Obama Presence (McGraw-Hill Essentials)

By Shelly Leanne

A winning combination of Say It Like Obama and Leadership the Barack Obama Way, Obama Presence reveals to you the leadership secrets and tools that have enabled Obama to attain such notable levels of success.

You will learn how to form effective visions, communicate ideas, persuade people to embrace your vision, and overcome controversy. Every chapter contains vivid anecdotes and inspiring speech excerpts from various parts of Obama’s career to demonstrate these practices in action.

• Language: English
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Education
• Release date: Feb 19, 2010
• ISBN: 9780071746755

Book preview

INTRODUCTION

Barack Obama’s leadership practices and principles have made him one of the most distinguished leaders of recent years. Over the course of his exceptional career, Obama has developed and refined outstanding leadership practices and skills that have helped pave his path to success. A master of the craft of leadership, Obama has transcended traditional divisions of ethnicity, socioeconomics, region, party affiliation, and race to attain one notable achievement after the next: becoming president of the century-old Harvard Law Review, an Illinois state senator, a U.S. senator, and president of the United States. En route to the U.S. presidency, Obama’s excellent leadership abilities allowed him to defeat the Clinton machine, energize millennials, expand the American electorate in an unprecedented manner, secure a 2 million-strong donor base, and inspire the largest crossover of Republican voters in recent history, winning 53 percent of the popular vote—more than any nonincumbent candidate for the presidency since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952. The magnitude of Obama’s success reflects the effectiveness of his leadership skills.

What is Barack Obama doing? What leadership practices have enabled him to gain the confidence of so many people? How does he convey vision so effectively, securing such high levels of support? What leadership techniques have allowed him to face and overcome controversies? This book explores these issues.

Obama Presence focuses on the art of leadership, the building and exercise of influence, and the practices and principles that have enabled Obama to attain outstanding levels of success. Leaders in all fields—business, law, nonprofit, academia, policy making, politics—can benefit from the lessons we glean about how Obama gains the confidence of others, communicates vision excellently, and overcomes the barriers to success.

One key to Obama’s success: he has embraced important leadership best practices and principles, tailoring and blending them to create his own unique style. Obama exemplifies the answer to the age-old question, ‘Are people born to be leaders or can leadership be learned?’ He shows resoundingly that leadership can be learned, developed, refined. Through his successes, and sometimes through his setbacks, Obama has demonstrated the truth of timeless leadership principles and the great value of many leadership best practices. He has refined his skills to become the able leader we see today.

Obama Presence presents and distills the highly effective leadership practices and principles Obama has employed and embraced over the years. Chapter 1, Win Trust and Confidence, examines the best practices that have enabled Obama to build trust and confidence among so many supporters.

Chapter 2, Communicate Your Vision Effectively, explores Obama’s exceptional skill in conveying his vision in ways that allow others to understand, see, and ultimately embrace his vision. We also explore the practices that allow Obama to convey vision so effectively.

Chapter 3, Persuade, explores lessons to be learned about the practices Obama uses to bring others to his way of thinking. When seeking to do more than convey information, but also to impact opinion and encourage action, Obama pays particular attention to emphasizing a strong sense of logic, sequencing ideas, and addressing non-rhetorical questions. Particularly notable is his use of juxtaposition and the antithesis structure as hallmarks of his persuasion style, comparing and contrasting ideas excellently. Together, these techniques help him to elicit a yes response—the nod of affirmation of the persuaded listener.

Chapter 4, Face and Overcome Controversy, takes a look at how Barack Obama uses his strong communication skills to weather and survive controversy, often defusing it and mitigating any damaging effects. Whether addressing a poor choice of words or dousing the fire set by the incendiary remarks of Reverend Jeremiah Wright, we see how Obama’s communication practices have aided him in efforts to face and overcome controversies. His sincerity, as well as his tendency to address errors head-on and to accept responsibility while standing strong in his beliefs, offer many lessons.

Let’s explore the practices and principles that have helped to make Barack Obama one of the most distinct leaders of recent years.

CHAPTER 1

WIN TRUST AND CONFIDENCE

Now that’s a leader.

Such was the reaction of millions of viewers in the United States and around the world on the second night of the 2004 Democratic National Convention, when Barack Obama stepped onto the stage and delivered an electrifying Keynote Address. The occasion marked, for most observers, a first glimpse of this young leader. It marked Obama’s defining moment, when he formed a first impression so positive and so strong that it catapulted his career to new heights, greatly accelerating his trajectory from a first-time candidate to the U.S. Senate to President of the United States and leader of the free world—a journey he made in only four short years.

On that pivotal night in 2004, Obama’s outstanding use of body language and image enabled him to reach out to TV viewers around the globe and open a positive dialogue even before he uttered a first word. With his confident gait, squared shoulders, assured smile, confident wave to the audience, and commanding stance, Obama evoked a sit-up-and-listen response. In him, people saw a confident, charismatic leader.

While body language and image allowed Obama to grab people’s attention quickly through a strong first impression, his exceptional use of voice and intonation enabled him to sustain that attention through an excellent second impression. The deep timbre of his voice—his natural asset—reinforced the initial view. Obama skillfully controlled his voice to convey excitement, disapproval, urgency, and passion. He amplified his voice when appropriate, glided it up a half-octave when needed, and allowed it to diminish or fall flat at key times. He also varied the emotional texture of his tone—making it wistful at times,