“This month, the world got very excited with the election of Barack Obama as the next President of the United States of America.   I must confess, I have never watched so much CNN as I did for the 18 months leading up to this significant event.   Given all my work in the areas of creating change, moving past conflict, and engaging a critical mass of stakeholders in a new vision, I was intrigued by Obama’s very different, yet highly effective approach to getting others onside.

I believe there are a number of leadership insights that, if emulated, can help everyday organizational leaders achieve the results they seek.  These lessons include:

Never get “hooked” or “take the bait” when others attack or try to make it personal. Both in the primaries (especially in debates with his counterparts), and then in his head-to-head interactions with John McCain, Obama was attacked on a number of fronts.   His adversaries tried to portray him as “un-American”, risky, inexperienced, lacking substance, and elitist.   Obama never got overly defensive.  Instead, he acknowledged that he has made mistakes and is human like the rest of us.  He also acknowledged that others have the right to their viewpoints and he was consistently respectful of diverse perspectives.   He demonstrated a higher quality of emotional intelligence than we have been used to from our politicians.   On the contrary, as surveys started showing the Republicans were trailing in the polls, John McCain and his Vice President nominee, Sarah Palin, were throwing everything but the kitchen sink at Obama.  They started shifting their tactics which reflected the old mantra that “the end justified the means”.   If anything, these tactics caused their status in the polls to fall even further.

Mobilize others and recognize their efforts. Virtually all strategists have complimented Obama on his ability to mobilize and meaningfully engage a massive army of supporters and volunteers.   His ability to stimulate a grass roots organization fully committed to his cause resulted in the largest fund-raising ever seen.  Obama was able to cut across gender, race, and economic backgrounds to completely energize those who believed in his mission.   Established heavy-weights like Hillary Clinton and McCain were steamrolled by a      grass-roots movement they could not come close to matching.  Obama was available and accessible to his supporters.  He participated weekly in extensive conference calls whereby thousands were able to communicate in person with him.   He invited as many people as he could to meet him and others on his team.  He portrayed an aura of appreciation and collaboration versus the “hero” mentality of someone who was going to ride in on his stallion and personally save the nation.

Hone in on values that people can relate to. Obama’s slogan was “Change We Can Believe In”.     I really liked this message because, from all my work, I know that people’s biggest challenge with change is their sense of distrust about the motives and capabilities of those driving change.  Obama’s message resonated so well with people who were looking for their leaders to be honest and trustworthy.     Obama pointed out what mistakes had been made in the past and the fact that real change will never happen if Washington continues to operate in its “same old / same old” way.    Obama talked about getting rid of the elitist “old boys” network and lobbyist agenda that was not meeting the needs of the larger majority.    He was able to use statistics and facts that clearly supported his case for the need for real change.   And throughout the entire campaign, he never deviated from his message of “Real Change that We Can Believe In”.   His supplemental slogan of “Yes We Can” truly inspired the everyday citizen who for so long felt just the opposite.   In reality, he so captured the minds and hearts of the general public, that it was going to be hard for experienced candidates like Hillary Clinton and John McCain to defeat him.

In the end, Obama’s victory was a victory for the everyday person and nothing is more powerful than that.  Of course, now Obama must deliver but it is clear from how he conducted his campaign, that he truly understands the components of effective Leadership.