Five Leadership Lessons From Obama's Second Month appeared on the Forbes
web site on March 19,2009. I have a feeling we are going to be learning a lot about leadership from this President as time passes. Authored by Shaun Rein, this article puts Barack Obama's behavior under multiple recent stresses into a strategic leadership framework that is exportable to sometimes embattled health care leaders.
This President has shown remarkable cool under fire and has led, rather than followed, both public and politicians in crisis and message management. Rein takes a stab at organizing what can be learned from Mr. Obama by identifying five broadly applicable lessons: Localize your Brand, Embarrass the Competition, Listen to the Research, Avoid Number Traps, and Closely Manage Your H.R. Let's briefly examine these in the context of what health care leaders can learn from them.
Flexible Branding
Localize your Brand refers to managing the style and content - but not the theme - of the message based on the audience. Mr. Rein correctly notes: "Global brands often try to take the exact position that worked in the U.S. to foreign markets. But what works in one country often fails in another." He points out that Hillary Clinton, on behalf of the President, has departed from monolithic messaging and instead has tailored the core American message by successfully molding her presentation and venue to local culture and sensibilities abroad - an informal one aimed at women and school children in Korea and a highly formal one aimed at Saudi Arabian royalty. Each contained the same essential message wrapped in a different delivery and style. Physician and non physician health care leaders should take notice - pediatricians, psychiatrists, surgeons, community leaders, and Board members look for different points of connection with leadership. A strategic health care leader will tailor venue, content, and delivery style to the audience while remaining true to the theme.
Competitive Positioning
Embarrass the Competition is about the Administration's strategic decision to position Rush Limbaugh as the visible representation of Republican Party leadership. It's not uncommon for iconic but disruptive clinical or administrative leaders to derail important organizational initiatives. Instead of battling these individuals head on, or fear taking them on for unacceptable behavior because of concern about polarizing important constituencies, health care leaders may have a third path available - publicly exposing the absurdity or damaging aspects of their behavior and prompting erstwhile supporters to distance themselves from these problematic icons.
Gathering and Using Intelligence
Listen to the Research references Obama's careful reading of the polls and other metrics of public opinion. This has permitted him to develop excellent intelligence about what is happening on the ground - the issues of concern to the "average person" - and to largely be first (or clearest) to develop a focused message that speaks to the voter proactively rather than responding to politicians in a reactive or defensive style. This has largely allowed Obama to positively capitalize on and give voice to voters' outrage at abusive businesses rather than defend administrative inaction. Health care leaders who listen carefully and then speak to issues of concern to the rank and file physicians, staff, and community members - even Board members - can immunize themselves against formal or informal spokespersons who become polarizing agents of discontent over the same issues.
Avoid Being Painting Into A Corner
Avoid Number Traps - avoid setting targets or metrics that can become albatrosses if not met downstream. The President is at risk, for instance, for making good on the promise of 3.5 million jobs. It is human nature to become "stuck" on the first framing of quantitative results and to see them as promises. Later modifications are seen as "waffling" and not meeting the goals is seen as failure (at best) or deceit (at worst). This is a slippery slope for health care leaders who, like other business leaders, must in part succeed "on the numbers." But taking care about setting recruitment, quality, or financial performance expectations, stressing attainable quantitative targets - even if better results are desired and expected - can be an advantageous strategy. While praise comes from exceeding conservative targets, failure to meet an aggressive goal is less forgivable. Framing the numbers and context carefully at the beginning can protect against embarrassment and loss of credibility downstream.
The Right People Used the Right Way
The final lesson, Closely Manage Your H.R., might be the most important. The article focuses on President Obama's shaky standing with Timothy Geithner and the thin staff at Treasury as contrasted with the strong State Department staff headed by Hillary Clinton. For senior leaders who must focus on strategy and rely on leverage to subsidiary leaders to execute on it, failure to ensure strong human resources in every key area can lead to failures of strategy implementation or embarrassing gaffes. A senior health care leader simply cannot fail to staff all critical areas with capable, reliable, and sophisticated aides who themselves understand the critical requirement to promptly build their own support staffs. A subsidiary leader who is overly operational and "hands on" will easily get buried in times of crisis and ultimately slip up or fail. And, as with Mr. Geithner, this will rapidly reflect further upward and divert attention from important strategic activities and initiatives.
These won't be the last lessons we see from a President who seems to have a new and, so far, effective playbook.
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