Economic Choices- 2008: Leadership Strategies
Monday, October 06, 2008SUSIE GHARIB: With the presidential election weeks away, we continue our series of special commentaries, looking at the candidates' economic choices and voters' choice: Who will be our next president? Tonight, John Quelch, Harvard Business School professor and author of "Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes for Better Democracy," gives us his take on the candidates' leadership styles.
JOHN QUELCH, PROFESSOR, HARVARD BUSINESS SCHOOL: At first blush, senators McCain and Obama look like chalk and cheese. McCain is the not so slightly old-fashioned hero leader, a product of military hierarchy, more commander- in-chief than president. Obama is the energetic yet measured ingenue, an assured yet quiet leader who takes counsel and drives towards consensus. It is a leadership style born not on the battlefield, but in the neighborhood streets. But to conclude that McCain is all about hard power and Obama is all about soft power, to borrow Joe Nye's terminology, would be to do a disservice to both men. Both have proven they can be agents of change. McCain has often bucked his own party leadership and reached across the aisle. Obama, to secure his party's nomination, challenged the heir apparent. So what separates the two men? McCain is a maverick. Obama is a manager. Mavericks are loners who break ranks, who love to be different and irreverent. Obama is a better manager than McCain. His campaign has been a model of teamwork. He has selected good people who have worked well together. But a good manager does not necessarily make a good leader any more than a good maverick does. A leader must articulate a vision for the nation and motivate citizens to follow his or her lead. Both McCain and Obama look like leaders. The choice on Election Day will be between the maverick and the manager. For Harvard Business School, I'm John Quelch.
