Today, on MLK Day, I finished Jonathan Eig's excellent biography of King. The book shows MLK's incredible vision, his bedrock principles, his weaknesses, and his strength in lifting and inspiring a large portion of the American population from Jim Crow and racism, even over 55 years after his death.

King shared many lessons and traits worthy of imitation. Although you and I are not changing the American political system, we can learn from King.

Here are just a few lessons that I picked up.

1. Be clear and firm on your vision and principles and flexible in your tactics.

King was a minister who was well-versed in the Bible and philosophy. He also studied with key thinkers in the nonviolence movement, such as Gahndi.

MLK's studies and his preaching provided him with a set of core, fundamental beliefs, including:

Jim Crow and segregation were wrongs against humanity.
The US must act immediately to abolish Jim Crow. No more waiting.
Nonviolence is the most effective way, the only way, to bring about these changes.

These bedrock concepts were unchanging.

Yet, the tactics he used to reach these goals changed. Sometimes on the same day.

At Selma, he was unsure when to march or when to stay still. At times, he hesitated about where to focus his energy, but he never yielded to the principles above.

2. Know and Articulate Your Mission

King built his thinking on the principles above, from which he built his mission.

He realized his mission was not to instruct or educate. It was to give the Civil Rights movement a "spiritual direction", "a sense of mission" and the "idealism it needed."

He knew clearly that "his purpose was to prophesize." His clarity of principles gave him the ability and strength to guide others to the mission.

From the book:

King's job.... was to convince his followers to join the creative minority, to make them feel "they could be bigger and stronger and more courageous and more loving than they thought they could be."

3. Surround yourself with trusted advisors. Lean on them.

King had a trusted team of advisors who he leaned on, guided, and helped execute his vision.

For example, Baynard Rustin helped raise money and realized the movement had a marketing element—choosing battles and even the motto: "Victory Without Violence."

Others included Stanley Levison, Harris Wofford, and Ralph Abernathy. They were his closest advisors; many were willing to provide candid, vital feedback through the effort.

4. Continue to Hone Your Communication Skills

King was a master of communicating across multiple channels: sermons, magazines, books, and lectures. King worked on nurturing multiple channels to get his message out.

Foremost, King was an orator without comparison, constantly developing and improving his craft, using his voice as an instrument. From the book:

He controlled his tempo, picking up speed in a way that made his audience feel as if they were moving with him, as if they wanted to sing along. He used harmonics, varying his pitch, to make his speech melodic and never monotonous. And he controlled his rhythm masterfully, pausing when he wanted his audience to contemplate his words and repeating phrases without pause when he wanted listeners to feel those same words

King knew he was a performer, and "his artistry galvanized audiences and compelled them to action."

5. Be Radical in Your Ideas and Conservative In How You Share Them.

On February 10, on national television, he declared the arrival of a new American Negro, "a person with a new sense of dignity and destiny with a new selfrespect." The new American Negro possessed courage, he said. The new American Negro refused to pay lip service to the white man. The new American Negro "says in no uncertain terms that he doesn't like the way he's being treated" and intends to do something about it.

This was a radical idea at the time, yet...

King's calm tone and conservative attire may have disguised the boldness of his words: "I think it's better to be aggressive at this point," he said. "It seems to me that it is both historically and sociologically true that privileged classes do not give up their privileges voluntarily. And they do not give them up without strong resistance.

King was the master of positioning radical ideas, but he always did so conservatively and professionally. This likely helped him reach new audiences and find new supporters.

5 Leadership Lessons from Martin Luther King (via KING by Jonathan Eig)

5 Leadership Lessons from the book KING by Jonathan Eig. Lessons from the life of MLK that are still vital today.

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