Barack Obama - Leader Analysis Paper

Leader Analysis Paper

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II is an American politician who most notably served as the 44th president of the United States of America from 2009 to 2017. He is the first African American to have ever held the office of president in the United States. Obama was born in Honolulu. Hawaii, his family travelled frequently before he enrolled in Harvard Law School where he became the first black president of the Harvard Law Review. After graduation, Obama served as a civil rights attorney, professor, and Illinois State senator before becoming a for U.S senator in 2004 (Cecere, 2009) . In 2008, Obama ran in the presidential election where he was elected over Republican candidate John McCain. Obama served two terms as president, beating republican candidate Mitt Romney in 2012, before being succeeded by Donald Trump in 2017. During his time as president, Barack Obama served as an inspiration and a great leader to the American people. Obama lead the nation through the economic crisis of 2008 known now as “The Great Recession” and he is largely credited for restoring the United States economy.

The first practice of an effective leader as described by Kouzes and Posner is “model the way.” This is a leader’s capacity to generate personal credibility in the eyes of their followers. This is exemplified by Barack Obama’s brilliant and groundbreaking 2008 presidential campaign. According to a book review by Henry F. Sio “(I)t is a lesson in management principles that and execution, in areas such as budgeting and planning, that enabled the Obama campaign to run more efficiently and effectively than its rivals” (2014). Obama was able to use his leadership skills to command a historic campaign that will serve as a model for future presidential candidates. With his historic victory in 2008, Obama served as an inspiration to his followers by becoming the first African American president of the United States and breaking traditional standards.

Obama’s handling of the economic crisis plaguing the country during his first term was met with mixed reviews, however he was able to generate enough credibility amongst his followers to win reelection in 2012. The numbers at the time may not have shown a strong recovery, but there was enough confidence instilled in Obama’s followers by his modeling the way so they sought to have him reelected. This shows the great impact that modeling the way can have on a leader’s followers and how it can be used to propel the leader’s career further.

The second practice of an exemplary leader is to “inspire a shared vision.” This means an exemplary leader passionately believes that they can make a difference. They see their own unique vision of the future and they look to inspire others to see that vision as well. Barack Obama had a very memorable slogan during his presidential campaign “Yes We Can.” This slogan reinforced the idea to his supporters that Obama had a very positive view of the future that would be feasible with their support. Obama was also a very talented orator. He was able to  use communication in all of its different forms – including body language, to leave a positive impression and speak with a vision. One huge change Obama wanted to implement was American Health Care reform. Obama brought healthcare reform to the forefront of American politics and inspired the American people to fight for change alongside him. At the time of Obama’s election, health insurance was sold exclusively on the private market. It was said that there were as many as 46 million US citizens without medical insurance. Obama had a vision of easing the plight of those who were not covered.