Leadership Through New Eyes...Clarity Matters

Do these glasses look familiar? I'm guessing they probably don't. On April 14, 1865, the night President Lincoln was assassinated, he had these glasses in his pocket. Oddly enough, he also had a confederate $5 bill in his pocket (most likely a souvenir given to him when he visited Richmond, which had recently fallen to the Union forces a few days earlier). ?When I first saw these glasses, I was struck by their simplicity, what one would expect for the times.?But did you also notice there is something odd with one of the hinges that hold the temples to the frame? Look closely, and you will notice the screw is missing, and the temple is secured to the hinge with some twine. Think of that for a moment. The President of the United States has a pair of glasses that is held together with baling wire and hundred-mile-an-hour tape (not literally, but you get the point). This simple picture taught me a few things and spurred a few thoughts about Leadership that helped me see myself with a little more clarity...maybe it will help you too.

1.?????It is excellent to have a giant's strength, but it is tyrannous to use it like a giant (Shakespeare, Measure for Measure). Character comes from the Greek word kharakter, which means to engrave or etch on something. ?Extending that thought, one's character is the result of sustained action over a long period. We don't wake up and become leaders of character. What we learn, do, and ultimately become as leaders is a result of consistent, sustained effort guided by enduring principles and values along our personal journey. The character of the leader is the defining lever of action for effective Leadership. Without effective Leadership, the only three things that happen in organizations naturally are "friction, confusion, and underperformance." At its core, effective Leadership is centered on the character and competence of the leader. As W.E.B DuBois, one of America's great historians and early civil rights activists, said of Lincoln: "I love him not because he was perfect but because he was not and yet triumphed." Lincoln's character made that triumph possible.

???????????????????????????????"I attempt no compliment to my own sagacity. I claim not to have

???????????????????????????????controlled events, but confess plainly that events have controlled me."

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(Lincoln, 1864)

?2.?????I must have patience to endure the load (Shakespeare, Richard III). "Do not let us speak of darker days: let us speak rather of sterner days." Churchill said that in 1941.?Lincoln didn't appear to be quite as hopeful when, in 1862, he expressed doubt about the future and shared personal doubts of despair: "The bottom is out of the tub. What shall I do?" Despite those doubts, the President would endure. The burdensome load required the President to "carry on," and he admonished others to do the same. Speaking to a group of Soldiers from Ohio, he said: "don't be turned from your stern purpose of defending your beloved country and its free institutions by any arguments urged by ambitious and designing men, but stand fast to the Union and the old flag." And, he would say of himself, "I expect to maintain this contest until successful, or till I die, or am conquered, or my term expires, or Congress or the country forsakes me." Thriving in a VUCA world challenges leaders to provide an unyielding focus on purpose.?They are relentless in their messaging and consistent in their behaviors and often require leaders to defeat the status quo. After all, the two biggest enemies of change are success and history.

???????????????????????????????????"You cannot fail if you resolutely determine that you will not." –

????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(Lincoln, 1860)

??????????????????????????????????"The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present."

??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(Lincoln, 1862

?3.?????Weigh'st thy words before thou givest them breath (Othello)...that reminds me of a story.?I can imagine President Lincoln, all 76" of him, being introduced and then slowly rising to tell a story to a group of Soldiers, politicians, or fellow citizens. Carefully weighing his words and then looking at the audience, he reached up and removed his self-repaired spectacles. Perhaps the little piece of string is just visible out of his left eye. Or, possibly, leaving them on for a bit and then removing them at just the right moment to emphasize a point. George Washington did something similar at Newburgh in 1783 when he was trying to calm anxious senior leaders of the Continental Army that had not been paid. It was here that General Washington revealed, for the first time, that he had started to wear glasses saying, "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have grown not only gray but almost blind in the service of my country."?A strong reminder that he too had served without pay and endured the long years of war." Lincoln was a storyteller and could craft his messages with meaning and humor that inspired action. He was often criticized by his political enemies and the media for his actions in the civil war.?As the story goes (pun intended), after reading a particularly nasty article, his aide, Joh Hay, recalled Lincoln telling this story: "A frontiersman lost his way in an uninhabited region on a dark and tempestuous night. The rain fell in torrents, accompanied by terrible thunder and more terrific lightning. To increase his trouble, his horse halted, being exhausted with fatigue and fright. Presently a bolt of lightning struck a neighboring tree, and the crash brought the man to his knees.?He was not an expert in prayer, but his appeal was short and to the point: 'Oh, good Lord, if it is all the same to you, give us a little more light and a little less noise.'

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??????????????????????????????????????????????????????????"That reminds me of a story."

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????(Lincoln...the "story" of his life)

?As I think about making a difference and leaving a legacy, wiping off the dust from my glasses, the lens through which I view the world, allows me to see Leadership and myself through new eyes and with more clarity.....I guess I’m not as good as I thought I was, just ask my wife!