Former United States President, Barack Obama, returned to the U.S political scene in 2020 and offered his first round of candidate endorsements on Monday, the third of August 2020. Barack Obama served the United States of America as its 44th President. He held the office of the President from 2009 to 2017, after which he retired from active politics until 2020 (Khaola, & Rambe, 2020). The former President made his comeback to the political scene during the 2020 United States elections through various endorsements of candidates and active campaigns for the current President, Joe Biden. His return to the political scene was met with different perceptions. Many people considered Obama’s quest as that of a transformational leader.
This paper focuses on the trait theory of leadership to analyze Barack Obama’s transformational leadership. After lying low during the entire reign of former U.S President Donald Trump, Barack Obama came back with a different vigor aimed at making changes to how Donald Trump was running the country (Wijewantha, 2018). Barack Obama was keen to transform the country’s leadership to greater heights. His goals and ambitions were depicted in his memoir, A Promised Land, a book published in November 2020, and many copies sold (Crede et al., 2019). This analysis will shed light on Barack Obama’s traits that make him a transformational leader. In addition, this analysis considers the impact of race, demographics, and social-economic status on Barack Obama’s leadership influence in the 2020 U.S elections.
The trait theory of leadership states that great and effective leaders have an inherent pattern of personal characteristics or traits which contribute to their ability to mobilize other people. Those characteristics enable such leaders to influence other people to work together to achieve shared goals (Singh et al., 2020). The theory argues that the traits of a leader constitute dimensions of personality and motives, sets of skills and abilities, and behaviors exhibited in social settings (Crede et al., 2019). The use of features in explaining outstanding and effective leadership considers a leader’s inherent characteristics and attributes obtained through learning. According to trait theory, the traits of a leader can be put into four classes: disposition, demographic, job proficiency, and interpersonal characteristics.
The theory argues that a leader’s disposition is a vital determinant in their ability to offer effective leadership. Patterns of behavior such as the ability of a leader to remain comfortable in ambiguous situations and adapt to the situation accordingly determine their effectiveness (Görgens-Ekermans & Roux,2021). Dispositional tendencies such as motives and values are crucial in shaping a great leader (Williams, 2021). According to trait theory, the demographic characteristics of a leader are likely to influence their effectiveness: demographic characteristics include ethnicity, social-economic status, and family structure.
Additionally, task competence contributes to the efficiency of a leader. This category focuses on the approach leaders take to ensure the complete execution and proper performance of tasks. The attributes in this category include openness to new ideas and experiences, intelligence, emotional stability, and the level of conscientiousness of an individual (Mittal & Bienstock, 2018). The theory argues that such characteristics will significantly influence how a leader achieves competence in their work. Furthermore, the interpersonal attributes of a leader influence how effective a leader can become (Eliyana & Ma’arif, 2019). Such attributes relate to how a leader approaches social or human interaction. Traits in this category include extroversion, communication, conflict resolution, and agreeableness.
To understand the dimensions of transformational leadership used in this analysis, we need to define them first. Transformational leadership refers to a leader’s ability to make people desire change, improve their status quo, and be led (Eliyana & Ma’arif, 2019). The dimensions of transformational leadership include persuasive motivation, personal attention, idealized impact, and cognitive stimulation. Inspirational motivation refers to a leader who motivates their followers to be committed to attaining specific perceived goals. Such leaders inspire motivation to ensure teamwork in the achievement of set goals (Schleckser, 2019). Idealized influence applies to leaders who set a good example and act as role models to their followers. Such leaders are easily trusted and respected by the people because their lives embody nobility and dignity.
Intellectual stimulation applies to leaders who challenge their followers to change how they view things and their beliefs. Such leaders inspire people to have thought-provoking ideas to promote their creativity, problem-solving skills, and innovation (Gan & Voon, 2021). By changing the way people think and believe, the leaders encourage the growth and development of the people in various aspects of life (Schleckser, 2019). Individual consideration applies to leaders who present themselves as coaches and advisors to their followers. Such leaders reach out to each individual and encourage them to attain their personal goals and ensure the achievement of the common good.
This analysis shed light on inspirational motivation, idealized influence, and intellectual stimulation as applied by Barack Obama to achieve transformational leadership. In his quest to inspire a change of leadership, Barack Obama came out strongly to give his views about what the U.S needed. As an inspirational leader, Barack Obama urged the U.S citizens to be persistent in their quest for change and ensure they vote for Joe Biden to replace Donald Trump as President in the 2020 elections. (Crede et al., 2019). Obama also intellectually stimulated the population to change their beliefs concerning participating in elections. He encouraged every registered voter to exercise their constitutional right by casting their vote to elect their preferred leader.
To understand Barack Obama as a transformational leader, there is need to comprehend what motivated him to get back into active politics in 2020. In that year, the U.S election campaigns were happening amid the peak of the coronavirus pandemic that had claimed the lives of several citizens in the U.S and the rest of the world. Barack Obama strongly criticized how Donald Trump (who was President ahead of the elections) had handled the coronavirus pandemic. Obama termed Trump as reckless in his approach by failing to protect himself and the rest of the citizens (Khattak et al., 2020). Barack had his first campaign rally for Joe Biden in Philadelphia, where he firmly criticized Trump’s handling of the health crisis.
He held the campaign with less than two weeks remaining before the presidential elections. Obama focused on Donald’s divisive rhetoric, verbally criticizing his poor track record at the oval office (Lambright, 2019). Obama also expressed his displeasure concerning Trump’s habit of re-tweeting conspiracy theories (Arif & Akram, 2018). Obama urged all Americans to make a presidential change because, according to him, Trump was not going to protect them (Hill, 2020). He argued that if Trump would not take the necessary steps to protect himself against COVID-19, how would he protect millions of Americans who were dependent on the policies and decisions made (Budur & Poturak, 2021). Notably, Donald Trump had contracted the coronavirus during his campaign to be re-elected as President (Oh & Chhinzer, 2021). In this instance, Barack Obama’s approach was that of a transformational leader: he urged the American citizens to desire change and take measures towards achieving the transformation.
Remarkably, Barack Obama is one of the most celebrated American Presidents. He is respected, adored, and admired by many citizens. Obama, who served as President for two terms remained one of the most prominent politicians in the Democratic party (Rich et al., 2019). He was ready to use his influence and urge the masses to elect a leader who showed competency and sobriety in exercising their mandate to the people (Eliyana & Ma’arif, 2019). He noted that the Americans had to live with the consequences of Trump’s proving himself incapable of accomplishing his mandate as President (Jiang et al., 2017). Obama’s first rally came when Joe Biden was preparing for a presidential debate with Trump in Nashville, Tennessee. Therefore, his appearance filled the gap left by Biden, who was away in meetings, at his home in Delaware.
The drive-in rally conducted in Citizens Bank Park attracted almost two hundred and eighty vehicles. The rally was the most significant event that Joe Biden’s campaign team had organized during the COVID-19 pandemic and at the center of it was Obama (Yücel, 2021). The idealized influence that Barack Obama had in the 2020 U.S elections is breathtaking. According to a poll conducted by Monmouth University ahead of the 2020 U.S elections, fifty-seven percent of Americans said that they had an agreeable opinion about Barack Obama (Crede et al., 2019). That included ninety-two percent of Democrats and nineteen percent of Republicans (Le & Lei, 2018). It is essential to note that Obama’s ratings were higher than those of the two presidential candidates, Joe Biden and Donald Trump (Ennis et al., 2018). The poll indicated that forty-one percent of Americans had a favorable opinion of Joe while forty percent of Americans had a good view of Trump.
Democrats eagerly embraced Barack Obama as Joe Biden’s political wingman during the campaign period. He was the Democratic party’s most popular politician, his popularity spreading across many black voters and a multitude of younger Democrats who viewed him as an inspirational leader (Kim & Park, 2019). A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted in Pennsylvania showed that Joe Biden had an edge of only four percent; this made Obama emerge and warn Democrats against being complacent (Eliyana & Ma’arif, 2019). He announced that they had to turn out in more significant numbers than before and leave no doubt by voting in Joe Biden in the presidential election.
In his campaign rally in Michigan, Barack Obama was accompanied by Joe Biden and made significant remarks on the importance of electing competent governors, senators, mayors, and congresswomen. He urged the citizens to elect Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchrist, Mayor Mike Dugan, Senator Debbi Stabenow, Gary Peters, Brenda Lawrence, Elissa Slotkin, and Haley Stevens (Yue et al., 2019). Obama described them as servant leaders who needed to be re-elected to continue working for the citizens (Muralidharan & Pathak, 2018). Furthermore, he termed Joe Biden as the next President of the United States; the campaign happened with three days remaining before the election date.
Barack Obama used the approach of intellectual stimulation to urge the public to make electoral decisions that would benefit them. He said that many things were on the line as the country was heading to the election date (Pradhan et al., 2017). Obama said that health care and control of the pandemic were on the line but that the people could choose change by electing Joe Biden and Kamala Harris into the office of the presidency (Asbari, 2020). He told the people that they had to cast their vote to ensure a better America and that voting did not end on an individual level but extended beyond that. He encouraged the people to get their family and friends to vote because voting is a family affair.
Inspirational motivation is depicted in Obama’s transformational leadership through his urge to motivate the citizens to commit to changing their status quo. Barack encouraged them to vote for Biden by outlining the qualities that made him the best-suited candidate for President (Turnnidge & Côté, 2018). He described Biden as a man who is decent to his core and treats everyone with dignity and respect (Sun & Wang, 2017). He portrayed Joe as a servant leader for the eight years he served as Obama’s vice president and that he made him a better president by ensuring that ordinary families were represented when significant decisions were made in the Oval Office. He inspired the voters to elect Biden and Harris because they would fight for the rights of every American equally.
As a transformational leader, Barack Obama used his experience in the office of the President to critique how Donald Trump had failed the Americans. Barack said that he understood and accepted that Trump, his successor, was not going to embrace his vision or continue with his policies after he retired. However, Obama hoped that Donald would take the presidency seriously (Siangchokyoo et al., 2020). Still, to his disappointment, just like millions of other Americans, Trump never showed any interest in taking his job seriously. Rather, he was only interested in helping himself and his friends and treated the presidency like a reality show to get the attention that he desperately craved (Park & Pierce, 2020). Obama stated that Trump had failed to formulate policies to control the spread and effect of the coronavirus. He argued that if Trump had shown more caution in handling the virus, at least the death toll of American citizens might have been low.
Obama is a leader who influences the people by being a role model; his idealized influence has contributed significantly to him being a transformational leader. He is considered an exemplary model from which other leaders can learn, and this was made particularly clear during the 2020 elections (Begum et al., 2020). Various candidates, including Joe Biden, looked up to him for approval and guidance, with some of them depending on his endorsement to bring a boost to their campaigns (Wolf, 2018). Notably, most candidates endorsed by Obama won the elections, which gives a clear indication of how the Americans viewed him and depended on his direction to vote.
Additionally, demographic factors affected how Barack influenced his followers and led them towards electing competent leaders to serve them. Ideally, authentic communication, socioeconomic status, and family structure contributed to how people perceived Obama. Many people, including most Democrats and some Republicans, admire Obama’s achievements during his tenure as President (Murphy & Anderson, 2020). His socioeconomic status makes them want to be associated with him, and therefore they always have the desire to listen and probably become like him.
Obama has deep family connections that make most people perceive him as a family man and hence a great leader. He devotes his time to his wife, Michelle, and his two daughters, Natasha and Malia; this makes people think of him as a responsible father and loving husband (Sosik et al., 2018). Remarkably, Obama is a great communicator: his effective communication skills are deeply founded in using facts and logic to deliver carefully selected content targeted to his audience (Wolf, 2018). Obama draws people closer to him by inspiring, encouraging, and advising them in his speeches. He keeps appropriate eye contact with the audience and speaks fluently to the people, enabling him to connect with them.
In conclusion, Barack Obama is a transformational leader who uses idealized influence, persuasive motivation, and cognitive stimulation to impact his followers to achieve goals. From the analysis, many people have a favorable opinion of Obama. Ahead of the 2020 national elections, he had a rating of fifty-seven percent, which was higher than that of Joe Biden and Donald Trump, who had forty-one percent and forty percent, respectively (Robbins & Davidhizar, 2020). It is clear that even though Obama was not in the race for U.S president, many people still had a remarkable opinion about him.
Essentially, power and privilege provide that people are advantaged or disadvantaged according to their social identities or the systematic social structure to which they belong. Privilege is considered an unearned advantage that satisfies only the people who belong to dominant social identities. In the case of Barack Obama, power and privilege had no role in how people viewed him as a transformational leader (Abouraia & Othman, 2017). According to his actions, beliefs, and speech, people perceived Obama as a transformational leader. Obama was not born into a powerful or wealthy family, yet the Americans considered him a transformational leader.
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