President Barack Obama of the United States has emerged as an exceptional leader in this era. Since he took office as the first black president of the United States, the first one hundred days in office have been characterized by transformation and stable leadership. According to Huffington, “the first one hundred days of Obama in office has had a lot of achievements and intangible transformational leadership”. Obama has been given credit by almost all the leaders of the world for his exceptional leadership. As it has been observed from his leadership, Obama has a great sense of ethical values, the ability to convince, and self-confidence.
His speeches are characterized by personal charm, charisma and the ability to deliver speeches with fluency and knowledge. These attributes make President Obama an exceptional leader (Huffington, 20).
Obama’s leadership has proven that being consistent and clear to your purposes can make one achieve his or her goals. Throughout his campaigns, he captured the minds of his followers by capitalizing on the need for change for the benefit of the future and repeated the same agenda in different styles (Northouse, 60). Comparing Obama’s approach to McCain, the policy on health care proposed by McCain was a great document but no one understood it. It, therefore, follows that a good leader must be consistent and stay focused on his agenda so as to achieve the desired goals.
In his debates with McCain, Obama articulated several issues of health, education, community and national security with the knowledge of an expert. He achieved this goal by tirelessly seeking the counsel of experienced professionals in the respective disciplines. This is a vital approach to leadership which any aspiring candidate should aspire to embrace, that is seeking the knowledge of the experienced personalities and using them to shape your personal values, ideas and philosophy (House, 101).
Obama is a democratic leader. In his recent visit to Kazakhstan, he tells the audience that the United States was still working on democracy and that his administration was making big steps in improving democracy in the United States. Obama has been at the forefront in demanding for equal opportunity to be accorded to people of all classes without looking at their economic status, race, sexuality or even religion.
In his inaugural speech, Obama stated clearly that all people share similar aspirations; to live peacefully; to live in harmony with their families; and to acquire good education (Woolley, 77). Therefore, we should treat each other as equals and that we should not allow our identity to divide us.
I am greatly inspired by Obama’s leadership and would wish to become a leader like him. His ability to persuade, knowledge of issues, and charisma are all values that I wish to acquire so as to exhibit exemplary leadership in the dynamic world. In his campaigns, Obama was full of praise for his team even those who least expected it. From this context, I learn that when you want to be successful in leadership, you should appreciate those people you work with and praise them when they least expect.
Obama’s urge to encourage people to empower themselves in society depicts him as a great leader. In one of his addresses to the people of Washington, he tells the people to believe in change that is coming to Washington not only the change he is bringing but also their change. Hence, Obama is exceptional in his style of leadership because he strives to empower people.
Works cited
House, Rancliff. Theory of Charismatic Leadership. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 1977.
Huffington Aroan. Obama’s First 100 Days Huffington: Washington, 2009.
Northouse Pratt. Leadership: Theory and Practice – 3rd Edition. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. 2004.
Woolley Peters. An American Presidency Project Washington: Washington University Press, 2009.