By \u2013 Eugene Peterson – Construction Defect Expert Witness, Xactimate\u2122 Certified Trainer<\/p>\n
\u00a0Over the years, I have been fascinated by the ability of Abraham Lincoln to make remarkable decisions.\u00a0 It is my belief that the decisions he made resulted in his successful leadership during the Civil War, as he saved the Nation and abolished slavery.\u00a0 In analyzing Lincoln\u2019s amazing decision-making ability it appears that he surrounded himself with great people who were not afraid to place the best information on the table for Lincoln to consider.\u00a0 And when he had the best available information, he was able to make the best decision.<\/p>\n
This Lincoln story begins in May of 1860 when the Republican Party met to select their candidate.\u00a0 Besides Lincoln, there were four other contenders for the party\u2019s presidential nomination.\u00a0 And out of these four other men, three of them were considered more eminently qualified to serve as President. After the first round of balloting, William Seward had a commanding lead of delegate votes.\u00a0 After the second round of votes, Seward again commanded a lead, yet not enough to cinch the nomination.\u00a0 Lincoln was gaining ground.\u00a0 At the end of the third ballot, momentum changed in favor of Lincoln, as he was short only 1 \u00bd votes to secure the nomination. It was at this point when one of the representatives of the delegation from Ohio rose to his feet and announced that 4 Ohio delegates wished to change their votes to Lincoln. Four Ohio votes secured Lincoln the nomination and soon he would be elected as the 16th<\/sup> President of the United States.<\/p>\n Now here is where the story gets interesting.\u00a0 Lincoln up to this point was a political failure.\u00a0 And after his nomination he recognized that the men that he had just run against were better qualified to serve as President.\u00a0 He immediately went to each of his opponents and requested that they serve as members of his cabinet.\u00a0 Three of them immediately accepted Lincoln\u2019s invitation to serve.\u00a0 William Seward was appointed as Secretary of State; Simon Cameron became the Secretary of War; and Edwin Bates became the Attorney General. Lincoln again approached Salmon Chase, who had initially turned him down and convinced him to serve as Secretary of the Treasury. With the help of these four men, a couple of other men from the Republican Party were appointed as cabinet members. For this 1860 election the Democrats had nominated Stephan Douglas to serve as their Presidential nominee. After the election Lincoln recognized that in order to make the best decisions he needed to have a balance of opinions from his advisors.\u00a0 So he approached Douglas and asked him to become one of his cabinet members and advisors.\u00a0 Douglas refused and could not be persuaded to do so.\u00a0 Then, Lincoln requested that Douglas help him find 6 people from the Democratic Party to serve as cabinet members.\u00a0\u00a0 This request Douglas willingly agreed to do.\u00a0 This balanced Lincoln\u2019s cabinet. When Lincoln\u2019s cabinet met, as you might imagine, the discussions were spirited and the best available facts, ideas and opinions were placed upon the table for Lincoln\u2019s consideration.\u00a0 And with the best facts, Lincoln was able to make the exceptional decisions and choices for which he was noted.<\/p>\n The lesson that the expert witness team at Advise and Consult, Inc. learned from this Lincoln story is now one of our guiding values, as we endeavor to give our clients the best information and facts available, so that they can make the best possible decisions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"