Leadership Lessons

Lessons I Learned From the Election
Tim Elmore www.GrowingLeaders.com

I had previously started a series from Tim Elmore (Growing Leaders) about leadership lessons from the Presidential elections. For many reasons, I didn’t finish it, so as I get back to a regular schedule I thought I should bring closure to it before getting too far into other things.

Elmore wrote in his introduction: “Now that it's all over, and the dust has settled, I have reflected on lessons we can learn from this historic campaign. What did the whole thing teach us about leadership and about people? Let me suggest these insights for you to discuss with your team."

Lessons 1 and 2 were . . .

1. Leaders must inspire people before they challenge people.
2. Leaders must build a brand that creates a tribe.

This leads to lesson three:

3. Leaders must communicate in an authentic and a fresh fashion. Regardless of who you voted for, you must admit, Barak Obama did what John McCain was unable to do. He communicated in a genuine way with people. He wasn't slick, but he was smooth. Senator McCain, while I liked much of his content, seemed stiff. This is not a substance issue but a style issue. People need to "feel" something as they follow their leader. They want to believe in him or her. They love it when their leader is authentic not plastic. (Authentic means "to author"; or to originate one's own identity.) In addition, people love to follow a leader who uses fresh technology. It gives them the sense the leader is on the cutting edge. Obama did this, McCain did not.

For those of you from Ministry Leadership class, or who may be familiar with Kouzes and Posner’s “The Leadership Challenge,” this lesson closely relates to their concept of: “Inspiring a shared vision.” Leader who are able to communicate well are able to help others see and understand their vision. Without which, followers will soon be lost to other causes or interests. Elmore is correct, President elect Obama is a gifted communicator, and his message of hope and change inspired a vision for the future of our country—and people were able to see it because of his ability communicate it well. We should all pray that he will be able to accomplish that vision.

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Blessings
Bill H