October/08: In SAY IT LIKE OBAMA, leadership development expert Dr. Shel Leanne examines the lessons to be learned from the communication practices that have helped bring about Obama’s successes. The book is about the art of persuasion, the power of presentation, and the most effective techniques of communication. Included is Obama’s August 28th acceptance speech from the National Democratic Convention.
Regardless of what people think of his politics, Barack Obama is one of the most notable orators of recent times. In his mastery of rhetorical techniques, he’s been compared to the great communicators like Winston Churchill, John F. Kennedy, and Abraham Lincoln. The one thing pundits agree on is that Obama possesses a unique ability to motivate an apathetic constituency to care passionately about change.
Obama’s achievements since the 2004 Democratic National Convention are striking. Four years after his keynote address, the first-term U.S. Senator who ranked toward the very bottom in Senate seniority went up against the “Clinton machine” in an improbable quest for the Democratic presidential nomination. Obama stepped into a significant place in history when he passed the critical 2118 delegate threshold to become the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and the first African American major party nominee for U.S. president. Obama accepted the Democratic presidential nomination on August 28, 2008 – forty-five years from the very day Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the Lincoln Memorial and delivered his iconic “I Have A Dream” speech.
Obama’s political successes underscore a well-established fact: leaders in all fields benefit when they develop outstanding communication skills because the ability to convey vision, inspire confidence, persuade, and motivate others, is key to effective leadership.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr. Shel Leanne is President of Regent Crest, a leadership development company that helps empower young business leaders for success. Participants in her leadership development program hail from around the world and come from all industries within the Fortune 100. Prior to launching her company, she gained experience working for McKinsey & Company and for Morgan Stanley in New York as well as a Full Faculty member at Harvard University. A Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Leanne holds a B.A. from Harvard College and earned Masters and Doctoral degrees from Oxford University.