His commitment to the rights of individuals was a cornerstone of his leadership style (Phillips, 1992). There have been many great leaders throughout the history of this great nation, but Abraham Lincoln is consistently mentioned as one of our greatest leaders.Although Lincoln possessed many characteristics of a great leader, probably his greatest leadership trait was his ability to communicate.Though Lincoln only had one year of formal education, he was able to master language and use his words to influence the people as a great public speaker, debater and as a humorist.nother part of Lincoln’s skills as a great communicator, was that he had a great capacity for learning to listen to different points of view. While president, he created a work environment where his cabinet members were able to disagree with his decisions without the threat of retaliation for doing so.