"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it nothing can succeed."
-- Abraham Lincoln, from the "Lincoln-Doulgas Debate at Ottawa," as recorded in The Collected Works of Abraham Lincoln, Volume III. Today is the 200th anniversary of the birth of the 16th President of the United States. See Harvard professor Nancy Koehn's guest post for insights into the parallels between Presidents Lincoln and Obama.
Lincoln's wisdom is also relevant for our dire times. President Obama followed his model of including former rivals in his administration. And this maxim about the importance of public sentiment speaks to the issues at the heart of today's crisis, from flagging consumer confidence to public outrage toward Wall Street, as we noted in yesterday's power point. --Jessica Shambora
by Nancy Koehn, Professor, Harvard Business School
Are you in the center of the storm?
I teach business history and leadership at Harvard Business School and have been fascinated lately by the notion of powerful people getting a grip by stepping back and letting go.
The idea is counter-intuitive. But it works, particularly in today's environment of great turmoil and uncertainty. Seeing the forest for the trees is critical. Consider these lessons in MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jan 15, 2009 12:29 PM ET
To get a take on how Barack Obama plans to fix the economy, you can read my colleague Nina Easton's terrific story, as well as an interview with Obama and John McCain, in the current issue of Fortune.
For another take on Obama, you can read the new guest post, "The leader and the moment," by Harvard Business School professor Nancy Koehn. She wrote an insightful piece about Obama that cleverly avoids MORE
Patricia Sellers - Jun 30, 2008 12:35 PM ET
Consider this:
In the summer of 1860, there was a persistent, growing unease among Americans about the road the nation had traveled in recent years. All knew that the country was entering a critical moment in its history, that the stakes were somehow very high.
In the middle of that year, a tall, lanky and pragmatic lawyer came out of Illinois to become the nominee for president of a major political party.
A MORE
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Pattie Sellers has written some of Fortune's most talked-about cover stories, including "Oprah's Next Act," "Can Meg Whitman Save California?" "The $100 Billion Woman" (Melinda Gates), "MySpace Cowboys," Martha Stewart ("I cannot be destroyed"), Ted Turner ("Gone with the Wind") and Oprah Winfrey ("Oprah Inc."). Since its launch in 1998, Pattie has helped oversee Fortune's "Most Powerful Women" cover package.
A specialist at dissecting larger-than-life personalities, she has also profiled former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Morgan Stanley chairman John Mack, and countless CEOs.
Pattie co-chairs the annual Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit, the preeminent gathering of women leaders in business, philanthropy, government, academia, and the arts. She started at Fortune in 1984, covering the big brand companies.
In Pattie's blog, Postcards, she provides insight into the lives of super-achievers through commentary, career advice, and Guest Posts by CEOs and other leaders.
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