What police leaders learned from “Lincoln on leadership”

Purpose – One of the most popular texts on his subject, Donald T. Phillips’ Lincoln on Leadership – Executive Strategies for Tough Times, offers a superb examination of the President’s views on how to lead an organization. The purpose of this paper is to outline Lincoln’s leadership principles (15 chapters, 126 principles), illustrated and supported by 14 stories that narrated by Lincoln himself. This analysis is based upon papers submitted by police managers who analyzed Lincoln on Leadership that considered his examples through the lenses of their personal and professional experiences in policing. These police managers attended the Administrative Officer’s Course at the Southern Police Institute at the University of Louisville. In their assignment, these students identified three principles and three stories they felt were most significant to police leadership. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted a content analysis of police student responses to questions about Lincoln on Leadership. Findings – These police leaders made specific reference to the following leadership methods as practiced by Lincoln. It is best to get out among the troops from time to time to show your support, make direct observations and get relevant information about conditions and experiences. Honesty and integrity are crucial foundations for leadership that are irreplaceable. Give credit where credit is due. It is one of the best ways to establish credibility and loyalty. Sometimes leaders must do things they would rather not do but it is best to handle things quickly before disaster results. Yet, it is also often best to avoid conflict and difficulties when you can so you do not create problems for yourself – if there is another acceptable way to get the job done. When something needs to be done, leaders do not wait for others to do it for them. They strike when the time is right and the situation demands it. Research limitations/implications – These respondents represent a non-random, convenience sample and may not represent the population of police managers. These officers are selected by their departments to attend the AOC. Thus, they are interested in career development and their views may not be typical of the population of police managers. Practical implications – The research findings support leadership conclusions in the research literature on leadership in general and police leadership in particular. Social implications – The findings indicate that these police leaders are open to the use of methods that would be more acceptable to the community and members of the police organization. Originality/value – The study provides a glimpse into the views of police leaders and the methods that they endorse.