Great Communicators in History - Term Paper Example

Great Communicators in History Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United s of America, is known in the history for his leadership qualities, which his excellent communication skill was a major contributor to. Abraham Lincoln was born on February 12, 1809 to an uneducated farmer family in Kentucky. He did not much of formal education except for an 18 months schooling during his early age. He was basically a self-educated man and was an avid reader. This practice of him later helped him to become an able and successful lawyer with a reputation as a formidable adversary during cross-examinations and in his closing arguments. He served eight years in Illinois legislature and also served as a captain in the Black Hawk War. Lincoln began his political career at the age of 23 as a member of Whig Party but his beginning campaign for the Illinois General Assembly was unsuccessful and he left politics for the time being. He resumed his political career after the passage of the Kansas – Nebraska Act in 1854 which repealed the limit on slavery and recognized the right of people to decide whether to allow slavery in their area or not. From his stand strongly opposite slavery he rejoined politics but his first bid for US senate was unsuccessful. He received some support for the Republican vice-presidential nomination in 1856 and started his move against slavery as public speaker and prominent debater. The nation began to listen to his views from famous speeches like Lost Speech, House Divided Speech, etc. one after another. He received national recognition as a public speaker with his successful speech in the Cooper Institute, New York in 1860 (“An overview…”, n.d.). He won the Presidential election in 1860 to become the 16th President of the nation. As the President he faced immense crisis in saving the union from falling apart. He decision continued Civil Wars for four years and Emancipation Proclamation was declared in 1863 declaring the freedom of the slaves. His famous Gettysburg Speech is still remembered as his gratitude to the dead soldiers in the War and as his effort to inspire the nation to follow the path of anti-slavery and unity, the cause for which the soldiers sacrificed their lives. He was re-elected as President in 1864 and initiated the peace activities. He took a more flexible and generous approach to ensure the unity of the nation and encourage the rebels of the south to join the peace mission. He clearly communicated this approach of him in his second inaugural speech. But somehow he was misunderstood as a supporter of the rebels and was assassinated in 1865 (“Abraham Lincoln”, n.d.). In his entire political life he showed great capability of leadership in binding the nation together and freeing it from the curse of slavery. His unusually good communication skill was his main weapon during his political career and gave him recognition as a visionary leader competent enough to become the President. During his presidency this skill of him helped him effectively share his vision about the nation with his fellow men and motivate them fighting the war. He was able to retain the unity of the nation as well as his army during the hugely devastating Civil Wars owing to his able and inspiring speeches only. His leadership skills ultimately succeeded in bringing about the desired result and he was recognized as a “great communicator in history”. Lincoln had a unique style of communication. He was well aware of the fact that connecting to the audience is the most important thing to be kept in mind as a speaker. As a result he used some unique techniques to catch the attention of the people as well as make them comprehend and get influenced by his speech. The most commonly used technique of communication by Lincoln was story telling. According to him people comprehend the point better when it is exemplified humorously from his day to day affair (Maxwell, 2006). It was seen that this technique of him worked wonderfully not only with his officials but also during public speech to influence people. According to him direct presentation of facts and figures and related arguments leave little effect on people’s mind. Stories, analogies and imageries help in this regard. People tend to remember these easily and thus the facts presented. He could present any opposing view or cruel truth without any harsh feeling among the listeners using this story telling ability of him. Persuasion and inspiration were the key words in his speech. He worked hard in his ability to speak in order to sharpen the skills of persuasion and inspiration. All the techniques he used in his speech and writing was driven by his urge to persuade people for a particular vision and inspire them to work to achieve the goal. Lincoln suggested continuous practice of reading and writing and preparing thoroughly before appearing to speak at any public place (Griessman, 2004). Making any mistake while he thought giving speech to not only damage the image of the speaker but also the organization s/he representing. Lincoln always used to research carefully about the nature of the audience he was going to address. After analyzing the taste of the audience he used to prepare himself accordingly for the speech. He was the master of presenting the truth to almost any kind of audience in a manner most suitable for them as to him “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed” (Basler, 1953). While preparing for any speech Lincoln used to analyze thoroughly the consequences of his speech on his audience. Anything that might hurt the sentiment of the audience and harm the relationship was avoided by him as he believed that any harsh word would not be able to serve the purpose of the speech rather would make the listener the enemy of the speaker. While initiating the speech he used to present himself as one of the audience and not anyone came to teach something to them. He believed in winning the heart of the audience for the cause he was going to address and induced the feeling of them that the subject of the speech had everything to do with the benefits of the audience only and had nothing to do with his personal gain. He used this technique for one to one conversation also. It is said that he was able to talk on almost any subject instantaneously and could convince anybody about anything. He was able to do this only by winning the heart of the other person and posing himself as a friend of him. Another very important technique used by him for one to one conversation was the technique of asking questions. He used the immense importance of questioning for the benefit of the conversation. He used to gain as much knowledge as possible through properly posed questions and also used them to guide the conversation in his desired direction. He had the ability to convince people think about a subject, which s/he had not thought before or could lead her/him to look into the matter from a completely different perspective. As a result the other person automatically got driven by his views and ultimately agreed with him. Thus he could not only avoid any chance for conflict but often ended up winning the debate (Griessman, 2004). Though he tried to avoid conflict most of the time during his speeches or conversations, still it can be said that conflict is almost inevitable in kind of communication. But he learnt the way of using it in a positive manner. According to him “…resolution to succeed is more important than any other thing” (Beilock, 2004). He was able to transform any form of conflict into an opportunity to enhance the interaction both in personal and professional matters. His prior research about the audience and unique way of thinking about a matter often resisted him from being negatively judgmental. He used to communicate his views after analyzing the assumptions and perceptions properly and thus could avoid or resolve the conflicts. Understanding, logic, arguments, power and persuasion were the main features of his speech. He had the full understanding of the subject he was going to address as well as his own outlook about the matter. He had a very clear perception and vision about his own activities and their internal relations. The possible perception of the audience about the subject was also very clear to him before his speeches and this level of understanding made his speech effective to influence and persuade people towards a particular direction. Based on this kind of vivid understanding of the topic he was able to put forward the most logically designed arguments to convince the audience. His strong thoughts combined with his sharp reasoning ability was helpful to make his speech easily comprehensive and persuasive for the audience. His speeches were characterized by immense power to hold his audience for hours to listen to him. His stature as a President and his just arguments were always successful in attracting and binding audience. The irresistible arguments, sound reasoning, calm, clear, forcible and constant referring to indisputable facts and drawing support from the audience to reach the conclusion were helpful to persuade the audience towards the desired vision (“Abraham Lincoln…”, 2008). These qualities of the speech by Abraham Lincoln helped him with his leadership skills. The quality of a good leader is to influence the team members or the countrymen towards a particular goal and the effective communication about the goal and repeated assertion and affirmation about the same help the members or the people to assimilate the vision within them and work for the same. An effective leader always implements his vision into the public domain by persuasion and not through the application of force. These characters were clearly visible in the speeches of Abraham Lincoln. He always made sure that the people understood the potential change that was going to take place vividly and in this regard he presented his views and the changes in terms of small, achievable and comprehensive goals. He used to connect the incidents of past and present in order to provide a link for the future happenings. As a result of his analytical and assertive style combined with flexibility and versatility of his speech as discussed above he was able to connect to his people and win their trust as a true leader and thus persuade them to act harmoniously with the vision (Phillips, 1993). Not only the verbal communication skills but also the non-verbal way of communication by Abraham Lincoln was able to influence his audience a great deal. Nonverbal communication is basically the wordless process of communication. It uses gestures, facial expression, eye contact and even clothing, architecture, symbolism, and so on (Wagner, n.d.). The appearance of Lincoln combined with his voice and mannerisms acted as great help in persuading the audience and thereby in his leadership abilities. His characteristic uprightness and honesty as well as his courage and confidence as an able leader were clearly visible in his personality during his speeches. His graceful attitude and even under pressure enabled him to inspire the audience in various occasions. His strongly built tall stature combined with a face portraying his intellect automatically generated respect for him among the audience. He showed typical use of gestures and body languages while speaking publicly. The beginning of his speeches was generally at low tone giving somewhat polite and saddened appearance to him. But as soon as he entered deep into the speech and the discussion grew more interesting his intonations as well as the mannerisms began to show changes. The positioning of his hands, his movements on the dais all used to compliment the subject of his speech and automatically attracted audience to the subject. His pleasant personality combined with his ease and elegance of body language helped overcome the shrillness of his voice and people get more attracted by his facial expressions flashing the ideas and visions he was sharing and these were enough for the audience to get influenced and inspired by him (“Abraham Lincoln…”, 2008). He was a great communicator not only as a speaker but also as a writer. He was a believer of continuous improvement of his skills as a communicator. He polished is speaking abilities by participating in debates during his initial times and utilized the criticisms to for improving his skills. His habit of avid reading also helped him in developing the skills. His writings also showed his ability as a good communicator in terms of economical and clear prose style, impeccable timing and remarkable sense of his audience. But his writing skills also showed a great deal of practice and hard work. He used to revise and correct his writings continuously. He used to write all the presidential documents himself. The continuous amplifications and amendments in the critical documents were able to express the true concepts of the government and the congress and this was only possible due to the skills of President Abraham Lincoln (Klose, 2006). Thus it is evident from the above discussion that Lincoln had an excellent communication skill, which helped him inspire and persuade the nation as a leader towards the right direction, and shaped the characteristics of the modern United States. Keeping in mind the great contribution of his communication skill in his leadership and in the formation of the nation he can truly be assigned the title of a “great communicator in history”. Abraham Lincoln was a great inspiration as a communicator for people willing to improve their communication skills. It is really inspirational to know about his hard work for continuous improvement of his skills. For present context the most important learning is this suggestion of continuous practice of speaking and increasing the habit of reading and writing. This will not only be helpful in improving the collection of words but also will help increasing the knowledge. His ability to resolve conflict by considering all related perspectives about a particular topic is also a great learning about the communication skill. One can try to consider the different perspectives of a topic and think about the same from a new direction before making any decision and commenting on the same keeping in mind the advice by Lincoln. Another important learning is the use of body language instead of speaking in a monotonous manner. Thus a learner of public speaking can try to implement the communication techniques of Lincoln in practice to achieve the skill if not as good as him but at least to some extent. References 1. Abraham Lincoln, (n.d.). The White House, available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/presidents/al16.html (accessed on 20 September 2008). 2. Abraham Lincoln as a speaker, (2008). Abraham Lincoln Online, available at: http://showcase.netins.net/web/creative/lincoln/speeches/speaker.htm (accessed on 20 September 2008). 3. An overview of Abraham Lincoln’s life, (n.d.). Abraham Lincoln Research Site, available at: http://home.att.net/~rjnorton/Lincoln77.html (accessed on 20 September 2008). 4. Basler, R.P., (Ed.), (1953). The collected works of Abraham Lincoln. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press. 5. Beilock, E., (2004). Communicating: How to do it better, available at: http://worklife.ucsf.edu/swe/pdf/COMMUNICATION%20AND%20CONFLICT.pdf accessed on 20 September 2008). 6. Griessman, G., (2004). Leadership style: Top 7 secrets of communication that Abraham Lincoln used for effective leadership. Top 7 Business, available at: http://top7business.com/?id=720 (accessed on 20 September 2008). 7. Klose, R., (2006). The great communicator: Lincoln wrote to save the nation. IT Online, available at: http://www.illinoistimes.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A5999 (accessed on 20 September 2008). 8. Maxwell, J.C., (2006). A character profile of Abraham Lincoln. Christian Business Daily, available at: http://www.businessreform.com/article.php?articleID=11839 (accessed on 20 September 2008). 9. Phillips, D.T., (1993). Lincoln on leadership: Executive strategies for tough times. USA: Warner Books. 10. Wagner, K. V., (n.d.). Types of Nonverbal Communication. About.com, available at: http://psychology.about.com/od/nonverbalcommunication/a/nonverbaltypes.htm (accessed on 20 September 2008). Read More