Politics
Archived posts from this Category
Obama’s Stumble: Double Standards Won’t Fly with Voters
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 04 Feb 2009 | Tagged as: Barack Obama, Leadership, Motivate Like a CEO, Politics, President, executive, honesty, integrity
The first big stumble of the Obama administration is about ethics and double standards. The American Public still made it clear they won’t tolerate that. Former Sen. Tom Daschle was forced to withdraw from consideration for secretary of Health and Human Services after a mounting debate over his back taxes. Nancy Killefer, earlier in the day withdrew her name from consideration as Chief Performance Officer – also over tax issues.
What’s distressing is that President Obama “got it” only after the public outcry. “I’m here on television saying I screwed up …ultimately it’s important …to send a message that there aren’t two sets of rules. You know, one for prominent people and one for ordinary folks who have to pay their taxes.”
It’s hard to imagine that this President didn’t anticipate how angry people would be. Whether its arrogance or expediency Tim Geithner’s appointment as Treasury Secretary was rammed through and then the White House folks started believing they could massage these other flawed appointments, too. Getting away with it once allowed Obama to fool himself that it didn’t matter, really.
Harvard Business Review reports this month that when asked what they look for and admire in a leader and in a colleague, people put honesty at #1. People can accept mistakes, poor judgment or missteps but they simply won’t consider you a good leader if you aren’t honest with them. In the President’s case, I think there is a question here of intellectual honesty - did he really believe that it was okay to give powerful people a different set of rules to live by than every day Americans, who have to prepare their taxes, pay them on time, or suffer penalties if they don’t?
This is a leadership lesson - not just about double standards, but about intellectual honesty. When you are honest you have to make difficult choices - you have to walk your talk. In Motivate Like a CEO, this is one of the eight principles of motivational leadership. When you walk the talk, people believe in you and your organization. Acting in a way that is consistent with your words is essential to your success as a leader. A leader who acts with integrity generates confidence and enthusiasm, and ultimately builds a motivated workforce that gets things done. When people see you mean what you say and that they can count on you to act in concert with your principles, they believe in you and they also behave in the same way. You win their trust, and you can trust them. You cannot have a motivated workforce or a successful company if there isn’t a reasonable high level of trust and integrity between management and employees.
If you would like a copy of the Eight Principles of Motivating Like a CEO, please email info@bates-communications.com
Economic Turbulence Requires Leaders to Communicate
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 26 Sep 2008 | Tagged as: Communication, Leadership, Politics, economic bailout, economy, executive, government
With all the turmoil in the markets this last week we started talking with some of our clients about how it’s affecting their businesses. Stocks continued to decline today on news of the clash in Washington between the Bush administration, Republican John McCain and Democrat Baraq Obama. http://www.boston.com/business/markets/articles/2008/09/26/wall_street_points_lower_after_gdp_revision/Our
Our firm got together yesterday afternoon to discuss what our role should be– in helping clients who are handling difficult communications with their employees, customers, analysts and the media.
One of our clients told us yesterday that she has prepared the talking points– but isn’t at all confident her leadership can deliver the messages effectively. Another said they have been inundated by calls and emails from concerned employees. They are naturally anxious about the impact of the market swings and government bail-out talks; they know it may hit home in their 401 K plans, their jobs, and even the future of the company.
With that in mind, I thought just to check in with any of you reading the blog and say if we can be helpful, let us know. It can be pretty lonely to be a leader during times like these, and many leaders are feeling vulnerable themselves; you are not alone as you deal with the pressures of communicating in tough times with employees, customers, vendors, analysts and media outlets.
What you are dealing with is people’s feelings of vulnerability; you need to communicate very effectively to get people focused, motivated and energized, so they keep their companies moving forward.
By the way there is a school of thought that volatility is a good thing for “value creation.” If you want to look at the bright side, check out the article in Fast Company: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/36/ideazone.html
However, while we wait to see how this all shakes out, we have to keep our companies in the black and moving forward. One of the most important things leaders can do in these times is to remind people what their real purpose is, why it matters, and what they can do to keep the company on solid financial footing. Leaders who are highly motivated by purpose themselves create positive momentum by attracting others who want to work with purpose and contribute to the solution. When you have people working “on purpose” you don’t have to work so hard to manage them. They are far less distracted by little bumps; when faced with bigger bumps they meet them head-on, knowing how important their work is to the enterprise.
Right now, I’m putting together an advance excerpt of the 8 principles of motivating people with communication, from my upcoming book, Motivate Like a CEO, Communicate Your Strategic Vision and Inspire People to Act! (McGraw Hill 2009). I feel these ideas are important to share right now as companies are being buffeted by bad news.
If you would like a PDF copy of this article please email Meredith O’Connor, our Marketing and Communications Director, moconnor@bates-communications.com and we’ll forward it immediately.
Executive Presence in the person of Steve Forbes
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 06 Aug 2008 | Tagged as: Communication, Leadership, Politics, Presentations, economy, executive, executive presence, government, public speaking
This weekend at the National Speakers Association convention in New York, www.nsaspeaker.org Steve Forbes took the stage. He had 1,800 professional speakers on the edge of their seats as he shared his insights about the future of the US economy. Forbes, President and CEO of Forbes, and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Magazine, www.forbes.com as well as a former Republican candidate for President, can actually be a little awkward on stage, yet people who get paid a lot of money to speak to corporate audiences were mezmerized; in a room full of people who love to talk, you could hear a pin drop. Why? Forbes was funny and smart –he made economics accessible to all. And, even more important he told us things we really really didn’t know.
What’s the real state of the US economy? Not bad at all! But don’t ask the media, says Forbes. They would rather stand in front of a gas pump talking about $4 a gallon gas than actually do research on the the dry stuff that matters, like US monetary policy. And he’s right. (Full disclosure, as many of you know, I was a reporter for 20 years. I know how it really works.)
Forbes spoke eloquently about the real drivers of our economy, and I was convinced after he spoke–we still have the largest most resilient economy in the world. He pointed out that as voters we’d better start asking better questions of the people running for office. For example, how will they approach monetary policy? Because according to Forbes, it wasn’t oil companies or mortgage lenders that brought this on, but by the Fed, which four years ago, and again last year, started printing money like there was no tomorrow. In an overreaction to the credit crisis, both times, it did more harm than good.
But back to executive presence. What makes Forbes so powerful on stage? Wit, intelligence, and the ability to explain something that dry and dull and make it fascinating. What else did we like about him? Smart as he is, he didn’t swagger onto the stage or lord his fortune or his smarts over us. He was hilarious really, as well as respectful. He treated his audience as the intelligent citizens they want to be.
Something else– he obviously wasn’t reading someone else’s talking points. He walked away from the podium five minutes in, and stood center stage for the better part of an hour, speaking eloquently. If you’ve seen him speak, you know that sometimes his gestures seem slightly out of sync with his message. Yet he transitioned beautifully from gas prices to the mortage crisis, tax policy to monetary policy, government to politics, all without notes. He even threw in several funny lines about the speaker who had immediately preceded him on stage. That’s confidence.
You also can’t argue with Forbes success, even if he did inherit the company started by his grandfather. Forbes is still on the cutting edge. In 1977 they entered the new media arena with the launch of Forbes.com. The site now attracts over seven million unique visitors a month and has become the leading destination site for business decision-makers and investors.
For a copy of his speech, contact the National Speakers Association at www.nsaspeaker.org - I highly recommend you watch it, and take notes.
Election 2008: The New American Idol?
Posted by Suzanne Bates on 12 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: Politics
I read today that Barack Obama has created a new “unit” of his campaign staff, with the purpose of combating online rumors.
Good luck to him. He’ll need more than a unit. More like a battalion!
No presidential candidate, or CEO for that matter, can afford to ignore the power of the Internet in spreading rumors (or spreading truth!). The trench wars are getting brutal. You just can’t hide your head in the sand and pretend your enemies aren’t pummeling you with virtual attacks.
Of course, Obama might consider the fact that the positive has mostly outweighed the negative, so far. He’s been the beneficiary of amazingly positive internet exposure like those videos of the “Obama Girl” and the celebrities singing “Yes We Can” — today’s version of online kumbaya.
On the other side of the spectrum, I read on Telegraph.co.uk that Republican John McCain is turning to Google for help in his bid to find the ideal running mate for president.
Will they announce the winner of the online search? Will people expect McCain to choose the winner? Will people vote once, or many times? Perhaps they’ll follow in the footsteps of American Idol.