FREE ARTICLES ABOUT ABRAHAM LINCOLN BY GENE GRIESSMAN, PH.D. 

LEADERSHIP AND THE POWER OF EXTEMPORANEOUS SPEAKING   
“Let all speakers who wing it prepare for painful crashes.  There are more winds that hurt speeches than help them.”
--Gene Griessman

“Extemporaneous speaking should be practiced and cultivated,” Lincoln wrote.  “It is the lawyer’s avenue to the public.  However able and faithful he may be in other respects, people are slow to bring him business, if he cannot make a speech.”

When Lincoln spoke of extemporaneous speaking, he did not mean making totally unprepared speeches.  Few speakers can trust the moment or their wits alone for a good speech. Very, very few.   

Years ago I knew a woman who had a brief career as a keynote speaker.  Several times she boasted to me that she never gave a prepared speech.  She told me the audience deserved something new every time.  She liked to believe that it was a good thing that her every utterance was something new, something never heard before, never thought of before.  I sometimes thought that she had never thought of some of the things she said before she said them.  So they were new to her, too.     

For a while she was in demand because she was a high-energy speaker, witty and intelligent and well informed about corporate life. 

But she relied entirely on her wits, and the moment.  Gradually she acquired a reputation for comments that showed poor judgment.  Clients became nervous because they never knew what kind of speech they would get.  Sometimes it would be brilliant.  Other times a failure. 

Today she is out of the speaking business.

I know another speaker who took a different path.   He is witty and intelligent and well informed too, but he prepares carefully-- even when he gives an announcement at a local meeting or introduces a relatively unknown guest speaker.  

“You never know who’s forming an opinion of you,” he once told me.  “I never have been able to understand how a professional speaker could get up unprepared and ramble and make ridiculous mistakes.”  Not surprisingly, this speaker is in demand year after year.

In case you’d like to acquire the reputation for giving great extemporaneous speeches, here’s a checklist of what to do if you are called upon to make a short presentation.  (A keynote presentation has somewhat different rules; I’ll discuss that in a later issue.)

One.  Know what your opening sentence will be.  If it is witty and short and tested, good.  If not witty, then short and tested.

Two.  Create a script, if not on paper at least in your head.  Know the main points that you need to cover—when, where, and why it’s important if an announcement.  Who the speaker is, what are his/her credentials, and why his/her message is worth hearing if an introduction.  If you are called upon to acknowledge or recognize people, for god’s sake prepare a list in advance.  You will almost certainly omit someone important if you don’t.

Three.  Know how you will conclude.  When you are getting up to speak, have in mind how you will end.  For the short presentation, the close is more important than the beginning.  Don’t just trail off or abandon control with Q & A.  If you do Q & A, keep back something strong for your conclusion-- a thought-out sentence or quote or a very short and apt story to illustrate your point.

Lincoln observed those rules.   We know because some of his notes that he used in the courtroom have been preserved.  Lincoln would prepare a rough script—how he would open, illustrations he would use, points he would make, and how he would conclude. 

Moreover, Lincoln spent a lifetime acquiring material that he could plug into his speeches—ready-made modules to fit the moment.    He memorized poems and Bible passages.  He immersed himself in newspapers and books and written sermons.  He knew thousands of jokes and humorous stories and even carried a joke book with him so that he could adapt traditional stories to local situations. 

He prepared carefully for his “unprepared”talks.  

A word of caution.  Let all speakers who wing it prepare for painful crashes.  There are more winds that hurt speeches than help them.

DO YOU WANT TO THINK LIKE LINCOLN?
Lincoln had an uncanny ability to predict behavior.   For example, when he was President, he told one of his associates how every member of Congress would vote on a particular bill.   To make the point, he wrote down what their votes would be.   Sure enough, when the votes were tallied, Lincoln was on target for virtually every vote cast.  

How did he do this?

No magic or superhuman powers were involved.  Lincoln used resources that are within the reach of anyone, and with a bit of practice, you can use them effectively, too.

In general, behavior can be predicted in terms of a person’s interests, group identity, character, and unconscious needs.  Entire books have been written on this subject, but here’s a brief overview:

One. Interests  Interests have to do with one’s own benefit or advantage; the focus is on the basic question, “What’s in this for me?”  If you’re trying to predict a person’s (or a group’s) behavior, evaluate whether they will experience profit or loss, pleasure or pain from the outcome.  Lincoln dealt mainly with politicians and lawyers, who habitually make these kinds of calculations.  However, the approach is not foolproof because humans are more than human calculators.  People sometimes behave irrationally—that is, they do not behave in their own best interests.  So, you will have to include more than interests to become good at predictions.

Two. Group Identity.  What groups do the individuals belong to or identify with?  Do they think of themselves as Republicans or Democrats, liberals or conservatives, Christians, gang members, labor or management?  Sociologists call this “reference-group behavior.” Ralph Waldo Emerson, a contemporary of Lincoln whose work Lincoln knew about, wrote:  “If I know your sect, I anticipate your argument.”  Lincoln certainly took political affiliation (i.e. “sect”) into the aforementioned calculation.   You can see this principle at work by looking at the party affiliation of the votes that are cast for particular bills in Congress.  Whenever there is a deviation from sect affiliation, the decision will usually be based on interests.

Three.  Unconscious Needs.  Sigmund Freud discovered that behavior is sometimes neither rational nor irrational, but arational.  Lincoln, of course, lived long before Freud, and did not use this concept as such in his predictions.   But if you want to become a skilful forecaster, be aware that some behavior will seem to come out of nowhere.  The source may be memories of experiences that are buried in the individual’s unconscious mind—buried, but not dead.

Four.  Character.  Is the individual basically honest or dishonest, industrious or an idler, kind or a bully?  An honest man may yield to temptation, but a dishonest man will look for it.  An industrious man will take pride in his work.  An idler will take pride in avoiding work.  A kind man may be unkind, but regret it; a bully will be unkind and enjoy it. 

Simply put, character is a blend of genetics and deeply rooted habits.  Emerson wrote: “I suppose no man can violate his nature….A character is like an acrostic or Alexandrian stanza; read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing.”   Lincoln’s character was well known.  Lincoln was Honest Abe.   He got this name because people learned that if you dealt with Lincoln, you were dealing with an honest man.   

If you want to predict behavior, do what Lincoln did, and observe carefully to see if the person is basically honest or deceitful, a giver or a taker, diligent or careless.  Once you understand a person’s character, you will seldom be surprised by their behavior.

One quick story about character.  Once there was a scorpion that wanted to cross a river.  Seeing a frog, the scorpion asked the frog if he could ride on his back across the river. 

“I can’t do that,” replied the frog, “because if you rode on my back, you would sting me and I would die.”

“Why would I sting you?” answered the scorpion.  “It is not in my best interest to sting you.  If I stung you, we would both drown.”

“That’s true,” said the frog, who then allowed the scorpion to climb on his back.

In the middle of the river, the frog felt a sharp sting in his back.

“Why have you stung me,” screamed the frog in pain.  “It is not in your best interest to sting me.”

Replied the scorpion:  “Because it is my nature to sting.”

DO YOU WANT TO COMMUNICATE LIKE LINCOLN? 

Skillful communicators pay attention to the nuances of the language.

I’m always on the lookout for powerful words and statements that I may be able to use myself.   Recently I found in the writings of Lincoln a diplomatic but effective way to find fault with something. 

Here’s the background.  In the early days of the war, Congress and Lincoln had been looking for ways to make the slaves that were being freed by Union armies free forever, a goal that Lincoln very much desired.  But the bill that Congress proposed was flawed.   In his response, Lincoln systematically delineated the flaws, and ended with these words:  “With great respect, I am constrained to say I think this feature of the act is unconstitutional.”

Think of Lincoln’s response as a model of one effective way to say No without alienating the other party.  You show respect to the other party, you indicate that you personally wish you could approve the idea, and you state that it is only a part of the concept that you find fault with, not the whole thing.

In order to adapt this model to the language of today, you might say something like:  “With great respect, I have to say that I have a problem with one part of what you are proposing.”

DO YOU WANT TO USE HUMOR LIKE LINCOLN? 

Many effective communicators never tell jokes—that is structured humor with punch lines; but most effective communicators use humor.  They are good at witty remarks or they tell funny stories.  It is not difficult to learn to tell a humorous story that can illustrate an important point that you want to make. 

Lincoln was a master at this.  One of his favorite stories, which he told in various settings, was about two men who went hunting.  Suddenly a big boar charged one of the men, who managed to catch hold of the boar’s ears.  He cried out to his friend, “For God’s sake, come help me turn loose of this thing.”  He used this story to describe how difficult it was to decide on a strategy that would bring the Civil War to a close.

Here are some ways that humor can be used strategically:  1)to wake up or revive an audience; 2) to create a friendly atmosphere; 3) to disarm a hostile audience member; 4) to relieve tension; 5)to attack an idea or an opponent; 6) to illustrate a point or idea; 7) to deflect prying questions or protect confidential information.  –Adapted from The Trainer’s Manual, LINCOLN ON COMMUNICATION

LINKS TO ADDITIONAL ARTICLES ABOUT LINCOLN
Abraham Lincoln Photographs and Graphics/Gene Griessman as Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln quotes
Abraham Lincoln on Ethics
More About Abraham Lincoln: Resources For Further Study
Remarkable Similarities Between President Abraham Lincoln And Benjamin  Franklin
George Washington And Abraham Lincoln compared
Top 7 Secrets Of Communication That Lincoln Used For Effective Leadership
The Lincoln-Roosevelt Connection
Civil War Quotes: U.S. Grant's Leadership Style
Little Eddie

RESOURCES FOR LEARNING MORE ABOUT PRESIDENT ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND HIS LEADERSHIP STYLE

Books of Quotations

Paul Angle (editor), The Lincoln Reader. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1947  Quotes and long excerpts by and about Lincoln; collected by a Lincoln scholar.

Gabor S. Boritt (editor) and Jakob B. Boritt, Deborah R. Huso, Peter C. Vermilyea,  Of The People, By The People, For The People and other Quotations.  NY:  Columbia University Press, 1996   Edited by a highly respected Lincoln scholar and author, every quote is an authentic quote.  Helpful introduction.  No index.

Gene Griessman, The Words Lincoln Lived By.  52 Timeless Principles To Light Your Path.  NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster, 1997.  The important Lincoln quotes on achievement and career success.  Brief essays on quotes.  Excerpts from famous speeches and poems; brief biographies of individuals in Lincoln’s life. No index. Bibliography.  To order this book, click here.

Mario M. Cuomo and Harold Holzer (editor).  Lincoln On Democracy.  NY: HarperCollins, 1990.  This book of selected writings and quotes by Lincoln on the subject of democracy is the result of collaborative work by a former Governor of New York and a widely known Lincoln scholar.  Excellent introduction and brief essays.

Historical Fiction

Carl Sandburg, Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and The War Years.  NY: Galahad Books, 1954.  Sandburg’s classic is based on historical research, but it must always be remembered that this is a fictionalized version of Lincoln’s life.

Gore Vidal, Lincoln. A Novel.  Franklin Center, Pennsylvania, The Franklin Library, 1984.  Beautifully written, widely read, and controversial. 

One-man plays

A wonderful way to experience Abraham Lincoln is to attend a one-man play.  For a description and reviews of Gene Griessman's Abraham Lincoln portrayal "Lincoln Live," click here.  For information about a video of this play performed at the Georgia Dome, click here.

Periodicals

Lincoln Herald.  Non-technical and often very readable articles of interest to scholars and Lincoln lovers.   Published quarterly  800-325-0900 x 6235  fax  423-869-6350

The Rail Splitter.  Written primarily for Lincoln collectors, this publication contains articles of general interest to lovers of Lincoln. Illustrated. One of my favorites. 212-980-7031; email: splitter@interport.net

Abraham Lincoln Book Shop

Virtually every book that’s ever been written about Lincoln and his contemporaries, plus books on other Presidents and their times can be found in this jewel of a shop.  Autographs, statues, etc. Items range from a few dollars to tens of thousands.   Worth a visit if you’re in Chicago.  357 W. Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL 60610; 312-944-3085

A Select List Of Lincoln Books

Michael Burlingame, The Inner World Of Abraham Lincoln. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press, 1994  An honest and highly readable account of what motivated Lincoln, by a renowned Lincoln scholar.

Dale Carnegie, Lincoln The Unknown. Garden City, NY:  Dale Carnegie & Associates, 1932/1959.  The author of How To Win Friends And Influence People spent a summer in the 1930s near New Salem, Illinois doing research on this influential book.

Don E. Fehrenbacher and Virginia Fehrenbacher, Recollected Words of Abraham Lincoln.  Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1996. A comprehensive collection of remarks that have been attributed to Lincoln plus a critical evaluation of their authenticity.

William H. Herndon and Jesse William Weik, Herndon’s Lincoln: The True Story Of A Great Life  Springfield, IL: Herndon’s Lincoln Publishing Co. 1888.  This is the controversial biography written by Lincoln’s law partner.  An intriguing read.

Neely, Mark E (editor). The Abraham Lincoln Encyclopedia. NY: McGraw-Hill, 1982.  Carefully researched articles on Lincoln and his contemporaries.  Illustrated.

 Helen Nicolay, Personal Traits of Abraham Lincoln.  NY: Century Co.  1912.  Written by the daughter of one of Lincoln’s private secretaries.

 Stephen Oates, With Malice Toward None: The Life Of Abraham Lincoln.  NY: Mentor, 1977.  A readable single-volume book on Lincoln.   

Allen Thorndike Rice (editor),  Reminiscences Of Abraham Lincoln By Distinguished Men Of His Time.  NY:  The North American Review, 1888.    This splendid book, as its title indicates, contains sketches about Lincoln written by important figures who knew Lincoln.  Used copies are sometimes available at Amazon.

Alonzo Rothschild, Lincoln: Master Of Men.  Boston: Houghton, Mifflin & Co.  1906.  A treasure on leadership, this book is organized around how Lincoln dealt with Stephen Douglas, William Seward, Salmon Chase, John Charles Fremont, Edwin Stanton and other powerful individuals.  Out of print, but sometimes available in used book shops.

Douglas L. Wilson and Rodney O. Davis, Herndon’s Informants. Letters, Interviews, and Statements About Abraham Lincoln. Chicago and Urbana: The University of Illinois Press, 1998  The most important resource on Lincoln to be published in decades.  The extensive interviews that Lincoln’s law partner gathered after Lincoln’s death are no longer hidden away in special collections, but available to Lincoln lovers everywhere. 

Albert A. Woldman, Lawyer Lincoln. NY: Carroll & Graf, 1994  This reprint of a classic focuses on Lincoln’s experiences as a lawyer, which is the key to understanding Lincoln’s accomplishments.

Website

The collected works of Lincoln have been digitized, and are available at the official website of the Abraham Lincoln Association.  You can access this priceless resource at www.alincolnassoc.com, and it’s free.  Go to the website and click “Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln,” type in a word, and you will quickly know if Lincoln ever wrote it, and if so, when and where. 

Every issue of THE ACHIEVEMENT DIGEST® contains articles like the one above.  For your free subscription, click here

For information about Gene Griessman's famous Abraham Lincoln portrayals, click here

Books and Videos By Gene Griessman
THE Inspirational Lincoln Quote Book.  "If you can purchase just one book of Lincoln quotations, this is the one to get."
 THE WORDS LINCOLN LIVED BY.  CLICK HERE TO ORDER

Gene Griessman's Lincoln Live performance before an audience of 25,000 at the Georgia Dome. More...        CLICK HERE TO ORDER

Over 200 time-saving tips from very successful people
Time Tactics Of Very Successful People.  More...
CLICK HERE TO ORDER

 

"One of the very best videos/DVDs ever made.  It's a classic like 'Gone With the Wind.'"  More...  Click here to order
   Brad McRea  THE SEVEN STRATEGIES OF MASTER PRESENTERS

Lincoln's Wisdom
A CD learning system you will use again and again and give as a gift to friends, colleagues, and your school's library.

Over 2 1/2 hours of information you can start using immediately. 
Now you can hear what audiences have experienced at Ford's Theatre, the Georgia Dome, the Lincoln Memorial and the USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN--unforgettable lessons from America's wisest President...plus new bonus material.  You'll hear the Gettysburg Address, Lincoln's final words, and many more parts of the beloved one-man play, plus segments that are not often performed for public audiences. Click To View and Print Table of Contents
   "Griessman has done a masterful service in rendering Lincoln's colossal
    wisdom of leadership to contemporary leaders..."
    --Warren Bennis, Ph.D. On Becoming a Leader
CLICK HERE TO ORDER    Price: $ 39.95 
NEW!!   LINCOLN SPEAKS TO LEADERS: 20 POWERFUL LESSONS FOR TODAY'S LEADERS FROM AMERICA'S 16TH PRESIDENT

NEW!!   LINCOLN SPEAKS TO LEADERS: 20 POWERFUL LESSONS FOR TODAY'S LEADERS FROM AMERICA'S 16TH PRESIDENT

What if Abraham Lincoln’s personal thoughts, together with a legendary sports executive’s practical application lessons, could be at your fingertips and ready on a moment’s notice?
In honor of Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday (February 12, 2009), Gene Griessman and Pat Williams have teamed up to create a truly unique book, offering wisdom from America’s greatest president pressed into the framework of contemporary leadership lessons that cut right to the heart of issues faced by today’s leaders—questions of integrity, identity, self-improvement, communication, success, and how to build a lasting legacy.
By bringing to life the thoughts and words of Abraham Lincoln himself, Griessman and Williams offer matchless advice you are guaranteed to benefit from—whether you lead a nation, a business, a little league team, or a family.

"Modern Americans could have not better role model, and Lincoln could have no more enthusiastic and persuasive interpreters than Gene Griessman and Pat Williams."  --Harold Holzer, Co-chairman, U.S. Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission
"Lincoln speaks to Leaders is inspiring, engrossing, and a sure-fire best-seller."  --Stephen B. Oates, Author of With Malice Toward None
"What a novel concept!  A top Lincoln interpreter teaches us valuable leadership principles, and a top sports executive offers his advice on applying them in our daily activities.  This book will have a major impact for a long time."  --David Pietrusza, Author of 1960--LBJ vs. JFK vs. Nixon

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Contact Information: 404-256-5927
abe@presidentlincoln.com  www.presidentlincoln.com