President Obama Leadership Style, Essay Example

Brookings Institute’s Darrell M. West gives President Barack Obama a grade of B+ on his leadership. In support of his grading, Darrell argues that President Obama has the real chance of securing major achievements that many Presidents have failed at including the comprehensive healthcare reform, billions of investments in health information technology, education, energy efficiency, and broadband technology. Mr. Brooks also credit President Obama with repairing damaged relationships with foreign governments and has even utilized tax cuts despite having a reputation of favoring tax hikes. Darrell also argues that President Obama has fulfilled his promise of employing technology to reform the public sector and has increased government transparency and accountability through initiatives such as Recovery.gov. President Obama’s Administration has also placed more data online and he would be remembered as America’s first Digital President. Darrell also gives credit to President Obama for creating an environment of optimism in the country and the ability to inspire people (West, 2010).

Author Christopher Power also makes an attempt to analyze President Obama’s leadership style but instead of focusing on Mr. Obama’s leadership record, the emphasis is on President Obama’s leadership characteristics. Power paints President Obama as a democratic leader who can work with and through others. Thus, the key to President Obama’s leadership success is not being the most capable guy in the room but being able to get everyone behind his goals and causes. President Obama focuses more on the strategy development and leave the task of carrying out the strategy to his subordinates (Power, 2010).

Power also confirms that President Obama is a charismatic leader who can create consensus among people with different points of view. President Obama is more effective when he is willing to take responsibility and the President should avoid negative thinking at all costs. Power also believes that aggressiveness doesn’t suit President Obama’s personality because he is a facilitator (Power, 2010).

Internet has significantly sped up the process of globalization due to advancements in communication and information technologies. There used to be a time when only the biggest companies will have the resources to set up operations in foreign markets because access to information and communication technologies was expensive. The company leadership would usually get update on global operations at regular intervals by which time some of the information would already have lost its strategic value. But now it is possible for leaders to expand their operations and still be able to monitor them round the clock. The progress in information technology has even given birth to satellite teams whose members do not reside within the same geographical area. In short, management of financial and human capital was very difficult if not an impossible task before the introduction of modern information technologies. As a result, leaders’ relationship with information has also evolved because the type and amount of data that can be collected now is unprecedented in history.

Globalization has also changed the relationship between the leaders and the subordinates and has rendered many management theories outdated. Even though there are examples of highly successful autocratic leaders like Steve Jobs, successful autocratic leaders are now exceptions, not the norm. Globalization has made it difficult to create and sustain core competencies, and, thus, has increased the importance of quality human capital. This is why more and more companies are engaging employees in strategy development and communication between the leaders and the subordinates has become more open and less formal in nature. Another change due to the information change has been the rise in popularity of democratic leadership style because companies have realized that engaging employees motivate them and improve both their productivity and loyalty to the organization.

If we study President Obama’s record so far, there is little doubt that President Obama has demonstrated several characteristics usually associated with future-oriented managers who utilize information-age principles of management. First of all, President Obama understands the possibilities of improving efficiency through the use of information technology and has pushed hard for technology adopted by the federal government. First of all, President Obama became the first U.S. President to appoint first U.S. Chief Technology Officer whose job is to utilize technology to help the federal government achieve its various goals, improve its operating efficiency, and enhance government transparency (The White House).

As opposed to President Bush, President Obama has demonstrated greater inclination towards creating partnerships both within the U.S. as well as abroad. President Obama realizes that the key to achieving results is compromise and getting others behind your goals. Pew Research Global Attitudes Project found that U.S. global image has improved during President Obama’s presidency (Wike, 2012). This demonstrates the fact that President Obama understands the importance of forming partnerships to tackle some of the most complex issues the world is faced with. Governments, like organizations, also have limited resources as compared to the challenges they are faced with, thus, securing cooperation from partners eases up the burden on the government.

President Obama also understands that credibility is established when words match actions. President Obama has not only advocated the use of technology to improve government efficiency and transparency but has also demonstrated his commitment through practical examples. President Obama’s first Presidential Campaign was largely built on the internet and made extensive use of social media and technology to reach the public and deliver the campaign’s message. By November 2008, President Obama had nearly four times as many supporters on Facebook as his rival Senator John McCain. Obama’s Campaign also outdid his rival’s campaign on YouTube and mobile communication platforms (Aaker & Chang, 2009). President Obama’s Campaign once again outdid his rival, Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012, by amassing huge reserves of data and utilizing them to devise campaign strategy (Issenberg, 2012).

President Obama also understands the importance of communicating with different stakeholders including the American public. The President utilizes various social media tools and his administration has even made it possible for the public to directly petition the government (White House). Initiatives like these enhance public loyalty to President supporters and makes it easier for the President to get the public behind his goals.

President Obama has demonstrated himself to be a future-oriented manager and has taken several steps to change the way the government is run and engages with the public. The President saw an opportunity in improving government efficiency through technology and took immediate steps to realize his vision. By doing so, President Obama also proved himself a visionary who can predict the future and guide his subordinates accordingly.

Management innovation is important to the U.S. because globalization has leveled the playing field among nations through quick and cheap dissemination of technology. Thus, the key to maintaining competitiveness is through ideas and innovation because processes that can be performed by technology will usually move to countries with lower labor costs. Uniform production processes are easier and cheaper to imitate but that cannot be said about innovation and creativity. Thus, only by innovation and original ideas, U.S. can continue to maintain its economic and technological edge over the rivals.

References

Aaker, J., & Chang, V. (2009). Obama and the power of social media and technology. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.europeanbusinessreview.com/?p=1627

Issenberg, S. (2012, December 19). How President Obama’s campaign used big data to rally individual voters. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.technologyreview.com/featuredstory/509026/how-obamas-team-used-big-data-to-rally-voters/

Power, C. (2010, November 9). Barack Obama and George W. Bush… America’s Evolution. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christopher-power/barack-obama-and-george-w_b_780938.html

The White House. (n.d.). First U.S. Chief Technology Officer. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/technology#id-12

West, D. M. (2010, January 4). The Status Report: Assessing Obama’s Leadership. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.brookings.edu/blogs/up-front/posts/2010/01/04-lead-west

White House. (n.d.). We The People. Retrieved March 9, 2013, from https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/

Wike, R. (2012, September 19). Wait, You Still Don’t Like Us? Retrieved March 9, 2013, from http://www.pewglobal.org/2012/09/19/wait-you-still-dont-like-us/