Will Obama Be a Geoleader?
With the recent U.S. elections now a memory, time will tell how Barack Obama will lead the country in these uncertain times. Will Obama be a Geoleader? According to the Geoleadership ModelSM, Obama is poised for success if his actions align with the seven competencies of a Geoleader, which include:
Capability - A Geoleader is one who demonstrates intercultural expertise at all organizational levels. In naming his Cabinet and other government officials, Obama can create and leverage the intercultural abilities of such individuals from varied backgrounds.
Care - A Geoleader shows balanced interest and value for profit and stakeholders. The U.S. government is a business like any other that must attend to budgets and show results to its stakeholders, the U.S. population. Showing care means balancing fiduciary concerns with humane considerations.
Change - A Geoleader shows flexibility in adapting to dynamic cultural environments. Change has been the cornerstone message of the Obama campaign. As an individual who grew up influenced by the mixture of many different cultures, Obama has become adept at integrating varied cultural influences into his leadership decision-making.
Communication - A Geoleader demonstrates engaged connection and interaction with diverse cultures. Obama's use of social media communication was unparalleled in previous political campaigns. Maintaining regular contact with constituents and giving them a voice to both contribute to and participate in his campaign has set a clear path to continued dialogue.
Consciousness - A Geoleader possesses self-awareness of one's own cultural background and bias. Being raised across borders and cultures, Obama is keenly aware of the importance of how culture has influenced his life. Self-awareness remains the key to Geoleadership success and Obama is poised to leverage his cultural self-awareness to better serve the diverse constituents of the U.S. populace.
Context - A Geoleader expresses situational perspective with no judgment. Geoleadership entails utilizing situational leadership to make effective decisions. As individual opinions vary, so do the contexts of political situations. Obama is best served to take a contextual approach to political decisions and realize that there is no universal leadership style that can be applied globally. Context, like culture, is key.
Contrasts - A Geoleader realizes that there are cultural differences in leading and motivating followers. The Obama presidential campaign clearly showed how different voting blocks (i.e. African-American, female, and youth voters) each presented unique challenges to address. By seeing that there is more value in drawing out the similarities in individuals, rather than concentrating on their differences, Obama was able to reawaken the civic spirit in often undervalued constituencies. Hopefully, this particular type of surge will remain successful.