Barack Obama’s Leadership Style invites us into a world where grace meets power, and steadfast resolve intertwines with profound empathy.
Commanding a nation through tumultuous times, Obama’s leadership ethos was marked by his ability to inspire hope, navigate complexities with a calm demeanour, and drive significant change with a deep understanding of democratic values.
It’s clear why management training courses dissect and admire his style, seeking to instil similar qualities in upcoming leaders.
As we delve deeper, prepare to explore the intricacies of Obama’s leadership – a beacon of transformation and resilience in a rapidly evolving global landscape.
Barack Obama, born in Honolulu, Hawaii in 1961, was the son of an American mother of Irish heritage, Ann Dunham, and a Kenyan father, Barack Obama Sr.
From his early days, it was clear that leadership qualities were inherent in Obama, suggesting that leaders are indeed born, not made. He graduated from Columbia University with a BA in Political Science and Literature, then attended Harvard Law School, becoming the first black president of the Harvard Law Review.
Obama’s career spanned from being a civil rights attorney to lecturing at the University of Chicago Law School. Entering politics, he served in the Illinois State Senate and the US Senate, focusing on welfare reform, healthcare, and nuclear terrorism prevention.
Elected as the first black President of the United States in 2008, Obama’s presidency was marked by efforts to reform healthcare, address the financial crisis with a stimulus package, and end the “don’t ask, don’t tell” military policy. Not forgetting that, internationally, he led the operation to stop Osama Bin Laden, normalised US-Cuba relations, and signed the Paris Climate Agreement.
His post-presidency involves leading the Obama Foundation, advocating for climate change, and creating documentaries, and he remains a significant political influencer and speaker still to this day.
Barack Obama’s presidency and post-presidency include several notable achievements in leadership.
These are categorised across different domains:
Healthcare Reform: His most significant legislative achievement was the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which expanded healthcare coverage to millions of Americans and represented a major overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system.
Economic Recovery: He took office during the Great Recession (2008) and implemented the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which helped stabilise and eventually revive the U.S. economy.
Financial Regulation: The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was enacted to prevent another financial crisis by imposing new regulations on financial institutions.
Combatting Terrorism: The operation leading to the death of Osama bin Laden was a high point in his foreign policy, significantly impacting the global fight against terrorism.
Nuclear Non-Proliferation: The New START treaty with Russia and the Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) were significant efforts in nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.
Climate Change Initiatives: Obama played a crucial role in negotiating the Paris Climate Agreement, demonstrating leadership in global environmental policy.
Advancing LGBT Rights: The repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” and support for the legalization of same-sex marriage were significant steps in advancing LGBT rights.
Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act: Signed to address the gender pay gap, this was a step towards gender equality in the workplace.
Criminal Justice Reform: Obama’s efforts to address issues within the criminal justice system, included reducing the use of harsh sentences for non-violent offences.
Obama Foundation: His new organisation focused on developing future leaders and promoting community engagement and global problem-solving.
Public Speaking and Writing: Obama continues to influence public discourse through his memoirs, speeches, and essays on democracy, civic responsibility, and social issues.
Advocacy and Community Involvement: He remains active in various causes, including democracy and voting rights, climate change, and support for young leaders.
Obama’s personal leadership traits are comprised of four main attributes:
Barack Obama is known for his eloquence and ability to inspire others with his speeches and writings.
A Forbes article identifies three aspects of his public speaking manner that make him much in demand: his ability to paint vivid, emotional pictures in the listener’s mind’s eye, the use of mantra-like repetition, and a confident, thoughtful tone of voice, accompanied by expressive hand gestures.
He doesn’t rush or stumble over his words. His communication skills make a huge difference to his success!
It’s worth remembering that Obama had a book deal long before he was known to the public at large. Reviewing “A Promised Land” for the New York Times Book review, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie commended Obama’s writing skill, noting that the book is “nearly always pleasurable to read,” with “prose gorgeous in places” and “granular and vivid” details.
Often praised for his calm demeanour and thoughtful approach to complex issues, Barack Obama was the opposite of a reactive or firebrand President.
The operation to stop Osama Bin Laden in 2011 was a case in point. Important to the recovery of the American psyche, following the horror of 9/11 and the decade of failure in capturing Al Qaeda’s leader, this operation benefited from Obama’s government’s intelligence gathering, risk assessment, advice taking, and cautious deliberation.
This led to a raid on Bin Laden’s compound, with minimal casualties and a successful denouement. The result was announced to the world in a calm, measured manner, with a focus on the national security implications and path ahead.
If you’re looking for further support on improving your decision making skills, check out this article: How To Improve Your Decision Making Skills
Throughout his political career, Barack Obama advocated for a more inclusive society and demonstrated a vision for progressive change.
This included the following achievements:
A thoroughness of caring about such issues has dominated Obama’s career, demonstrating a vision that pays more than lip service to social justice causes.
Obama’s Presidency showed his ability to adapt to change.
When he first took office, the country was reeling from the effects of the financial crash of 2008, and urgent action had to be taken to avoid America falling into a second great depression.
He quickly signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) in February 2009, putting into action a $787 billion stimulus package which helped lift the country out of the economic doldrums. In a controversial move, he agreed to bail out the major banks and automotive industry to prevent economic collapse.
Addressing key criticisms as a result of these actions, in 2010 his administration passed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act to help regulate the financial sector and prevent any future recurrence.
This two-pronged approach demonstrated Obama’s ability to make consequential and controversial decisions, while reacting to popular public sentiment and winning a war of opinion at the same time.
During two terms in which the Republican party frequently used their majority in the House of Representatives to stymie his legislative projects, particularly the Affordable Care Act, Obama showed a tireless determination to push through as many important changes as he could.
If you are in a position where you need to drive change, consider looking into and using Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model.
Although Barack Obama faced strong opposition from the Republican Party to many of his legislative and structural changes, he maintained control of the Senate between 2009 and 2015, allowing him to make significant progress on criminal and healthcare reform.
Throughout his two terms, he was perceived as a strong and charismatic leader by fellow world premiers, enjoying a good relationship with the UK’s Prime Minister David Cameron, Germany’s premier Angela Merkel, as well as the leaders of Israel, India, Japan, Canada, and China.
His focus on multilateral cooperation, communication, and dialogue made him an approachable and diplomatic leader.
While not opposed to necessary military action, Obama was neither hawklike in his foreign policies, nor antagonistic in his attitude towards countries with very different approaches to diplomacy.
In short, he commanded respect, and never made himself a laughingstock on the world stage.
He maintained a dignified presidency, even when he faced significant frustration and obstruction from his political rivals.
President Obama was well-known for his pithy, memorable speech-making and writing.
Here, we have collected some of his most insightful quotes about leadership.
“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.”
Source: Fearless Motivation
“Progress will come in fits and starts. It’s not always a straight line. It’s not always a smooth path.”
Source: Entrepreneur
“Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it’s only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realise your true potential.”
Source: LeadershipGeeks
“If you’re walking down the right path and you’re willing to keep walking, eventually you’ll make progress.”
Source: Fearless Motivation
“I look back at what I said I would do when I was running for office, and I look at what I’m doing today, and they match up. We’ve had failures, and we’ve occasionally been blocked, but there’s a core integrity to what we’re trying to do.”
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
“This is the moment when we must come together to save the planet. Let us resolve that we will not leave our children a world where the oceans rise, and famine spreads and terrible storms devastate our lands.”
Source: LeadershipGeeks
“Nothing in life that’s worth anything is easy.”
Source: Entrepreneur
“Make noise and occasionally you can even act a little crazy to get attention, to shine a spotlight on an issue. But once people who have the power, or the ability to do something about [the issue], are listening to you, then do your homework, be prepared, present a plausible set of actions and negotiate.”
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
“If you work hard and meet your responsibilities, you can get ahead, no matter where you come from, what you look like or who you love.”
Source: Fearless Motivation
“Tonight, we gather to affirm the greatness of our nation – not because of the height of our skyscrapers, or the power of our military, or the size of our economy. Our pride is based on a very simple premise, summed up in a declaration made over two hundred years ago.”
Source: LeadershipGeeks
“It’s very useful as a leader to sit around a table and hear a lot of different points of views and get to the heart of the problem. What is the essential conflict that we’re trying to resolve? Get everyone to see what the problem is. But it’s easy to get distracted from the essential issue.”
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
“We see the future not as something out of our control, but as something we can shape for the better through concerted and collective effort.”
Source: Entrepreneur
“If you spend time with only people who agree with you, you become even more extreme in your convictions, because you’re never contradicted. Everyone just mutually reinforces their perspective. It’s so important to seek out people who don’t agree with you. That will teach you to compromise. It will also help you if you decide to get married.”
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
Although the work of a US President isn’t entirely like being the CEO of a company, or a manager, there are lessons to be learnt about resilience, inspiring leadership, and determination.
Here are some lessons we’ve gleaned from our study of Barack Obama’s leadership style:
1: Master the art of public speaking and communication. Few presidents in recent history have had Obama’s rhetorical skills, and it’s always worth becoming a better communicator. After all, by clearly speaking your mind and conveying your ideas, you’re much likelier to be able to convert collaborators to your cause and convince colleagues to work with you.
2: Take adversity in your stride and persevere. Nothing worth doing is easy; you’ll often have to suffer a series of setbacks to push forward any innovative idea. Expect to counter opposition, and build up resilience to bounce back, and you will already have an advantage over business rivals who are more easily dissuaded by failure.
3: Win allies by listening intently and stating your opinions without rancour. You don’t win friends or influence people by talking over them, ignoring them, or refusing to compromise. As a leader, use empathy to figure out what your interlocutor wants and why they want it. This level of insight will let you find a compromise that allows you to meet them halfway.
4: Make sure your leadership is one of integrity and vision. Decide what principles are important to you and don’t compromise them. You’ll be viewed with more respect by both allies and rivals if you stick to your guns, and if people can tell that you really mean what you say. Integrity is attractive, and always in fashion.
5: Don’t be afraid to be highly ambitious. If Barack Obama’s biography tells us anything it’s that hard work, ambition, and single-mindedness of purpose pays off. There’s no point in being a shrinking violet about achieving your ambitions. While we can’t always be confident about every aspect of our leadership, we must be confident about what we hope to achieve, as well as being able to instil confidence in others.
By following just these five principles, as exemplified by the 44th President of the United States, you’re already on the road to great leadership.
Great leaders need the right opportunities to flourish. Education and management training form a key part of finding those opportunities.
The leadership style of Barack Obama demonstrates this in spades. While studying, Obama found opportunities to flex his leadership muscles as a working lawyer, as a journal editor and as an entrepreneur.
If you’d like to improve your chances of being a memorable and high-achieving leader, consider our Leadership Development Programme.
Alternatively, our Team Leadership Training equips you with the skillset to inspire others, and build excellent, happy, and high-performing teams.
Or check out our varied Management Skills Training today, and channel your own inner Barack Obama!
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Thanks again,
Sean
Sean McPheat
Managing Director
Updated on: 20 March, 2024
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