Lincoln on Leadership Research Assignment Paper

Lincoln on Leadership
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Introduction
Leadership is the action of leading individuals or an organization. Many individuals believe that good leadership is directly correlated with age or seniority, however; this is the greatest misconception because for good leadership to be depicted one has to be an effective leader. Author Donald T Philips portrays in the Lincoln on Leadership book that effective leadership entails most important ingredients such as democracy honesty and empathy and Lincoln the 16th president of United States was able to exercise effective leadership.
Donald T Philips illustrates that Lincoln was very democratic therefore making him an effective leader. The author states that Lincoln rarely gave direct commands to his subordinates but rather he created a room for negotiations and suggestions and also offered advice. The author state that Lincoln knew that for him to get the results he wanted from his subordinates he had to exercise democratic leadership rather than authoritative leadership. The fact that that effective leadership entails one being democratic has also been showed in the Tao of leadership book where the author states that an effective leader should be democratic in that he passes power to his subordinates so that they can also make decisions about some issues. Democracy in leadership is important is because it creates an environment that is free from fear and one that encourages negotiations therefore enhancing the subordinates productivity because they feel valued and recognized. The strength of possessing this character is that resistance from the subordinates is very low because they do not feel pushed or coerced and therefore their willingness to do what is required of them is enhanced. The limitations of being democratic while leading is that in most cases the subordinates become too reluctant as they mostly consider their leader not strict and therefore their quality of work or productivity is tremendously affected in a negative away. Their productivity and quality of work lessen as some of them engage in other activities other than engaging in the activities they have been assigned with. One can be effective in exercising democracy by implementing strategies of approachability, empowerment, and finally training in their organizations. Leaders should be democratic so that they can be referred as effective leaders.
Donald T Philips also states that Lincoln was an effective leader because he was empathetic. The a...