THE ACHIEVEMENT DIGEST   "TAD" Issue No. 70
A Unique Publication for Leaders     Gene Griessman, Ph.D. Editor
404-256-5927 www.achievementdigest.com  
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QUOTES YOU CAN USE IN PRESENTATIONS, REPORTS, AND CONVERSATION
***HEALTHY SKEPTICISM
“Man’s most valuable trait is a judicious sense of what not to believe.”  
--Euripides (Greek playwright and poet, 480-406 BC)

***HISTORY
“History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives.” 
--Abba Eban (Israeli diplomat, 1915-2002)

***MINDFULNESS 
“Mindfulness can be summed up in two words:  Pay Attention.  Once you begin to notice what you’re doing, you have the power to change it.” 
--Michelle Burford (founding senior editor of O, the Oprah Magazine)

 “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present.  As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.  We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.”  Abraham Lincoln—Annual Message to Congress, 1862

***WISDOM 
“To be wise is to foresee the consequences of our behavior.”
-–Gene Griessman

***DO THE RIGHT THING
“You cannot make yourself feel something you do not feel, but you can make yourself do right in spite of your feelings.” 
--Pearl S. Buck (first American woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in literature; 1892-1973)

HOW TO LEAD LIKE LINCOLN:  DEVELOP A NARRATIVE THAT EXPLAINS AND PERSUADES.
Some years ago, I conducted an exclusive interview with Roberto Goizueta, then CEO of Coca-Cola and now widely regarded as one of the top-ten chief executive officers of the 20^th century.  One memorable part of that interview was Goizueta’s explanation of the thinking that went into acquiring Columbia Pictures, a decision which at the time was startling and controversial.

“Coca-Cola is not a soft drink,” Goizueta explained.  “Coca-Cola is excitement.  Coca-Cola is a life experience.  Coca-Cola is entertainment.  Coca-Cola and Columbia Pictures are both in the entertainment business.” 

(Coca-Cola acquired Columbia Pictures for over $800 million in 1982.  The stock plunged 10 percent in two days following the announcement of the acquisition.  Coca-Cola sold Columbia pictures five years later for approximately $3.4 billion.)

Goizueta did what great leaders have always done.  They see something that others do not see, and then they create a narrative to explain what they see in order to persuade others to follow their lead.  Goizueta’s narrative helped people understand the reasoning behind his actions. 

Many decades earlier, Abraham Lincoln engaged in the same activity. 

In fact, he became a master at it.  Lincoln devoted countless hours thinking about an issue, deciding how to communicate it, and then telling his story strategically. 

Lincoln did this when he took a stand against the spread of slavery into the West.  Lincoln became so articulate and convincing with this narrative that one of his speeches on the subject--at Cooper Union in New York City--did more than any other one thing to secure his nomination for President. 

As President, Lincoln perfected a narrative to explain why the Civil War was worth fighting. He saw the war as critical to the future of democracy itself.

He knew that for untold centuries ruling families had told their own self-serving story—that only aristocracies were capable of ruling.  Ruling families were anointed by God to lead and bear the heavy burden of ruling others. The best-known version of this narrative is known as the Divine Right of Kings.

The American Revolution challenged this view of the world; and for a time the revolutionaries appeared to be in the right. 

But after only eight decades, the bold American revolutionary experiment turned into a horrible civil war.  Perhaps the kings and noble families were right after all.  Common people, it seemed, were not capable of ruling themselves. 

Lincoln countered by adroitly using the revolutionary narrative—that all men are created equal—to explain what was happening. That idea came straight out of the Declaration of Independence.

Thus, the Civil War was not simply a rebellion that pitted north against south.  It was not just a struggle over slavery, as important as that was.  What Lincoln saw was a great episode in history that would determine if people’s government was capable of surviving.

He told his narrative at Gettysburg.  First, he cited precedent—“Our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation…”  Then Lincoln recited the hallowed thesis—“All men are created equal.”  After that, Lincoln illustrated his idea by using a birth-and-re-birth analogy—“conceived in liberty…that this nation might have a re-birth of freedom.”  Finally, Lincoln raised the stakes.  This was a life-or-death struggle of an idea—“that government of the people…might not perish from the earth.”

School children could memorize what Lincoln said at Gettysburg, and spread the message, which they still do to this day. 

Not surprisingly, Jefferson Davis created his own narrative.   The Civil War was a repetition of what the founding fathers had done in 1776.  Southerners should be willing to die to save this noble experiment, and foreign powers should recognize this new nation. 

You may well ask, what is there in this history lesson that you can use?  Are there steps that you as a leader can take to get your message across?  To answer that question, think about how you can imitate what great leaders do.

1.  Become a keen observer.  Look at the small picture and try to connect it with the larger picture.  Look at the present, and connect the present with the past and the future.  Free yourself of old conventional habits of seeing.  “Think anew,” Lincoln admonished. “Disenthrall” yourself of old dogmas.

2.  Reflect.  Lincoln’s secretaries constantly discovered scraps of paper upon which Lincoln had written his musings.  Some of these words were just that—musings; but some of those musings became fully-formed ideas that eventually found their way into speeches.

3.  Test your ideas.  Lincoln tried out his narratives on his friends.  We know that Lincoln asked people he trusted to read drafts of his speeches.

4.  Practice.  Practice.  Practice.  Lincoln repeated his themes again and again in speeches and in conversation.  Like today’s best professional speakers, Lincoln constantly edited, shortened and lengthened, added and deleted, tested and re-tested.

5.  Be strategic.  Think hard about how to get others to spread your story.  Lincoln knew that he had to get his message at Gettysburg to an audience far larger than the people who stood before him.  He needed to reach an audience that he could not see.  So he created a version of his narrative that was short and succinct. And, sure enough, Lincoln’s speech was picked up by hundreds and hundreds of newspapers. In fact The Gettysburg Address in its entirety was on the front page of The New York Times.

You may not be able to get your story on the front page of The New York Times, but you may be able to spread the word to thousands, perhaps millions through the Internet or word-of-mouth through viral advertising.  In your own organization, some people are opinion leaders, and others are followers of the opinion leaders.  For some messages, you can reach everyone indirectly—through opinion leaders.  

Developing and spreading your narrative is worth all the time and energy you can devote to it.  Lincoln found this out early in his career.  If you neglect this part of leadership, don’t be surprised if you lose the war. 

A NEW LINCOLN PROGRAM.  I was asked in September of this year to do a repeat performance of my Lincoln portrayal for senior administrators of the U.S. Courts in the Lincoln Cottage at the Soldier’s Home in Washington.  Because this was a repeat performance—I had performed for the same group earlier at Gettysburg—I needed to create a new presentation.   The new interactive presentation permitted members of the audience to ask Lincoln questions. 

According to the feedback forms that we have received, the audience really liked the new version.  In fact, several attendees wrote that it made more of an impact than the Gettysburg presentation. 

If your organization has booked the Lincoln presentation in the past, think about inviting Lincoln to visit you again—and take your questions. Give us a call. 

LEADERSHIP IDEA—A VIRTUAL BOARD
Is this an idea that you could use?   Target has what the company calls a “creative cabinet.” Unlike the advisory boards at most other big corporations, this cabinet never ever has a meeting.  “There’s no power in bringing them together as a body,” says Michael Francis, Target’s chief marketing officer.  “The power is in their working independently.  We’re the cross-pollinator.”    (Fortune Magazine, March 31, 2008)

A NEW BOOK WORTH READING
Whenever I discover a brilliant book, I love to share that discovery.   My newest recommendation won the Pulitzer Prize for history, no small accomplishment.  The Atlantic calls it “a masterpiece.” I agree.  Its author is Daniel Walker Howe, the Rhodes Professor of American History Emeritus at Oxford University.  Its title is WHAT HATH GOD WROUGHT: THE TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA, 1815-1848.  (The title comes from the message that Samuel F.B. Morse tapped out for his first public demonstration of the telegraph in 1844.)

This is the story of what happened between Andrew Jackson’s victory at the Battle of New Orleans to the end of the Mexican War in 1848. It tells how the U.S. got Texas and California and New Mexico, plus Oregon, Arizona, and Nevada.  It is the story of America’s largest home-grown religion—the Latter Day Saints—and its two famous leaders, Joseph Smith and Brigham Young.   It is the story of the beginnings of the women’s movement, and the birth of the temperance movement which eventually culminated in prohibition.  It is the story of the age that produced Abraham Lincoln.

Most Americans don’t know that the battle of New Orleans was fought after the peace treaty had been signed.  Nor do they know that Jackson had among his forces a contingent of Choctaw Indians; an Irish-American regiment called Louisiana Blues; two battalions of black soldiers, free and slaves, and recent immigrants from Haiti; the French-speaking Louisiana militia; plus the Tennessee militia.   During the battle Jackson’s orders were issued in English, French, Spanish, and Choctaw.

Most Americans know virtually nothing about the Whigs, the political party that dominated American politics for decades.  Its most prominent leader was Henry Clay, who almost became President.  In fact he would have become President, had he not in a fit of pique refused to take the second spot to William Henry Harrison.  Harrison won the election, but died after serving only one month.

Abraham Lincoln was a Whig, and Henry Clay was his political hero.  Even after Lincoln became a Republican, he sometimes spoke of himself as “an old-time Whig.”

Who will enjoy this book?  Virtually anyone who likes a good read.  But, more specifically, anyone who loves American history and anyone who loves Lincoln and wants to know more about his times. 

FEEDBACK

”The conference was a hit.  I believe you touched people in many different ways both as Lincoln and as Dr. Griessman.  I have no doubt everyone left the conference yesterday with something they will do to become a better leader.   Thanks for making us better people and leaders.  I continue to receive nothing but positive comments about the program that you provided.” 
--Patrick Craig, Chief U.S. Probation Officer--U.S. Probation Office-Kentucky Western

“The ‘Language of Leadership”’ (the seminar following the Lincoln presentation) conveys an enormous amount of social psychology in an easy-to-absorb and practical manner.”   --John Hughes, Assistant Director, U.S. Courts

“The entire presentation was excellent.   Dr. Griessman’s portrayal of Lincoln was funny, charming, humbling, insightful, touching, relevant, and powerful.  It was especially relevant to our current times and increasing diversity.”  --Richard Graydon, DPM

“I enjoyed the ties of historical leadership to practical, real-world management challenges.”  Burt Maroney, Deputy Chief  NA-OH