President Barack Obama's Leadership Prowess
Management Theories Evidenced in President Obama's First 100 Days
Jun 15, 2009
In his acceptance speech delivered in Chicago's Grant Park, newly chosen President-elect Barack Hussein Obama threw down the gauntlet and declared, "A new dawn of American leadership is at hand" (DeFrank, 2008). Indeed, with expectations for his incoming administration at a historic high (Ruggeri, 2009), the unprecedented election of Barack Obama as the 44th President of the United States of America was met with heightened euphoria and emphatic hallelujahs (DeFrank). Undoubtedly some wondered, "Can he truly live up to all the hype and handle well the monumental task at hand?" From day one, the ills of the nation and the planet called all his leadership skills into practice; putting his bold promise of "a new kind of American leadership" clearly on the line.
President Obama Active from Day One in Office
For the most part (whether one agrees or disagrees with his policies or accomplishments) President Obama attempted to fulfill his pledge to be that new kind of presidential leader (Conrad & Holder, 2009). From the first day he sat down in the Oval Office, Obama's works were characterized by an ambitious agenda and decisive action through which he showed evidence that the office of the American presidency requires carefully formulated combinations of leadership approaches (Conrad & Holder). Consequently, in his first 100 days, President Obama demonstrated a number of well-recognized leadership models including the five highlighted below:
Charismatic/Transformational Leadership Theory
Charismatic/Transformational Leadership Theory demonstrated in just about everything "from the president's personal equanimity …to his masterful use of the bully pulpit" (Huffington, 2009). "Charismatic leadership is a unique personality characteristic that gives a person...exceptional powers that result in the person being treated as a leader" (Weber as cited in Northouse, 2008).
Contingency Leadership Theory
Contingency Theory in so far as he showed a knack "of capturing the essence of a moment and delivering exactly what it demands" (Conrad & Holder; Winston, 2009) e.g. seizing the moment to force GM and Chrysler (which received substantial amounts of federal aid to keep operating) to endorse part of his environmental policy by accepting an accelerated time table for new MPG standards (Garrett, 2009).
Leader-Member Exchange Theory
Leader-Member Exchange Theory (LMX) in that he worked with individual staff members including Vice President Joseph Biden and White House Chief of Staff Emmanuel Rohm.
Team Leadership Theory
Team Leadership Theory in that he worked with (a) the ordinary teams of the presidency including his White House staff, his appointed Cabinet, the National Security Council and (b) specialized task forces like his team of economic advisors (which actually began working before the president the president took the oath of office) (Sahadi, 2008).
Cross-cultural Leadership Theory
Cross-cultural Leadership Theory demonstrated (a) in his inaugural speech through which he spoke directly to enemies of Western values and made promises to "the poor nations of the world"(Obama, 2009; Lawson, 2009), (b) in his first appearance at the G20 summit where he attempted to begin "healing bruised relations with American allies" (Parsons, 2009), and (c) in receiving of heads of state representing various countries and cultures around the world e.g. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu (Mitnick, 2009).
This article put forth activities of President Obama carried out during his first 100 days of office in order to show how the five leadership theories delineated above were at work in his efforts.
Sources
Conrad, J. and Holder, G. (2009). President Obama: A New Kind of Leader. TheFragileMind.org.
DeFrank, T. (2008). Democrat Barack Obama wins historic presidential election over Republican John McCain. NyDailyNews.com.
Huffington, A. (2009). Obama’s First 100 Days: The Good, the Bad, and the Geithner. HuffingtonPost.com.
Mitnick, (2009). Obama demands that Israel stop settlements. How feasible is that? Christian Science Monitor.
Northouse, P. G. (2004). Leadership: Theory and Practice – 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications.
Obama, B. H. (2009). Inaugural Address.
Parsons, C. (2009). Obama at G-20 summit: Popular president, unpopular plan. Los Angeles Times: World.
Ruggeri, A. (2009). Barack Obama Faces Historically High Expectations As President. U.S. News & World Report.
Sahadi, J. (2008). Obama names his economic team. CNNMoney.com.
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