I am a corporate executive who have taken the Kouzes & Posner Leadership Practices training years ago. I recently used the K & P codes to compare Obama and McCain. The former beats the latter handily in all leadership practices:

1. Challenging the process – leaders thrive on and learn from adversity and difficult situations. They are risk takers who regard failure as a useful chance to learn and innovate. They are also early adopters of innovation. They seek out things that appear to work and then insist that they are improved. They challenge 24/7!

Obama challenged the process, not just by being colored (in itself is already big challenge) but also in the way he funded his campaign using contributions from the grassroots that broadened his support base. Both candidates used the internet, but Obama’s website had more personal messages while McCain’s website posted mostly press releases which you can also read in the newspapers.

2. Inspiring a shared vision – people are motivated most not by fear or reward, but by ideas that capture their imagination. This is not so much about having a vision, but communicating it effectively so that others take it on board. Great leaders are future orientated and seek to energise others by passion, enthusiasm and emotion. They want to bring people on board with this sense of shared purpose.

Obama’s shared vision was about CHANGE and painted McCain as an extension of Bush (McSame). McCain unsuccessfully tried to hijack the CHANGE vision by presenting himself as a maverick but the Democrats were able to paint McCain as a (Bush) sidekick, not a maverick.

McCain is using fear to discredit Obama (Muslim, association with terrorists, novice to foreign policy, etc). McCain has no vision to inspire; he is just using the fear of the unknown. This recession, associated to the inept fiscal policy of Bush, is working to Obama’s advantage (again, the CHANGE vision).

3. Enabling others to act – leaders don’t seek to achieve it all themselves – they achieve results through others. People must feel able to act and then must be supported to put their ideas into action. Collaboration and relationship-based work is central to success. As a leader you will need to:
• Foster collaboration by promoting co-operative goals and building trust
• Strengthen others by sharing information and power and by increasing their discretion and visibility

Both Obama and McCain, being politicians, should have scored evenly here. Surprisingly, McCain shot himself in the foot by picking Sarah Palin who Salman Rushdie described as ‘a joke’

With the blunders Palin committed during press interviews, her dismal performance in her debate with Biden, the findings on her abuse of power and her overall incompetence to be a VP and a heart beat away from the Presidency, the GOP are forced to quarantine her from doing more damage.
Team Obama, on the other hand, is all revved up, from Biden, the Clintons, and the entire Obama campaign team.

4. Modelling the way – means being prepared to go first, living the behaviors you want others to adopt before asking them to adopt them. People will believe not what they hear leaders say, but what they see their leaders consistently do. Great leaders should serve as an example to others.

Again, the choice of Sarah Palin (abuse of power) points to poor judgment on McCain. His image of wealth (it was reported McCain did not know how many houses he owns), while this should not be taken against him, is unfortunately cannon fodder during this recessionary times when people are losing their jobs, homes, etc. That McCain is associated with Bush who is himself associated with oil interests and oil prices that surged gives the perception that McCain does not model the way.

Obama voted against the Iraq war (now another unpopular issue). He belongs to a racial minority perceived to have gone through poverty (not entirely true for Obama) and through hard work had achieved the American dream. Obama appears “more true to his values” and therefore is more perceived to be modelling the way.

5. Encouraging the heart – people act best of all when they are passionate about what they’re doing. Leaders unleash the enthusiasm of their followers with stories and passions of their own. They enjoy celebrating successes – even small ones – and will tend to tackle difficult projects through recognizing others’ contributions. They:
Recognize individual contributions to the success of every project
Celebrate team accomplishments regularly

Team Obama had been on a winning streak since the Democrats candidates search. They have been encouraging each others’ hearts.

McCain’s team is under pressure to rally. After two debates where the polls showed Obama winning and again due to the Palin factor, I would hazard a guess that there is much latent blame assigning today within Team McCain.

Whether or not Obama is the true leader as he presents himself to be is beside the point. Perception is reality and right now, Obama is the better leader as perceived.

My personal take in choosing Obama is very simple. The eight years of George W. Bush was a complete disaster. I believe that McCain will continue his policies. The probability of change is zero under a McCain presidency.

There is no certainty that Obama will do better, but if he does what he promises to do based on his campaign platform, the probability is much higher than zero that things will improve dramatically.

Insanity is defined as repetitively doing the same thing and expecting a different result. I must be insane if I pick McCain. I don’t think I an insane. Unfortunately, my vote does not count because I am not a US citizen.

Hopefully, the American voters are not insane too and will vote for Obama.

I’ve just been reading (over at TPM) McCain’s prepared remarks for today, wherein his big climax is “We’ve got them just where we want them.”

lol. I mean, how very Monty Python. Reminds me of “It’s just a flesh wound.” I also thought of General Custer and similar figures, but TPM tells me that Instaputz was already there.