"Tell a true story of who we are and who we should be."

I got to do over 4 hours of learning from President Barack Obama this week. This is my summary of the biggest takeaways.

The 3 key questions regarding leadership by President Obama:

1. Do you believe in something important enough to dedicate to it?
2. Can you communicate that in an engaging way (importance of storytelling)?
3. Can you empower other people as a part of your team to make that happen?

Storytelling vs. intellectualizing everything

President Obama spoke a lot about the importance of storytelling. We all prefer stories to lectures. Some (including myself definitely) need to lighten up a little bit vs. saying exactly the right things in the exactly the right way. People are less responsive to that. Connect to what people are feeling.

We organize ourselves according to the stories we tell, you need the storytelling with your "policy". Tell a good and true story of who we are and who we should be. Tell a story of what should be done.

Decision making of really big matters

President Obama told about his decision making process when he considered whether to run for Presidency or not. Think of this: Why do you want to be X? Do you have something that the bigger enterprise needs?

1. Should you do it?
2. Can you do it?
3. What will this do the the lives of people closest to you?
4. Does the prospect of TRYING excite you - and for the right reasons? Do you feel passion, energy, focus...?

Polarization and the importance of diversity

Diversity brings friction. People who look different bring in new thinking. Polarization is natural and has taken place through the history when new voices get their message out. The whole U.S. senate (regardless of party) used to consist of white men (naturally still does too dominantly), now there is more diversity of thought. If you can work through the friction, you get to a higher level!

Don't buy into your own hype, remember what you came in to get done

When things start to go well, don't buy into your own hype. Let's not take ourselves too seriously, let's take our work seriously.

Don't panic

Take the long view and keep focus despite volatility around you. Don't let small crises worry you too much.

There is a saying "No Drama Obama". President Obama told he tends to be at his best when things get difficult. Don't get caught by the day to day swings of things. Keep the vision on mind. Set aside egos, just solve the problem.

"Worry more about what you want to do than what you want to be"

A big message on which President Obama repeated several times: "Worry more about what you want to do than what you want to be."

"Don't ask people what they want to be, ask what they want to do."

It is not good to just focus on becoming a CEO or in his case becoming the President. That will just lead to a politician aiming at being re-elected. Focus on what you want to do - what is the important thing you want to fix/develop/transform. If you know that, every day you contribute to moving the needle towards something meaningful.

With any role/task, it is important to also understand that you will not be able to finalize it into perfection. It is a relay race (including presidency). You have the baton for a while. The previous runner hands it to you and the time comes when you will hand the baton onwards. The important thing is to move meaningful and impactful issues forward during your turn. Nothing ever becomes perfect.

Democracy is not something we can take for granted

I also got to understand some of his experiences and thoughts of current affairs with Putin as well as with China and Xi Jinping. He also commented on Hungary's Viktor Orbán among many others. Got to hear a number of behind the scenes stories as well, which was interesting and some of it pretty surprising. But I'll leave the (geo)political insights to perhaps another post.

An important point anyway: Democracy is not something we can take for granted. We need to earn it every day. We need to tell a story that taps us into kindness and care (and act accordingly). And we need to fight the story of "might makes right".

Thank you Growth Faculty and Karen Beattie for the learning opportunity!