Ep 351 | How Great Leaders Form Teams of Rivals

Thank you for joining me today. It's Brian Gubernick, and welcome to the No Days Off podcast, where we believe that every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. We're going to talk about leadership today, one of our favorite topics here at No Days Off, and we're going to do so by examining a tactic used by two of the greatest leaders this world has ever seen in Abraham Lincoln and Winston Churchill. Now Abe and Winston definitely had some similar characteristics. I mean, very different individuals, but from a leadership perspective, they did share some characteristics. One thing they also shared was that they were leading during pivotal times in this world. Times of war. You know, Abe leading into and during the Civil War and Winston during WW2. Now, I share that because these individuals were faced with some of the most difficult leadership challenges ever to exist. But there's something that these two guys did that made them unique and, in my opinion, very much gave them an edge. And I think it's something we should all consider as we lead teams and companies, businesses, you know, day in and day out. What these two guys did was they had invited their adversaries to join them in leading their respective countries. Abe Lincoln was well known for his practice of bringing in political adversaries into his cabinet It was a strategy that was referred to as Abe's team of rivals. See, Abe would bring together people with diverse and oftentimes very opposing viewpoints. And he believed that in doing so, he could create a more dynamic and more effective administration. This allowed Abe's cabinet to really harness the strengths and perspectives of everyone, I mean, especially of his former competitors, which led to what I would say was probably more robust decision-making, greater governance during his presidency, especially during that incredibly challenging time of the Civil War. There was other things, of course, going on at that time, of course, the abolishment of slavery. I mean, a lot going on. This was an incredible strategy of Abe's, and it took a very special person. To do it. Let's just dig a little bit further into what Abe Lincoln did, okay? Abe Lincoln invited a gentleman named William Seward to serve as his Secretary of State. Now, Seward was a, a prominent senator, I think out of New York at the time, and he was the leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 1860. Huge base of support He was the favorite to win the nomination. However, Lincoln, because of a handful of things, specifically his moderate stance on slavery, ended up grabbing greater support, and it led to his nomination and his eventual election. So Seward lost to Lincoln, yet Lincoln made Seward the Secretary of State, and he actually became one of Abe's most trusted advisors. Now, let's just— I don't want to get political here for a moment, and I don't think I have to go too far with this comment, but could you imagine in today's environment within the U.S., the winner of the election then inviting the loser of the election to serve in his or her cabinet? I don't see that happening today. However, as crazy as it may seem, can you see the potential benefit in bringing together two people that have such diverse opinions, diabolically opposed on some things, but the value in that debate, provided it's a healthy discourse? Not only did Abe bring in William Seward to make him the Secretary of State, his Secretary of the Treasury was a guy named Salmon Chase. Chase was the former governor of Ohio, and he had run against Lincoln for the Republican nomination, and he was an incredibly vocal critic of Lincoln's, specifically about some of Lincoln's policies. Chase lost the nomination, yet he became the Secretary of the Treasury, and he ended up playing a very crucial role in financing the war effort, the Civil War effort. Massive differences between Abe and, and Salmon Chase, yet Abe valued Chase's financial acumen. And he recognized that while he may not agree or see eye to eye with Chase, he valued the knowledge that Chase had specifically financially. There are other individuals like Edward Stanton, who became his Secretary of War. Stanton was actually, or initially, a member of the other party. So he wasn't even a Republican, which Abe was. He was, he was a Democrat who had been very critical of Lincoln, even calling him different sorts of names in a debate at one time. But Lincoln recognized that even though Edwin Stanton had really been kind of derogatory towards Lincoln, Stanton had crazy organizational skills, and he was dedicated to the Union cause, and he became the Secretary of War because he was so effective in the things that would make him capable of that role. He was invaluable. There's 6, 7, 8, 9 other names of individuals who did not see eye to eye with Abe, yet he pulled them into his circle, into his cabinet to lead more effectively, lead the nation more effectively. Now, Winston, Winston Churchill did something very similar. He created his own team of rivals. During World War II, he formed a coalition government that included members of all of the political parties and individuals who had been his political opponents, and his political opponents were even more aggressive than Abe Lincoln's. But this coalition was aimed at uniting the country and its leadership so that it could address the challenges that were posed by World War II, which brought, you know, England to, to its, dare I say, potential end, its potential ruin. Churchill brought in Clement Attlee as his Deputy Prime Minister. Attlee was a prominent politician who was a critic of Churchill, very critical of Churchill. Despite their differences, Churchill made him the Deputy Prime Minister, and he played a massive role in domestic policy. And he mobilized the home front for the war effort. This was a great partnership that laid the groundwork for what Attlee did post-war government. He had Ernest Bevin, I think was his name. Bevin was a leading trade unionist and, and a Labour Party politician. His inclusion in the government was crucial for ensuring the support and cooperation of the working class, who Churchill did not necessarily appeal to, to the extent necessary. They did not see eye to eye, but Churchill recognized that he would have to unite all parties, the working class in all parties, in order to mobilize and win the war. Again, goes on and on and on and on. See, Abe Lincoln and Winston Churchill, while both probably had fairly big egos, they had to put their personal interests and their egos aside for the greater good. And they recognize that bringing these individuals that oppose them, not instead of pushing them away, but bringing them closer to them, it allowed to bring a more diverse group of leaders despite the previous rivalries, despite the, the differing ideologies. It created a united front that was essential for Britain's effort and for the, for the United States effort, or I should say the North's effort in the Civil War. It maximized the strengths and the expertise of these cabinet members, right? Like that, that Lincoln had, and, and in Churchill's world, you know, those around him. It maximized these strengths and expertise, and it's what led to both of them flourishing, along with, you know, a handful of other things. Now, what can we take from this, and why am I talking about this and going so hard and being so descriptive? I think there's a real opportunity for us to learn from Lincoln and from Churchill in that diverse perspectives aid in decision-making, in that we should be leveraging strengths of all team members to the greatest extent possible, placing our personal thoughts or differences aside, leveraging these strengths for the greater good. We need to build a united front. You know, we need to put our ego aside. We need to foster a culture of respect and collaboration, even though we may not see eye to eye. We've got to value merit. And I love this. We've got to value merit over personal differences. We got to prioritize competence and skill over our personal preferences or even past disagreements. And that will ensure that the best people are in the right positions to drive success. We've got to have some open dialogue. We've got to have healthy discourse. We got to have an environment where team members feel comfortable expressing their opinions, even if they're, even if they're different from the leaders. Because again, better decision-making and greater innovation. So for you in your business, as an entrepreneur, as a leader, the takeaways here, and I would say what you need, what I would encourage you to think about today is if these things that I'm about to describe, if they exist in your business, awesome. And if not, how do we start focusing a little bit more on this? The takeaways here are we've got to build a diverse leadership team that have varied backgrounds and, and value their contra— the contrarian views. We've got to leverage strengths and expertise of our people. We've got to figure out their core competencies. We've got to provide opportunities for growth so we can encourage continuous learning and development. We've got to foster collaboration, a collaborative culture. And this is one I think that gets violated. We think it doesn't, but I would ask you, are your people comfortable in speaking up and collaborating? Do you have a solid environment for that sort of thing? Do you encourage open communication? I think you've got to rally around a common goal. Again, ensure that all team members understand or committed to the to the ultimate goal. Regularly, you know, communicate this vision. And then lastly, I think we got to be leading by example. Like, we've got to demonstrate inclusivity. We've got to manage conflicts constructively. So I think again, the takeaway for you today is that in looking at Abe and looking at Winston, knowing that these are two of the greatest leaders ever, And knowing that one of the keys to their success was that they put their personal disagreements aside and instead, based on merit, brought the smartest, most capable individuals around them despite their differences. You know, we can look to these individuals as guides and we could ask ourselves, how can we get more of that in our world right now? I think we're all guilty of probably creating distance between us and maybe someone else because we, we don't see eye to eye, but we know deep down inside their, their opinion, their strengths, their skills, probably super valuable. And that grudge you're holding, or that, that gap between where you're at right now and where they're at, is not serving you, is not serving your business. So the challenge is, where does this sort of thing exist in your world, and how can you do something about it? That's all I have for you today, the No Days Off Podcast. Thank you so much for listening, and remember, every single day brings a new opportunity to get better. So let's get after it.