By applying the principles of communication simply and quickly, Abraham Lincoln achieved astonishing results, rising from the lowest class of American society to the position of the White House chief.
Lincoln was a poor boy from a remote area but he became so successful by applying effective communication and media secrets. So there is no reason why we can't. Here are 7 communication secrets for effective leadership from Abraham Lincoln:
1. To communicate effectively, you must know what to say and what to say.
Communication is sharing between individuals in different communities in society. But you cannot share if you have nothing to say. No matter how talented a writer or speaker is, if you do not know what you are trying to say or if what you know is wrong, no matter how clever you are, sooner or later you will be found out.
Lincoln once wrote to an aspiring lawyer: “The method is extremely simple, though laborious, time-consuming, and tedious. You have only to take the books, read them, and study them carefully…. The main thing is action, action, action.”
2. Use stories, comparisons, and images
To be a persuasive speaker, it is not enough to be correct and precise. People will quickly forget the numbers, data and arguments, but they will definitely remember the stories, illustrations and examples that you give. And of course, it will be even better if those words are poetic.
Don't just tell your audience. Show them. Paint a picture and they will carry that story with them every time they think of you.
3. Ask
In his early days as a lawyer, Lincoln recognized the importance of questions in helping him win cases.
Good questions are invaluable in communication and leadership. Yet they are rarely used effectively. You can use questions to gather information or to guide a conversation. Often the participants are not even aware that they are being guided. By asking questions, you can get them thinking about a topic they had not considered before or draw their attention to it in a different light or frame of mind.
4. Know your audience
To be an effective communicator, you need to know your audience as well as possible. So consider who you are communicating with, what kind of people you are, and what type of people you are. Some people want to hear every detail, while others just want to hear the gist. Some people are moved by emotions, while others don’t trust emotions.
So, study your audience to see if they are ready to listen to you, ready to follow you. Henry David Thoreau once said: “To speak the truth, you must spend two times. Once to speak and once to listen.”
5. Convince the listener that you are a friend who genuinely cares about them.
When you speak in public, it is most effective if you think of yourself – not as a speaker but as a friend coming to talk to friends about a topic that is important to them.
Lincoln once remarked, “A drop of honey attracts more flies than a gallon of gall.” He advised, “If you want to win a man to your cause, first convince him that you are his sincere friend… On the contrary, try to dictate his judgments or command his actions, or to despise, shun, or reject him, and he will shut himself up. That means you have closed the way to his heart and mind.”
6. Consider the consequences of your message
Consider the impact of your message on your audience before you speak. If you are about to say something harsh, ask yourself, “What will an angry message accomplish?”, “Will it destroy the relationship?”, or “Will it produce any positive results?” Lincoln wrote: “No man who is determined to make himself the best he can be has time for personal quarrels. It is better to give way to a dog than to be bitten in an argument about who is right.”
7. Improve your skills every day
Lincoln sought to expose himself to the greatest ideas and the best communicators he could find. As a young man, he immersed himself in books such as biographies of George Washington, the first President of the United States, selected stories from Cicero, Demosthenes, Franklin, and dramatic and moving passages from Hamlet, Falstaff, and Henry V.
Self-improvement does not mean experimentation. Lincoln honed his communication skills by becoming a member of literary and debate groups.
And Lincoln learned from criticism. He realized that one kind critic telling you what you’re doing wrong is better than a thousand people praising you. But he didn’t let that criticism destroy his confidence or his determination to lead. He saw criticism as information to be used.
Do something every day that makes you better, no matter how small. That is how you become an effective communicator step by step. The famous journalist Horace Greeley - who often criticized Lincoln - said a famous quote about Lincoln - the great communicator: "There was probably not a year in his life that Lincoln was not wiser, calmer, and better than he had been in the preceding years."
PresidentLincoln.com
