“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person,” – Mother Teresa

 From “The Human Condition: A User’s Manual,” by Arnold Kunst 

29 November 

Abraham Lincoln, Thanksgiver-in-Chief, Final Installment 

The takeaway: there’s no great secret to Lincoln’s leadership in particular - or to leadership in general. The principle is simple even if the execution is apparently so difficult that few “leaders” choose to employ it: become a servant leader, not the leader from hell [note: there’s no third alternative].  

Here’s what Lincoln’s example shows:  

• Servant leadership is always hard but it never fails.  

• Lincoln’s goals were rock-solid, his gratitude sincere, his follow-through consistent.  

• Make sure you encourage/affirm/validate your troops when they become despondent, as they invariably will, as Lincoln did.  When you do all that for your troops they will go through hell for you – just like his did for Lincoln!