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... it. The term leader implies somewhat a broader context, such as leadership. Leadership, according to Donald T. Philips in his Lincoln on Leadership is a complex mechanism of interaction between the leader and his followers, where the main component parts of this conception are, first of all, the ability of the leader to estimate the given situation, to make an appropriate and correct decision concerning vitally important tasks and issues, and to influence both the emotions and minds of the followers in order to mobilize all their power to achieve a common goal. From here it follows that, as it is claimed by Abraham Lincoln, the issue of leadership is closely related to the process of group decision making, because the decision making is one of the crucial functions of the manager, and the proper organization of group of people aimed to make the most appropriate decision is, indeed, the challenging task.
In such a way, according to Donald T. Philips Lincoln on Leadership, the leadership relates to complex conceptions, as, on the one hand, the leadership implies generation of the new ideas by the leader, active and effective influence on people, and, on the other hand, the leadership is based (and heavily relies) on the belief in leader, trust, submission, willingness to follow the leader and participate in tasks the leader asks to fulfill. As the aim of this paper is to examine the conception of leadership more thoroughly, there is a necessity to explore its characteristics and principles, as they are given by Donald T. Philips by the example of Abraham Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln is a political leader. To a certain extent, political leader differs from the leader in organization, as it is not simply a person who needs to control and manage political processes, but also controls and manages social processes, and is responsible for management of organization, society, political organization, and various movements.
As we can see from Lincolns biography, political leader is the person able to change the route of history and the coloring and direction of political processes. In this respect, it is logically to suppose that not every politician is able to become a political leader. Political leaders, such as Abraham Lincoln, intensify and accelerate political processes in society; they develop and promote programs that have decisive impact on the historical development of society. Indeed, various important historical events would have never occurred without strong leadership qualities of the persons, who able to transform not only their own lives, but the lives of society. As we can understand from Lincoln on Leadership, the conception of leadership is quite ambiguous. Yet, there are three major decisive aspects the leaders personal traits, the methods, tools, and technologies the leader uses to gain his power, and the situations the leader faces during his life and activity.
The combination of these three aspects to a great extent predetermines the formation of the leader; however, the principles of leadership are of the primary importance. So, what are the major traits and qualities the leader should have in order to gain trust and to ensure support from public, as it is asserted by Donald T. Philips in Lincoln on Leadership? Which personal traits are the most important to allow the leader winning public recognition? First of all, it is important to note that despite the abundance of leadership theories, it is quite difficult to find out some certain set of specific personal traits that allow a person becoming a real leader. Indeed, there are many leaders, who have different personal traits, but continue to be leaders in a literary sense of the word.
Abraham Lincoln, being the exemplary model for Donald T. Philips, had the following traits, such as self-confidence, courage, decisiveness, persistence, tolerance, initiative, the integrity of character, common sense, the feeling of justice, and tactfulness. According to Donald T. Philips, all these traits are essential for a leader. In addition, there are some similarities in a leaders behavior. For example, the leader is able to send challenges to any hardships and difficulties; he likes to experiment and risk.
The leader takes active (but not passive) position. He inspires for heroic actions, creates a common vision and common goals. Indeed, is it is claimed by Donald T. Philips, effective visions and organizational mission statements can't be forced upon the masses.
Rather, they must be set in motion by means of persuasion. The people must accept and implement them wholeheartedly and without reservation (Philips, 1993). The leader also explains the people the necessity to reach the goal and unites them in order to successfully accomplish the mission. The leader never acts alone. On contrary, he motivates people, inspires them to act, and makes them stronger.
The leader encourages interaction and cooperation between the followers; he models and shapes the way, develops a plan, sets an example, and assists his followers. Finally, the leader gives incentive to his people, recognizes the contribution made by each member of his group, and celebrates the victory that was achieved by joint efforts. Donald T. Philips places high emphasis on simple truths and principles of a born leader.
Indeed, the leader, as it is claimed by the author needs to get out of the office and circulate among the troops (this conception is quite similar to Managing by Wandering Around (MBWA), introduced by Robert Waterman and Tom Peters in Search of Excellence, getting out of the ivory tower, roving leadership, or being in touch. This is the technology of the obvious that implies that the real leader cannot find out what is going on by sitting behind a desk). Next, the leader needs to build strong alliances, to persuade rather than coerce, to understand that honesty and integrity are the best policies, never act out of vengeance or spite, have to courage to handle unjust criticism, be a master of paradox, the importance to be a decisive person and exercise a strong hand, to lead by being led, to set goals and be results-oriented person, to keep searching until you find your grant, to master the art of public speaking, to influence people through conversation and storytelling, and to preach a vision and continually reaffirm it. As we discuss the book within the frameworks of various theories of leadership, we can make an assumption that Donald T.
Philips has drawn much from earlier philosophy. As it was already mentioned before, in case we examine the course of the history of the XX century as the period, where the leaders were replaced by the others, we can easily trace four major periods: 1900 - 1945 (this period was influenced by the theory, according to which the history is ruled by great personalities and great leaders), 1930 - 1970 (this period was influenced by the theory of behaviorism, where the leader was treated as the exemplary model), 1970 - 1980 (this period was influenced by the theory of randomness; so-called situational or occasional leadership), and, finally, 1990 s the leader in the capacity of manager). To a certain extent Donald T. Philips book allow to understand the difference between the leadership and management. The leadership is a conception that is present in almost every type of interpersonal relations; however, it is significantly wider than management with its concentration on accomplishment of specific goals and objectives of a specific organization. The management is a process that allows an organization to accomplish its strategic tasks, and to achieve desired goals by organizing and managing the employees' potential.
At the same time, the leadership, as we can understand from Donald T. Philips Lincoln on Leadership, is the process that allows the person, who has specific ideas, to influence the behavior of other people. Although the managers have power due to their positions, the companies prefer appointing the leaders able to influence people not only by their official posts, but rather by their experience, charisma, and other important traits of character. Therefore, while examining Abraham Lincolns biography from Donald T. Philips book, it is also possible to make a difference between the management and leadership by means of comparison between the traits of ideal manager and ideal leader.
Conclusion In conclusion it may be said that Donald T. Philips was inspired by Abraham Lincolns life as the author tried to create more than just a book devoted to Abraham Lincolns biography - he created the guidebook for managers written by a manager who managed to successfully implement all these methods and principles of leadership into his own life and professional career. Donald T. Philips focuses attention on some principles of leadership he derived from Lincoln's biography, such as the necessity to advocate a vision and reaffirm it continually, to build strong alliances, to consistently look for intelligent and capable assistants, to circulate among followers in order to gain support and to facilitate the process of interaction, to encourage innovation, to persuade rather than coerce, to influence people through illustrations and stories, and, probably, the most important one, - to be results-, but not the process-oriented, thus providing the readers with actual illustrations and examples on how Lincoln developed and shaped the principles that allowed him to handle his responsibility and choose the most successful leadership strategy. References Burns, J. M. (1978).
Leadership. New York: Harper & Row Publishers, Inc. Phillips, D. T. (1993). Lincoln on Leadership: Executive Strategies for Tough Times.
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Research essay sample on Order To Gain Abraham Lincoln
