One of the greatest American presidents, if not the greatest, Abraham Lincoln, set a gold standard in team building. We all know Lincoln was the person who emancipated the slaves, and he went to war- the American CIvil War- to unite the country again after the COnfederates split from the North . But few of us know that he had a cabinet made up of all his rivals.
By all measures, this was a great man. He received little formal education but yet he learned many things on his own, and he never ceased to learn..
His presidentail rivals were actually better educated, more experienced and better known..
He set a unique leadership style in which he included all his main rivals in his presidentail team, and he manged this team so well that the team won the war and saved the UNion.
Asked why he included in his teams all his main rivals in the presidentail election, he answered simply yet full of logic: “Look, these are the strongest and most able men in the country. The country is in peril. I need them by my side.”
This is real statesmanship. There is a book, titled “A Team of rivals”, in which you can read about all these of Lincoln.
Looking at our country, do we have this type of leadereship, both in BN as well as in PR? Can both be inclusive of each other and form a strong government to rule the country? NOt possible.. I have often stressed that we must not be too partisan in politics, and many people laughed at me and said I am too idealistic and naive. History has shown that Lincoln had formed one such non partisan team to fight the war.
In fact, looking at the country now, with the economy in trouble waters, and racial polarisation getting more extreme, and corruption and abuse of power worse, we are in dire need of a strong govenrment to deal with the ills we are facing.. But this is impossible at the moment, simply because we do not have any one great enough that we can call a statesman.
How pathetic… How worrying…
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