A Rasmussen poll released today caught my eye: 47% say Mr. Obama is a good or excellent leader, 39% say he is a poor one. As I looked into the questions further, it became clear that most respondents were not connecting the president’s performance and results to leadership. While they rate him as a good or excellent leader, they rate his performance “poor” on most issues that are extremely important to the country.  Continue reading…

A critical issue in leadership today is substance versus style. I addressed the distinction in a blog on September 23, titled Leadership: Beyond Style and Emotion, the Devil’s in the Detail. Recently Michael Barone of the Washington Examiner uses Style vs. Substance to compare Obama’s Rapturous Style Versus Tea Party Substance.

There’s an important message in both commentaries. Substance can lead to real change while style alone has its limits. Continue reading…

There is a huge gap between talking about leadership in the abstract and putting the ideas into action. Leadership is a powerful idea – crucial to success, yet squishy. So how does a leader transform hope and new directions into tangible results?

David Gergen of Harvard describes comtemporary leadership this way: “Command and control leadership has given way to a new approach, [which is] often called the influence model. The essence of leading others is to develop empathy with them and to develop the social skills that will persuade them to work toward shared goals.”

Many authorities, like Gergen, focus heavily on leadership style. But perceptions of style are often superficial and short-lived:   Continue reading…