Team of Rivals

As you and I sit at our televisions, read our newspapers, listen to the radio and so on, we should be totally depressed. But fortunately we are still alive and keeping our heads above the rising tide.

I am reading a GREAT book TEAM OF RIVALS by Doris Kearns GOODWIN.. a Pulitzer Prize winner and a great writer...

This book continues to provide insights into what it takes to LEAD IN A CRISIS... Lincoln surrounded himself with those who ran against him and continue to think and act that they were far superior to Lincoln himself. This gave Lincoln the opinions and insights of those with different perspectives and views. It enable him to make decisions that were beyond the obvious and even contradictory to what he believed.

Lincoln had the ability to LISTEN, THINK and THEN MAKE DECISIONS, even if they were not what he desired and even were not what he wanted to do...but he was a REALIST.

His greatest failure was selecting GENERALS..but he continue to stay involved and finally got it right. Unfortunately the General he really wanted was Robert E. Lee. He offered Lee the generalist position, but LEE elected to fight for his friends, neighbors and family and not the UNION.

I wish that we had a leader like Lincoln today...but unfortunately Bush has been a TOTAL failure. His focus on loyalty and not competence has led to the PROLONGED Iraqi war...

The only individual who might fit the Lincoln level of leadership is JOHN MCCAIN... it is clearly not Obama...

I hope that the United States is LUCKY enough to select a leader that can stop our HARVESTING and WORLD decline and is willing to do the SURGERY required and not just follow the polls and the instant analysis of unqualified and biased journalists and instant experts.

Bill Rothschild, author of THE SECRET TO GE's SUCCESS...and RISKTAKER, CARETAKER, SURGEON, UNDERTAKER...the four faces of strategic leadership...and author of www.strategyleader.com.