Lincoln Leadership Research Paper

Lincoln on Leadership
Lincoln was elected as the President of United States in 1860. By 1861, the nation had splintered into two factions, the Northern Union and the Southern Confederates. Being a president he concentrated on the military and political aspects of the war. Lincoln took the risky step of expanding the power of the president in his quest to rejoin the nation. Lincoln closely supervised the war especially in selecting the top generals, he brought leaders of both different parties into his cabinet and pressured them to coordinate. Under the leadership of Lincoln, the union took control of slave states at the beginning of the war to capture the Confederate capital at Richmond and he was successful in 1865. Lincoln was a very strong
Throughout his presidency, his follower were able to see president Lincoln's leadership through his vision on the field and presidential choices. Lincoln was able to show his visions because he, “made concepts simple” (Goodwin). This was one of the great ways that Lincoln was successful with his visions. He made it so that his audience saw what he saw and understood what he wanted without making it too difficult for them. This resulted from Lincoln having great communication skills. As many stated Lincoln, “communicated with an understanding of the concerns of the citizens” (Goodwin). This relates to his visions because he was able to put the citizens into his visions and answered their questions. His visions were not only for him, but he made them benefit the people also. This is a characteristic of a true leader because he put the concerns of his people into consideration when trying to solve an issue. He was not selfish and tried to help the people with his visions. Another way that his visions depicted his great leadership was through his goal of creating America into a free nation. This was all for his people and their benefit. This was evident because Lincoln, “wove his vision for a free America with the priority of his countrymen”(McClaire). As seen here he was always looking for ways to benefit his citizens which could be argued to be a reason why he was
As he did with the other two Lincoln was really good at having result orientation. Result orientation is when a leader, Lincoln in this case, is able to decide which result are the most important and what they have to do to achieve them. One of his most noticeable times for being result oriented was when he fought the fight at Bull Run. This was a really big moment that illustrated his great leadership because many other leaders in his shoes would have given up when the war dragged on more than they anticipated it to go for. This was a huge move on him because he saw how important this fight was and made sure that him and his troops continued to fight regardless of what everyone already thought. The end of the war was seen by everyone and they thought that Lincoln and his team were going to lose, however with his result orientation Lincoln stuck it out and was able to come out victorious. Giving up was not an option for Lincoln which is why his result orientations were really