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Abraham Lincoln's Ethical Leadership

Decent Essays

Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln showed true Visionary and Ethical leadership during his tenure as the 16th

president of the United States. Lincoln was thrusted into a Civil war shortly after being

elected because of his vision for the Union and would need to act quickly to end the war and reunite

the union. Through his visionary and ethical leadership abilities he drafted and signed the

Emancipation Proclamation and forever changed the history of the United States.

Visionary Leader

Two years into the civil war and his presidency Abraham Lincoln had to make a serious

move and he did so by signing the Emancipation Proclamation. During this process, he effectively

utilized change management specifically emotional flexibility and full range leadership, specifically …show more content…

If he realized he had short changed a customer by even a penny, he

closed the store and would deliver the correct change no matter how far he had to walk.

(Abraham Lincoln’s great laws of truth, integrity 2017). The most Ethical point in his life had to

be the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation. When doing so he demonstrated lesson

principles Ethical Leadership [BCEE] (2016c), Specifically Ethical Principles the three O’s

owing, ordering and oughting before deciding to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. At this

time, he also had to use Critical Thinking [BCEE] (2016d), Specifically Depth, he used this

when it came to analyzing the layers of the document and what effects it would have on the

Union. According to the Ethical Leadership principle lesson [BCEE] (2016d), we learned about

Ethical Decision Making and the three O’s. Abraham Lincoln used this when he when he made

the choice to sign the Emancipation Proclamation. The first “O” is owing and he used this when

deciding whom and what he owed. He knew that he owed it the Union and the slaves to sign the

Emancipation Proclamation because it would help bring the war to an end, bring the

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