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Lessons in Leadership: Obama Wins the Nobel Prize
October 09, 2009

This is a guest post from my colleague, Careen Winters, EVP and Head of our Corporate Communications practice.

By now we’ve all heard that President Obama was awarded the Nobel Prize for Diplomacy. In today’s NYT the Nobel prize committee is quoted as saying that the President “has created a new international climate.”

For anyone who doubts the ability of a leader to change reputation – for the better or for the worse -- look no further than a study of the American Presidency and the ultimate brand, the United States of America. In just nine short months, President Obama has materially improved the reputation and stature of America around world. And while I won’t say we’ve completely unraveled the damage that caused the precipitous decline of our nation’s reputation in recent years, we are certainly on the right track. (Funny, that decline had a lot to do with the reputation of our leader, too.)

This is the fundamental principal of MWW Group’s philosophy about reputation management and the role of the CEO and leadership team. Indeed, the White House demonstrated many of the fundamental tenets of the MWW Group CEO EquityBuilder approach…they allow President Obama to be himself – to speak in a voice that is true, to focus on the subject about which he is truly passionate, and to engage in meaningful debate with those of opposing viewpoints. They don’t (and couldn’t even if they wanted to) avoid situations where there might be a difficult question, a tough issue or an opposing viewpoint. They embrace those as opportunities to advance their message – and demonstrate leadership.

Critics of President Obama’s selection by the Nobel Committee will be taking to the airwaves to debate whether he deserves a Nobel Prize, and asking what he had done by the time the nominations occurred to deserve such an honor. To me, this is indicative of the importance of reputation….and how the reputation of a leader, particularly during a transition, can immediately and substantively change the broader reputation of the Company, or in this case, the nation.

It boils down to a simple, obvious truth -- you can’t be a leader without an executive team that demonstrates leadership. It might not win you the Nobel Prize….but it just might do great things for your corporate reputation.

Posted by Michael Kempner at October 9, 2009 11:18 AM