Look Past the Political Rhetoric: It's Leadership That Counts

For the next two weeks the American public will be besieged with political rhetoric, as voters try to decide who should be the next president. This week it's all about Barack Obama, and next week the focus will be on John McCain. Honestly speaking, we may get a good look at the politics of these candidates, but we won't get much insight at all into the kind of leaders they would be. What should matter is the authentic leadership of the next president, not political skills in projecting an image for voters.

We've been fooled before by political rhetoric. Remember the "compassionate conservatism" campaign in 2000 of George W. Bush? He proved to be neither compassionate nor conservative. In 1992 Bill Clinton ran on a health care platform of "managed competition" that turned out to be anything but competitive and almost sunk his presidency. Going farther back in history, Lyndon Johnson envisioned in 1964 a Great Society and instead got us mired in Vietnam. In 1968 Richard Nixon promised to "win the peace in Vietnam," and wound up extending the war to all of Southeast Asia until 1974.

Bottom line: don't judge politicians on their promises. Judge them on their leadership.

What kind of leaders would John McCain and Barack Obama be as president? The good news is that both of them are authentic leaders. They have openly shared their life stories with the American people. Both have dealt with severe crucibles: McCain with his ordeal as a prisoner-of-war in Vietnam, and Obama with the absence of his father and confusion over his racial identity as a teenager. With the notable exception of McCain's marital infidelity to his first wife, both candidates have lived lives of integrity and operate from a clear set of principles.

But before we can decide on whom to vote for, we need to know much more about the kind of leader each would be in the world's most powerful office. By examining their backgrounds, we can gain insight into this question.

All his life John McCain has been a solo performer: as a fighter pilot, a prisoner-of-war, a Congressional aide, Congressman, and U.S. Senator. In the U.S. Senate he has frequently stood against the Republican Party on issues like campaign financing and sided with Democrats like Senators Edward Kennedy and Joe Lieberman. Thus, he has developed the well-earned image of a maverick.

Since announcing his candidacy for president, McCain's campaign has been anything but well-organized. His organization has experienced lots of turnover, frequent resignations, terminations, and regular shifts in focus. McCain the candidate has often agreed on strategy and positions with his staff, only to abandon them the next day. Only recently has his campaign seemed to enjoy some clarity with the addition of former members of the Bush team. In the past few weeks, they have successfully shifted McCain's focus to attacks on his opponent and to national security issues, as his statements have become clearer and more concise.

Through all this, McCain operates more like an entrepreneur than an executive: outspoken, direct, and creative, but often leaving a trail of messes to be cleaned up after him. Projecting McCain into the White House, one could expect a few clear messages emanating from the president, coupled with lots of turnover and instability in the staff and cabinet.

Barack Obama, on the other hand, got his early training as a community organizer. He has translated that understanding into a massive field team that reflects a bottoms-up, empowered organization. His key central staff members started with him at the beginning of his campaign and has had virtually no turnover, dissention, or organizational problems. Obama himself set the standard of operation at the outset, telling his people he wouldn't tolerate dissertation and internal squabbles, earning the label, "No Drama Obama."

As his candidacy progressed, he has expanded his central team and brilliantly married it to his field organization. His organization looks more like an emerging corporate organization like Google or Intel: a strong central core married to a creative group of individuals building off the internet.

Projecting this forward into the White House, one would expect a disciplined staff around Obama, linked to empowered people throughout the government carrying out multiple initiatives. Taking on a broad set of initiatives, Obama's messages would be more nuanced and more complex than McCain's.

How would these two men respond to the pressure of surprise events like September 11, Hurricane Katrina, or the Cuban Missile Crisis? McCain would rely heavily on his own instincts, rather than the advice of his team, and would be decisive and possibly impulsive. Obama, in contrast, would quickly gather a group of experts around him, listen carefully to their advice, integrate it into his own thinking, and make decisions that were more nuanced.

Comparing these candidates to past presidents, McCain will operate more like Harry Truman, while Obama will operate more like John F. Kennedy.

There's no right or wrong here. Before deciding, voters should ignore the rhetoric and determine what kind of leader our country needs at this crucial time in our history.

Bill George is the author of best-selling books True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership and Authentic Leadership: Rediscovering the Secrets to Creating Lasting Value, has been named one of "Top 25 Business Leaders of the Past 25 Years" by PBS, and was CEO and Chairman of Medtronic from 1991 until 2001.

Comments

[jsinclair]

What spin!!! You really think Cindy was his only adultery? No curiosity about the missing Cindy look-a-like, Vicki Iseman?

McCain is "direct and creative"? A man of "integrity and principles"?

McCain's career is a mess of opportunistic flip-flops and coziness with a bunch of rich corporate cronies. Other than his campaign finance bill (which he doesn't honor with all the 527/PAC money he is using), what has he ACCOMPLISHED in 22 years?

The more you read about him the LESS he impresses. Even since he ran in 2000 (when he was arguably a more attractive candidate than he is now)--in those 7 years--what has he accomplished to be proud of?

I don't CARE about his POW experience 40 years ago when I'm choosing a president.

And he seems very dangerous in temperament, intellectually weak, and philosophically a dangerous extension of GWB to me.

Really. Seriously. The Emperor has no clothes. Why won't people take a look?

[mamacat]

McCain as Truman? No way! Maybe as Dr. Strangelove; that I can see.

McCain never saw a war he didn't love. Every time he gets asked a tough question, instead of trying to give an honest answer, he reminds people that he was a POW, and/or suggests we need another war, "Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran!"

Truman had a sign on his desk in the White House, "The Buck Stops Here."

If McCain is elected, there will be a sign in the Oval Office alright, but it well read: "Whatever you wanted to ask me, or whatever is wrong, remember that I was a POW for 5 &1/2 years!"

[elizaW]

More like JFK? So I guess that means he'd do the equivalent of ordering the diastrous Bay of Pigs attack in an attempt to overthrow Castro and increase our troops in Viet Nam? You mean that kind of leadership?

[riverhippie]

Well... as much as I dislike JFK, I must say that he called off U.S. air support for the BAY of Pigs -- thus dooming it.

He much preferred trying to assassinate Castro than starting a war.

You reap what you sow.

[Openeyes]

That may have been true last year, but McCain has done a complete 180 on many significant issues. He's hardly a "maverick" and frankly, it's an insult to Truman to compare McCain to him. Truman was a true leader and made a big point about accepting responsibility for his actions.

McCain has never been in an executive position or really been a true leader - the son and grandson of Admirals in the Navy, even with his POW background, he couldn't make Admiral. He left his disabled wife to marry a rich heiress nearly half his age, moved to Arizona to be able to start a political career, and has as his signature accomplishment in the Senate, being a member of the Keating 5.

McCain has far more in common with Bush, who can't even admit he's made a mistake in office, than Truman, with his "the buck stops here." The only bucks stopping for McCain are from lobbyists.

There most certainly is a "right and wrong" choice here.