Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times
Author: Donald T. Phillips, Donald Phillips
List Price: $17.95
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ISBN: 0446516465
Publisher: Warner Books (January, 1992)
Sales Rank: 772,682
Average Customer Rating: 4.61 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 5 out of 5
For Once...Leadership Plainly Illustrated
I found this book to be irresitibly readable and chock full of information and material immediately applicable to life and life in the business world. Mr Phillips does a wonderful job of illustrating leadership principles through Lincoln's style and approach to leading and governing. This method makes it extremely easy for the reader to understand the concepts being conveyed. If Lincoln was able to save the Union in the most extreme condition by use of these principles, it's easy to imagine that they could work in various other situations. Mr. Phillips doesn't ignore Lincoln's weaknesses, but uses them and how Lincoln tried to handle them as teaching material to demonstrate how leaders can be effective in spite of their personal shortcomings.In short, this is one of the more valuable, interesting, AND usable books that I have read in years. I have ordered "Leadership and the Founding Fathers" and hope to gain as much from that as I have from the Lincoln book.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Fantastic Study of a Phenomenal Leader
If you want a stimulating and thoroughly researched leadership primer for leaders at all levels, then do not miss this gem of a book by Donald Phillips. The only drawback to reading this book was that I was limited to five stars in reviewing it-it deserved much more. Donald Phillips wrote one of the best leadership books I have ever read. He skillfully blended many effective historical references (letters, speeches, vignettes, and anecdotes) with modern management and leadership theories to create an easy-to-read performance and character analysis of one of the very best leaders our country has ever known.
This remarkable book could (and should) serve as a "wake-up call" for the many self-proclaimed leaders in all walks of life who fail to understand the adage, "Leadership is action, not position." Some of the book's timeless leadership themes demonstrated and often perfected by Lincoln included:
*Leaders foster trust and build effective relationships with subordinates.
*Leaders are persuasive vice coercive; coercive dictatorships violate the basic rights of individuals.
*Leaders build leaders, not followers, though vision, patience, and persistence for long-term effectiveness vice short-term gains or conveniences.
*A leader who constantly maintains his honesty and integrity, and shows compassion and mercy, will inspire all around him or her to loyalty and great achievements.
Phillips, in his preface, perfectly described the book's value to the leaders of today and tomorrow...
"Since leadership principles are usually expressed rather abstractly, there is a great need for simple, concrete illustrations. Tangible examples make the difference; people relate to them. That's what the study of Lincoln gives us - tangible examples from a widely recognized great leader. Therein lies the basic premise of this book. I hope that present and future leaders in all walks of life will be enlightened (as I was) by the remarkable leadership genius of Abraham Lincoln and then will use that knowledge to improve their own skills."
Rating: 5 out of 5
A Short Education On Leadership
A great book for learning to deal with people. After you finish reading about Lincoln's executive strategies in "Lincoln On Leadership", I suggest you go on to read the plain-talking practical anecdotes on human relations in Dale Carnegie's "How To Win Friends", and learn the philosophical basics of leadership in Norman Thomas Remick's plain-talking book "West Point: Character Leadership Education: Thomas Jefferson", to make the reading experience of Donald T. Phillips' "Lincoln On Leadership" even more useful and enlightening than it is unto itself. It's a short education on leadership. Similar Products
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Book Index