Consider this hypothesis: in the year 2003 when many were wondering if George Bush would get a second term and whether Americans will go to Iraq, a brilliant, young law professional called Barack Obama appearing for a job interview in America gets a typical question - ‘Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?’
‘The White House.’
Five years on, and as President elect Barack Obama prepares to move into the White House, he asks the American people the same question he was once asked - Where do you see yourself 5 years from now?
The phenomenon of Barack Obama may be at its peak as he prepares to enter the White House and soon enough, like all American products such as McDonalds, New York Yankees, Tiger Woods and the recently Americanised Che Guevara, we may soon see many Obamas emblazoned on caps, T-shirts and coffee mugs. However in this brand explosion are inscribed lessons from the US presidential election. More importantly, from Obama’s dynamic campaign jump out treasures which management professionals cannot afford to ignore.
The finest management lessons are imbibed from the best practices around us. The humility of drawing lessons from other fields helps us find meaning in our actions and method in our corporate madness. It also helps us learn from diverse areas and cope with new challenges. Obama’s election run throws up a host of lessons that can fill an entire management class.
Jack Welch said it best - "If you look at management skills as being execution, as one of the real issues, this guy demonstrated without question the best execution I've ever seen in a political campaign," And here’s why the GE ex-Czar feels this way - "He came from a basement startup to build an organization that was flawless--demonstrated in the culmination in Chicago with one of the most impressive rallies, or celebrations, one could ever see. This is a real manager.”
Let us look at what we think were the major leadership and management lessons from Barack Obama’s campaign in the US elections. (Click at Link below below to directly go to the detail of each sub-topic) ...
- What’s your Purpose? Why are you here? Share your Vision
- Play to Your Strengths
- Unite. Inspire. Lead.
- Do you have an A-Team?
- Does your Message Pass the Elevator Test?
- Sell by Pull effect and not by Push effect
- Are you Linked In to E-Media?
- Create Elasticity of Resilience
- Talk the Walk and Walk that Talk
- People Don't Care About Products. They Care About People Instead.
click link :: [ http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddpp6259_0gtxkfmdf ]
Obama’s campaign has been the stuff of legends. The algebra of change dictated his vision. The slogan of “Yes We Can” reflected his confidence in himself and the hope of his people, and the well thought out plan revealed the ability to build a team, be resilient and convert opportunities.
Last but not the least, Obama was innovative and dreamt big. He explored a blue ocean and sailed victorious. Jack Welch has the last word on Obama when he says - “Most managers do the same thing over and over again, they do what I call the milk run. They call on the same clients, they use the same speeches. This guy opened up new markets, while Hilary Clinton was doing the milk run. He went out and circled around her, he did market development like you've never seen and did a management job that every manager in the world should look at."
Five years from the hypothetical incident at the start of this article, as Barack plans to move himself into the White House and move the soldiers from Iraq to the barracks, he revitalises for everyone, that one critical paradigm of learning and personal growth that managers must never stop embracing - Yes YOU Can!
Cheers ...!!
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