Leadership Lessons from President Obama

Have you noticed how much our leadership values have changed since the economy tanked?  President Obama’s visit to Canada yesterday clearly showed this change, demonstrated by the value of decency, authenticity and, yes, intelligence.

The growing pain of the current economic mess helps to leave behind leadership attributes of the previous era, which ranged from unadulterated greed, arrogance and stupidity on a grand scale.  The new American president’s leadership style denotes a clear break with the past and a new era of leadership.

President Obama’s charisma helps, but charisma can only take you so far.  Many leaders start with great expectations, and promises they cannot or fail to keep.  One of the first challenges Mr. Obama had to overcome were unrealistic expectations of messianic proportions.  His inauguration address was a great example of trying to manage high expectations.

The President knows how to get across his objective in a way that connects with his audience. “I came to Canada on my first trip as President to underscore the closeness and importance of the relationship between our two nations, and to reaffirm the commitment of the United States to work with friends and partners to meet the common challenges of our times,” Mr. Obama said.  There is a lot of emotion in that statement but, to top it all, he said,  “I love this country.”

His unscheduled stop at an Ottawa market to buy sweets and souvenirs for his daughters made the President look like a caring person. It was also the only occasion when he could reach out and shake hands of ordinary Canadians and they responded with love and enthusiasm.  Caring is another critical attribute of the new leadership.  As the unemployment lines continue to grow daily, it will likely be appreciated more than ever.

What was really interesting was the impact the short visit of only a few hours had on Americans back home.  Reading responses to articles in Huffington Post, they ranged from people writing about tears in their eyes to feeling proud again to be Americans.

Now, to bring it back to executive communications, when was the last time your CEO’s speech brought tears to your employees’ eyes or made them proud to work for your company?  What did you do to make them think that you really care about them?  And, above all: when was the last time you said – in one sentence  - what is it you want to do and how is it going to benefit your company?