BLOOMINGTON - Pulitzer Prize-winning writer and presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin visited a pair of Twin City campuses Tuesday, sharing lessons about Abraham Lincoln's leadership style and what 21st century Americans can learn from it.

"He listened to differing points of view … but when a decision was made, the time for debate was done," she said. "He had a readiness to share credit for success. … He'd shoulder the blame for failures of his subordinates."

Lincoln also knew the value of acknowledging his mistakes. He also understood that how one responded to mistakes was sometimes even more important, she said.

Goodwin spoke at Illinois State and Illinois Wesleyan universities as this year's Ames/Milner Visiting Author. In speeches at both campuses, she shared stories and research gleaned from a decade of work for her 2005 book "Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln."

The trait, she said, that most helped him to lead the United States through the Civil War and win the reputation he has today was this:

"He never lost touch with regular Americans."

Lincoln overcame a youth with no formal education and survived deaths of those close to him and severe depression, all for the "desire to leave the world a better place," Goodwin said.

And in that pursuit to accomplish something with his life, he developed a leadership style that overlooked personal failures or rivalries, reaching instead for what worked best for the nation.

Having delved into the diaries and letters and newspaper accounts of the 16th president and those of his inner circle, the historian became intrigued with Lincoln's complicated relationships with his Cabinet members. Several of them lost the Republican presidential nomination to Lincoln.

On Tuesday, she talked about Secretary of State William Seward, Treasury Secretary Salmon Chase, Attorney General Edward Bates, and Secretary of War Edward Stanton. Goodwin outlined some of these men's differences with Lincoln, and how the president managed to gradually win them over.

Goodwin, a regular news analyst for NBC, also shared stories about her time as a White House intern during the Lyndon Johnson administration. She later helped President Johnson prepare his memoirs.

That experience shaped her direction as a historian, she said, and framed her desire to share the private sides of public figures.

Goodwin is a former Harvard University professor. Among her bestselling books are "Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream," "The Fitzgeralds and The Kennedys," and the World War II-focused "No Ordinary Time," about Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt.

She spoke at 2 p.m. at IWU's Hansen Student Center and at 7 p.m. at ISU's Braden Auditorium. She also signed books and toured the David Davis Mansion, Bloomington, a home built by a key Lincoln confidante.

Goodwin headlined a program co-sponsored by IWU's Ames Library and ISU's Milner Library.