There are days that make a mark on our world. There are decisions that are made that cause a series of events and things are never quite the same afterwards. This is the 157^th anniversary of one of those days. On April 14, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth while he watched a play at Ford’s Theater in Washington. Lincoln’s assassination would forever change our nation and our world. The odd thing about that fateful night, Lincoln’s wife, Mary, had asked him to stay in that night and skip the theater. He thought it would look bad if they didn’t show up. It had been announced in the newspaper they would be in attendance. Despite his wife’s pleadings, he decided to go to the play. Some would call it the worst decision of his presidency.

I was traveling recently and was listening to a radio show where the best and worst presidents were debated between the two hosts of the show. They both agreed that Lincoln was the best president in history. I am an amateur historian of sorts. I have always found Lincoln a fascinating character, so much so that I have visited every Lincoln historical site that I can find. I have been to Hodgenville, Kentucky, where he was born; the property where his family moved to in southern Indiana when he was 7 years old; the recreated village of New Salem, Illinois where he lived when he set out on his own at age 21; and his home in Springfield, Illinois where he and his wife Mary and their four sons lived until he became president. I have stood where he made speeches and have visited his tomb. I have read books on his whimsical stories, his debates and his strategy to keep the United States together. Few would argue that Lincoln is at the top of the list.

When it came to the worst presidents, both of these hosts said they would pick the two men who were on either side of Lincoln’s presidency to be the worst: James Buchanan for his policies that brought about the Civil War and Andrew Johnson for his bungling of reconstruction after the war.

Lincoln thought differently than most people around him. He had trouble keeping those that served under him moving in the same direction with him. That included military leaders. When one of his generals, George McClellan, announced he would run against Lincoln for the presidency in 1864, Lincoln made a decision for political reasons. He dumped his first term vice president, Hannibal Hamlin: a staunch abolitionist and Republican from Maine, and replaced him with Andrew Johnson, a southern Democrat who had stayed loyal to the Union, but did not share Lincoln’s views on slavery. Lincoln chose Johnson to swing Democrats to his side. In the long run, it was a disastrous decision. It helped him win a second term in office, but it was a reversal for his plan to reconstruct the South. Lincoln had a decision to make on April 14, 1865: would he go to the theater, as had been announced in the papers, or stay home when his wife had second thoughts about going out. Some would call his decision to go to Ford’s Theater the worst decision of his presidency, but that distinction may have actually been the decision to put Johnson on the ticket the previous fall. Lincoln simply could not have known that on April 14, he would be assassinated and the next person to take his place at the White House would scrap his plans for the reconstruction of the South, end up being the first president to be impeached and was within one vote of being tossed from the office.

What is the business lesson here? Many decisions are made on appearances, not on sound policy. Politics impacts business too. When marketing decisions are made to appease someone in the office or to check a box, your marketing is heading for a disaster.

Lincoln made a mistake by putting Johnson on the ticket in 1864. The world changed as a result. Don’t let your decisions about marketing put you on the wrong course.