An age old question…
I saw Lincoln, Steve Spielberg’s latest movie, and came away from it with some questions, from a leadership perspective. Abraham Lincoln is renowned as one of the greatest presidents and leaders in United States history. In this movie, Spielberg tells the story of Lincoln’s last days, the time in which he worked to pass the 13th Amendment and end the Civil War. Both Lincoln and Thaddeus Stevens took questionable actions to advance their end goal of abolishing slavery. Lincoln sought to change the vote of house members and delay a meeting with the southern leaders, while Stevens modified his oratory to be more inclusive; shocking and disappointing his constituents.
And.. they won. The 13th Amendment was passed, banishing slavery for all time.
So, the leadership questions are:
- When the goal is pure and the cost of not achieving it is high, do the ends justify the means? and
- How do we as leaders make that decision that “this particular outcome” is one that qualifies?
The initial results of my Pivot are excellent. I feel I have much greater clarity regarding the next 3-5 years.. 
This is a very timely question in Washington where that issue is the key to failure of compromise in the last Congress. In business it is more like a results vs pain issues. I am reminded of the decision at Intel to drop memory chips when it was a huge part of the business and a big reduction of force. I wonder where Intel would be today if they had not done that. How many decisions like that do we all ignore becasue we fear the result will not justify the pain.
Vance,
Thank you for your insightful comments. The Intel decision is a timely reminder, especially as we are beginning a new year and considering our strategies.