President-elect Barack Obama fashions himself a new Abraham Lincoln.  This, in addition to his shear brilliance, is supposedly why he’s emulating Lincoln by picking talented rivals for his cabinet as documented in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln.  It’s a good book that, by coincidence, I’m halfway through reading myself, but is this a good model for an Obama administration?

I have real concerns and that’s not just because I didn’t vote for him.  The president-elect is a little too fond of looking backward.  He started his campaign for the presidency in Springfield to honor Lincoln.  His speech in Germany was modeled after Ronald Reagan.  And although I understand why any new president would seek inspiration from the greats, I’d advise him to be the best president he can be.  I just don’t get the sense that Lincoln thought of himself as great or spent much time considering his legacy.  Nor do I get the sense that he considered himself a George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.  Be the best president you can, Mr. Obama, and the chips will fall where they may.

More importantly, I find the “team of rivals” theory very difficult to implement.  Effective organizations are certainly composed of bright, energetic people whose differing perspectives can add real value, but when all the synthesis is done, everyone must row the boat in the same direction.  Even if I give Hillary Clinton the benefit of the doubt as the best possible candidate for Secretary of State, will she implement the president-elect’s policies with all her energy?

Finding brilliant rivals who completely support an organization once a decision is made is incredibly rare and difficult to manage.  It’s a very risky strategy for someone with very little management experience.