“Determine That It Will be Done, and Then We Shall Find a Way” — Lessons on Leadership from Abraham Lincoln

10 Feb 2025 Leave a comment

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , ,

America has lost the “Art of Leadership.”  We no longer develop men and women with integrity or selflessness.  Instead of Statesmen, we have political hacks only concerned with getting reelected.  Politicians with no backbones or the courage to stand up against injustice.  We have a Congress of sycophants willing to do whatever they are told to do regardless of how unethical or immoral it may be.  We have thousands of lawyers who do not uphold justice but find arguments to support an amorality that meets the letter of the law but ignores the significance of decency, goodness, honesty, conscience and fairness.

In this blog and the ones to follow,  I will write about insights regarding leadership from one of the greatest American leaders and Presidents of all time.  I found a compilation of these in an old collectors edition of “Civil War Times” published in Winter, 2013. There are 41 in total.  I have already covered the first two in previous blogs.  I would like for you to hear the words of Abraham Lincoln and what he had to say about leadership.  I will include some of my own experiences from my years of working with senior management in over 32 organizations.  Some of the men and women I worked with were incredible leaders.  Most of them wanted to be better leaders and that is where I brought the teachings and thoughts of W. E. Deming to my consulting practice.  Dr. Deming achieved extraordinary results in business by tapping the knowledge, skills and abilities of ordinary people.  Senator Hubert Humprey famously said that “Democracy is a system that achieves extraordinary results with ordinary people.”

Insight # 3 – Determine That the Thing Can and Shall be Done, and Then We Will Find a Way to Do It — Speech to Congress, June 10, 1848

Abe Lincoln was an interesting blend of idealist and pragmatist.  There are many pundits today who talk endlessly about what should be done and how it should be done.  Such idealism is not only admirable but also necessary.  However, idealism in never enough.  I do not trust others who tell me “what to do” but never lift a hand to help me do it.  The Right-Wing in America has for many years belittled Academics as “Pointy Headed Intellectuals” with no common sense.  Democrats, Liberals and Intellectuals have too often seen what needed to be done but lacked the courage or fortitude to get it done.

I found a wonderful political button twenty-five years ago which unfortunately I have lost.  On one side it read “Democrats, the Party of Wimps.”  On the other side, it read “Republicans, the Party of Greed.”  In the years since, I have noticed how appropriate these labels were.  When the Democrats had majorities in many states, they bickered and dithered while the Republicans gerrymandered districts as fast as they could.  This gerrymandering is one of the key reasons that Republicans have come to dominate politically across the USA.

“In 2011, Republicans leveraged their new state-level dominance and recent advances in districting technology to enact a very aggressive and sophisticated redistricting plan, which allowed them to win a majority in the 2012 House midterms, despite losing the popular vote for the House and losing the presidential election. This was a qualitative escalation in the gerrymandering wars, widely documented, and widely excoriated—especially by Democrats.” — Where We Have Been: The History of Gerrymandering in America

When Obama selected Garland for a Supreme Court position, he sat back and did little or nothing while McConnell blocked any efforts to advance Garland’s nomination.  Contrast this with Lincoln’s effort to remove potential spies during the start of the Civil War.

“Abraham Lincoln suspended the writ of habeas corpus during the Civil War to suppress potential Confederate sympathizers and secure the nation’s capital, particularly in Maryland, where there were significant threats to Union troop movements and a risk of disruption to supply lines to Washington D.C., justifying his actions as necessary to protect the country during a time of rebellion; he argued that the extreme circumstances of war allowed him to temporarily suspend this right to maintain public safety.” —- Google AI

The insight here by Lincoln can be phased as “Where there is a will there is a way.”  As another example, the Democrats faced during Biden’s term a Supreme Court with a 6-3 majority against them.  Biden, if he had been bold, could have changed this situation.  Biden could have found grounds to indict both of the two Supreme Court justices who were accused of taking bribes during his administration.  If Biden had removed these justices and prosecuted them (with some courage) he could have appointed two justices “temporarily” to replace them.  This would have given Democrats a 5-4 edge.  During this “temporary” period, any challenges to Biden’s actions would have been supported by a Supreme Court in his pocket.

If you think I am being cynical, denigrating or somehow abandoning the purpose of the Supreme Court, you are very naïve.  The Supreme Court has never been and never will be neutral until a new means of appointing justices can be imposed.  I refer to you the numerous pro-slavery and Jim Crow laws which many Supreme Courts have upheld which clearly were cruel, unethical and immoral decisions.

“The three most important Supreme Court Justices before the Civil War—Chief Justices John Marshall and Roger B. Taney and Associate Justice Joseph Story—upheld the institution of slavery in ruling after ruling.” — Supreme Injustice: Slavery in the Nation’s Highest Court, by Paul Finkelman – Jan 8, 2018

“Jim Crow laws, enforcing racial segregation, were upheld for approximately 60 years from after the Reconstruction era until the mid-20th century with landmark civil rights legislation. The Supreme Court’s decision in Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896 was pivotal in maintaining these laws until their abolition in the 1960s. —Brainly.Com

America has long been a nation that has scorned people who were labeled as intellectuals, geeks and daydreamers.  Some of this scorn is deserved.  Ideals without action are like dreams without plans, they can go nowhere.  The Yin/Yang of life is thinking and action not one or the other.  Today, more than at any time in the history of this country, intellectuals, scientists, thinkers and day dreamers are under fire by an administration that puts thoughtless actions ahead of dreams and ideals.  For example, I refer you to Trump’s Palestinian solution.  We will kick all the Palestinians out of the Mideast and build seaside resorts in Gaza.  If this is not an example of “thoughtless” action, than I do not know anything about life and justice.

Abraham Lincoln knew how to dream but he also knew when and how to act.  Some called him a dictator.  In reality he stood up to the bullies of his time.  Lincoln took actions to support his dream of a slave-free America.  He carefully timed the actions to achieve his dreams with an ability to muster the resources and means to accomplish them.  Lincoln had ideals but he was also a pragmatist.  Lincoln realized that until and unless the South was defeated, we would not be able to abolish slavery.  Once victory was in his grasp, Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation to free slaves throughout the nation.

President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, announcing, “that all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious areas “are, and henceforward shall be free.  The following goals were furthered by the timing and wording of the Emancipation Proclamation:  (From Search Labs | AI Overview)

  • Lincoln believed that freeing slaves was a military necessity to save the Union.
  • The proclamation declared that all enslaved people in rebellious states were free.
  • It allowed Black men to serve in the military.
  • Lincoln intended the proclamation to inspire enslaved people to support the Union.
  • Lincoln wanted to prevent other countries from giving the Confederacy military aid.

When I worked with companies, one of my goals was to create a culture of continuous improvement modeled somewhat on Dr. W. E. Deming’s 14 Points for Management.  The concept of a Continuous Improvement Culture (See My Book The TQM Transformation) was linked to Demings 14 Points.  Several if not most of these points were viewed as a radical departure from what managers were taught in business schools and MBA programs.

I once had a manager who told me that if he made the changes I was endorsing, it would be suicidal for his career.  I replied, “Most radical changes require a leadership willing to sacrifice everything for their ideals including their lives.”  He laughed as he jokingly said, “I am not willing to fall on my sword for this company.”  In truth though, history supports to a large degree that radical change often requires the ultimate sacrifice.  Many men and women have given their lives to support the ideals that they believed in.  A far cry from the sycophants that we see in Congress today who will not even give up their seats in support of the Democracy that they claim to believe in.

How do we fight an “Uncivil War”?  Insight # 4 from Old Abe has more valuable thoughts to help us in this struggle.  I will share these in my next blog.    

 

The Lost Art of Leadership: Lessons on Leadership from Abraham Lincoln

03 Feb 2025 5 Comments

by Dr. John Persico Jr. in Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

America has lost the “Art of Leadership.”  We no longer develop men and women with integrity and courage.  Instead of Statesmen, we have political hacks only concerned with getting reelected.  Instead of people with a backbone and the guts to stand up against injustice, we have a Congress of sycophants willing to do whatever they are told to do regardless of how unethical or immoral it may be.  We have thousands of lawyers who do not uphold justice but find arguments to support an amorality that meets the letter of the law but ignores the significance of decency, goodness, honesty, conscience and fairness.

In my next blogs, I want to write about 41 insights regarding leadership from one of the greatest American leaders and Presidents of all time.  I found a compilation of these insights in an old collectors edition of “Civil War Times” published in Winter, 2013.  I would like for you to hear the words of Abraham Lincoln and what he had to say about leadership.  I will include some of my own experiences from my years of working with senior management in over 32 organizations.  Some of the men and women I worked with were incredible leaders.  Most of them wanted to be better leaders and that is where I brought the teachings and thoughts of W. E. Deming to my consulting practice.  Dr. Deming achieved extraordinary results in business by tapping the knowledge, skills and abilities of ordinary people.  Senator Hubert Humphrey famously said that “Democracy is a system that achieves extraordinary results with ordinary people.”

I should issue one caveat before I begin this series.  There are some who disparage “Honest Abe” as not really caring about slavery.  They argue, Lincoln only fought the war to save the Union and not to free the slaves.  My readings and knowledge of Lincoln shows that nothing, I repeat NOTHING could be further from the truth.  Lincoln was appalled at slavery from the time he was a young child until he issued the Emancipation Proclamation.  The idea that Abe did not care about slavery is a lie fostered by a bitter Confederacy that wanted to hide their heinous practice behind the cloak of states rights.

Lincoln said,  “I have here stated my purpose according to my view of official duty; and I intend no modification of my oft-expressed personal wish that all men everywhere could be free.”  –August 22, 1862, Letter to Horace Greeley

Lincoln also said, “My paramount object in this struggle is to save the Union and is not either to save or destroy slavery.  If I could save the Union without freeing any slave I would do it.” —August 22, 1862, Letter to Horace Greeley

Two very different goals.  Two very different thoughts.  What are we to make of Lincoln’s motivations?  The Confederacy pushed the latter because it justified their defense of States rights to choose slavery as a viable economic system.  Several of the constitutions of the new Confederate states proclaimed their rights to practice slavery.

In its statement for seceding from the Union, the state of Georgia wrote the following:

“The party of Lincoln, called the Republican party, under its present name and organization, is of recent origin.  It is admitted to be an anti-slavery party.  While it attracts to itself by its creed the scattered advocates of exploded political heresies, of condemned theories in political economy, the advocates of commercial restrictions, of protection, of special privileges, of waste and corruption in the administration of Government, anti-slavery is its mission and its purpose.”

Alexander H. Stephens, the Confederate vice president said the following:

“Our new government is founded upon . . . its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery – subordination to the superior race – is his natural and normal condition.”

Lincoln was always against slavery.  Long before he became president he argued about the evil and immorality of slavery.  He modified this position to include saving the Union at the beginning of the war as a political expedient to gain support for the war.  As it became clear that the North would win and thereby have the power to free the slaves and abolish slavery, that became his main objective.  There can be no doubt that he did both.  There can be no doubt that in doing so, he signed his death certificate.  Like Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and many other civil rights martyrs, the cause of equal rights for all has always been a precarious position to assume.

Lincoln said that “Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.”  Martin Luther King in his famous “I have a Dream” speech said that this promise was an uncashed check.  It is now “Eight Score” years from the date of the Emancipation Proclamation and we are once again engaged in a battle between racism and equality, between prejudice and tolerance and between fascism and democracy.  We have begun a new “Uncivil War” which has divided the hearts, minds and loyalties of Americans from the East Coast to the West Coast every bit as deeply as did our first Civil War.

Today we face a battle between those who believe that America should be a White Supremacist Christian nation ruled by rich oligarchs and those who believe in the concepts of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion.  One half of America wants to create a country that believes in the concepts of White exceptionalism, America First and Evangelical Christianity above all over religions.  This half praises individual rights above individual responsibilities.  The rights of the individual are more important than the rights of society.

The other half of America wants to create a country where racism, sexism, exclusivity and prejudice does not exist.  This half believes that responsibilities are just as important as rights.  That the rights of others in society must be protected from those who would trample on them.  This group believes in democracy over oligarchy.  These Americans believe that we all have the right to “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” as long as we take responsibility to insure that everyone in our nation shares these rights.

The war between these two sides of America has now entered a new phase.  The first phase started many years ago.  The second phase has started on January 21, 2025.  I want to help us to remember the ideas and insights of Abraham Lincoln as we move into this second phase.

Insight # 1

Fight the Good Fight:  The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the support of a cause we believe to be just.  — Springfield, Illinois, 12/20/1839

Lincoln was thirty years old when he said these words.  They reflect the words of Frederic Douglas who said, “ If there is no struggle, there is no progress.  Those who profess to favor freedom, and yet depreciate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground.” 

The words of Patrick Henry also come to my mind,

“If we wish to be free– if we mean to preserve inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have been so long contending–if we mean not basely to abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to abandon until the glorious object of our contest shall be obtained–we must fight!  I repeat it, sir, we must fight!

I keep these words and thoughts in my mind as our “Uncivil War” commences the next four years to preserve and protect what we call our democracy.  I have no doubt that many people have struggled throughout American history to save things that they believed in.  There has been times when African Americans, Latinos, Women, Indigenous People, Asian Americans and LGBTQ people have all been persecuted and where life must have seemed totally unjust and not worth living.  Many of us woke up on November 6th with similar feelings.  I cringed when I saw people walking around town waving Trump flags and others proclaiming that they voted for Trump.  I consoled myself with “hoping they would get what they deserved.”  Then I realized that “hope” was not enough.  We must fight for what we believe in.

How do we fight an “Uncivil War”?  Insight # 2 from Old Abe has some valuable thoughts to help us in this struggle.  I will share these in my next blog.