Wisdom from Honest Abe

One Wednesday evening as Lincoln and a companion walked back to the White House after a midweek church service, the president’s companion asked, “What did you think of tonight’s sermon?”

“Well,” Lincoln responded, “it was brilliantly conceived, biblical, relevant, and well presented.”

“So, it was a great sermon?”

“No,” Lincoln replied. “It failed. It failed because the preacher did not ask us to do something great.”

Moral of the story: Inspiring communicators always ask a lot from their audience.