Regardless of your politics, you have to agree that Barack Obama is masterful in his use of words. What you might not agree with, however, is my following assertion- There is no greater attribute that a leader can possess than superlative rhetorical skills.

I found it curious during the recent (endless) Presidential Campaign, that Obama’s gift at crafting and delivering words was discounted by so many. “He can deliver a good speech, but…” was the usual refrain. Whether you are the leader of the most powerful country on the planet or of any group of people with a common purpose, the ability to use words in a way that inspires, motivates and casts a vision is second to none.

But many businesses don’t seem to agree. There is an insistence that the most important attribute is to be the “smartest guy in the room.” You know, like those guys at Enron, AIG and Wall Street who crafted the complex financial instruments that have nearly bankrupted our country. I think we’ve defined “smart” in the wrong way.

What is really “smart” is to be able to inspire and coalesce a group of people to do the types of things they didn’t think possible. To create a vision that they simply could not see. To dare them to dream. This doesn’t happen in endless strategic planning sessions, and is not usually in the skill set of the uber analytical types that sit atop too many businesses.

It’s time to recognize the power of well spoken words and the extraordinary gifting of those who command them.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 2nd, 2009 at 8:31 am and is filed under Leadership. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.