consider various solutions and their consequences, make sure that the decision is consistent with your objectives, and effectively communicate your judgment.

• Compromise does not mean cowardice.

Lincoln and Empowerment VI

• If you are a good leader, when your work is done, your aim fulfilled, your people will say, “We did this ourselves.”

• Guide the dialogue when there are disputing parties.

• When subordinates come up with good ideas, let them try; but monitor their progress.

• The greatest credit should be given to those who render the hardest work.

Lincoln and Empowerment VII

• Unite followers with a “corporate mission.”• Sometimes it is better to plough around obstacles

rather than waste time going through them.• Choose as your chief subordinates those who

crave responsibility and take risks.• Give your followers all the support you can.• When the occasion is piled high with difficulty,

think anew and act anew.• Don’t lose confidence in people if they fail.

• If you never try, you’ll never succeed.