Tuesday November 4, of 2008 will remain monumental in American history because an African American president got elected to serve the people of United States. What made Barrack Obama manage to conquer the traditional barriers of ethnicity and race to become crucial figure in the history of United States? Barrack Obama’s leadership strategies surround on two fundamental factors. One, his unique communication abilities which made him win support from diverse coalitions in United States; secondly, his competent abilities in leading and launching a formidable organization. Through the two leadership strategies, Obama displayed managerial and leadership skills of the high order in history of United States (Edwards 6).
As a leader, one has to develop his/her communication abilities to convince, capture the attention and support from the people. In the case of President Obama, it can be noted that the president can use all forms of communication —from voice inflection, body language to well organized use of gestures meant to establish an appealing first impression as well as sustaining positive impression throughout his speech. In addition, due to the ability to focus on matters that are common, Obama used communication to break down barriers that may prompt leadership and create bridges. Through this strategy, Obama gained support from different kinds of people and of diverse social backgrounds, irrespective of skin color as many would have thought.
Again, since leadership is all about the way to communicate to the targeted people, it would be important to master the way to talk to the people. Listening to speeches made by Obama, one would understand the use oration in winning hearts as well as millions of listeners in America and across the globe. The great skills and the use of crucial practices in communication inspired many people thus, securing the citizens loyalty as well as passionate support throughout the campaign periods. Again, Obama had well structured ability in using his vision properly, through the use of certain words that would resonate with people (Orbe 211).
In the speeches made by Obama, points would be driven home reasonably through the use of major rhetorical techniques while presenting his ideas. These rhetorical questions can also be used in persuading people as they would be keen listening to the speech thus being able to get swayed. All of these outstanding communication skills made Barrack Obama override the obstacles that would have deterred any other politician, whether his age, race, “exotic” name, unconventional personal story, from becoming the president of the United States America (Andrews 10).
Needless to say, the success of Barrack Obama’s campaign was a result of a couple of factors. Intercultural competence can be one of these factors. The key message of the campaign resonated well with people from diverse backgrounds. In politics, intercultural competence means keep the message simple, stay on certain message and keep that message extremely open. For instance, the Slogan “Yes we can” happened to be appealing since it does not purposefully address what we can; it points out to new thinking, new era. Another important factor would be the style of communication across cultures; urban and rural, young and old, female and male. People live within different cultures, which further divide into different sub-cultures, and it is important to have a message that resonates well with all the groups. Therefore, the best way to work with such a problem would be to rely on generalizations only.
In conclusion, Barrack Obama is one of the few leaders that understand how to use the power of communication, and to use their knowledge of different cultures to their advantage. Together with his team, Obama knew that there exists a big layer of unconscious that a common human being forms into the nervous system through which people’s imagination works or operates. As a result, the use of effective communication would work well with many people. This triggered the use of words like ‘change’ and ‘hope’ that trigger motivating power in humanity and receive attention from many people.
Works Cited
Andrews, Joseph. Barack Obama and Leadership: 10 Reasons the 44th President Squandered Unprecedented Goodwill. New York: Jim Kochenburger, 2012. Print.
Edwards, George C. Overreach: Leadership in the Obama Presidency. New Jersey: Princeton University Pres, 2012. Print.
Orbe, Mark P. Communication Realities in a "Post-Racial" Society: What the U.S. Public Really Thinks of President Barack Obama. Maryland: Lexington Books, 2011. Print.
