Leadership

There's a lot I haven't said since Obama was elected. Somehow the historical significance of the election rendered me more or less mute. My thoughts, though, turned to my grandparents who worked so hard all of their lives on their little farm in North Carolina to provide for their family, and to my own experiences growing up as a black child in south. And yes, I was also one of those black folks who never imagined seeing a black man in the White House; but there I sat yesterday in a daze watching German news coverage of the inauguration.

I have to disagree with the claim that Obama's election was some sort of miracle. To make that claim would be to deny the hard work and political astuteness that convinced the majority of American voters. I would also argue that it was the promise of real leadership that drew so many Americans.

When I marketed management books in San Francisco, I was particularly struck by two of our titles: The Leadership Challenge and Leaders, Fools, and Impostors. Without going into too much detail, suffice it to say that leadership is complex, and many people in positions of power haven't the slightest clue about how to actually lead their organizations. Listening to, and then later reading President Obama's Inauguration Address made clear to me that he understands clearly some of the most important aspects of leadership: inspiring by example and challenging followers to act.

For as much as government can do and must do, it is ultimately the faith and determination of the American people upon which this nation relies. It is the kindness to take in a stranger when the levees break, the selflessness of workers who would rather cut their hours than see a friend lose their job which sees us through our darkest hours. It is the firefighter's courage to storm a stairway filled with smoke, but also a parent's willingness to nurture a child, that finally decides our fate.

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and patriotism - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quiet force of progress throughout our history. What is demanded then is a return to these truths. What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task.

This is the price and the promise of citizenship.

This is my favorite passage from the speech and strengthens my conviction that Obama is truly the leader that the United States needs in this very difficult period.

Well done voters!