large systems change

Barack Obama’s becoming the 44th President of the United States has generated a huge buzz in the papers, on blogs, and on the TV in the past week. There’s the historic significance of his being the first African-American to hold the highest office in the land. There are big questions about whether his foreign and domestic policy agendas will stack up against the daunting challenges of a global recession, multiple war theatres, health care shortcomings and a whole host of other problems.

President-elect Barack Obama announced last week that he has chosen Nancy Killefer for the position of the nation's first governmental Chief Performance Officer. Obama said he chose Killefer because she is “an expert in streamlining policies and wringing out inefficiences."

A few years ago I had the privilege and pleasure of co-authoring You Don’t have to Do It Alone: How to Involve Others to Get Things with Dick and Emily Axelrod and Julie Beedon. At the beginning of the book we make the case for why NOT to involve others. It takes more time. It costs more money. In almost every case it increases the “hassle factor.”

There are a number of conversations being had these days about the Presidential candidates. One however seems to be missing. The simple yet profound impact of their basic leadership abilities. Leadership includes character and temperament, though it includes those. I and more than 25 of my co-authors from Berrett-Koehler Publishers have spent years learning and practicing in the fields of leadership and change. Through this work we have identified key attributes of effective leadership we have witnessed and fostered in the real world. Our conclusion: Barack Obama clearly exhibits these characteristics. These leadership aspects are based on the measurable performance and success of our respective clients for decades. To read more about the key characteristics of leadership we've identified and the list of authors in support of this effort go to the authors for Obama site.

Last year I had the privilege to partner with an amazing array of people across the State of California.  The day-long dialogue and message-making meeting was organized, hosted, and managed by AmericaSpeaks, a relatively small (17 core staff) but powerful group of people who have transformed participative democracy from theory into practice.  Founded in 1995, AmericaSpeaks has lived out its mission of engaging citizens in the public decisions that impact their lives in New York City around the re-building of Ground Zero, with native