Campaign trails and corporate paths

Try to be liked. Obama is admired as a person - even some of his detractors say he would make a good friend - thus giving him the benefit of doubt. Most CEOs are people-oriented and take people management to be their most important responsibility.

Project strength. The controversial media revelations about Obama's role in cyber-warfare and "kill lists" of terrorists burnished his image as a tough-guy president. Several CEOs have reputations for making bold bets, high-risk actions that they would not be able to take unless they were perceived to be strong.

Enjoy a sense of humor. Obama projects confidence with wit, even making jokes at his own expense; Romney seems to struggle when trying to be natural. Some CEOs use mild but masterful self-deprecation to combine high self-confidence with an approachable common touch.

Some mistakes are deadly. When in 1967 George Romney, Mitt's father, said he had been "brainwashed" on Vietnam - well, no one wants a president who could be brainwashed - one poor choice of words ended his political aspirations. The market share collapses of Nokia and Blackberry, which missed the smartphone revolution, are staggering.

When politicians commit mistakes, the errors can be examined more fully and thus avoided more easily. The following are campaign mistakes that CEOs should avoid to protect their leadership.

Exaggerations erode confidence. Don't sacrifice long-term credibility for short-term gains (which anyway are usually elusory).

Wild, flailing attacks can boomerang, undermining both likeability and credibility. The Republican primaries, infamous for negative advertisements, hurt all the candidates - those attacking as well as those attacked. CEOs may cheapen themselves by overtly attacking competitors.

Don't draw a line in the sand unless you know where you stand. Texas Governor Rick Perry fulminated against "big government", but when asked to name three agencies he would cut, he could come up with only two. "Oops," he said infamously.

Don't be overly cautious. CEOs who fear making mistakes more than missing macro-trends are doomed to do both. Moreover, if your remarks are always scripted, you will always sound mechanical.

Don't be too comfortable with your own people. If your staff members are overly attuned to your way of thinking they cannot challenge old things or see new things. If they merely replicate or reinforce your ideas, they ossify your ideas and are worse than useless.

Don't be arrogant. There is a fine line between charisma and competence, on the one hand, and being egotistical and overbearing on the other. Compare, say, former US secretary of state Colin Powell with former US House of Representatives speaker Newt Gingrich.

Don't be "perfect". No one likes people who seem to be "perfect". Every word in place, like every hair in place, makes a "perfect candidate" who will always have trouble getting elected. Leaders should be real human beings, not robots.

I began with the idea of bringing to CEOs lessons from presidential politics. I now realize how much politicians can learn from CEOs. Politicians who seek to make a real difference, not just to get elected, should learn from CEOs.

Vision is needed most when no one else sees the need. Great leaders change organizations; they do not lead by protecting the status quo.

CEOs want to be popular, sure - but not as a means to get their jobs, rather as a result of doing their jobs.

The best CEOs worry less about the financial judgments of the quarter and more about the visionary judgments of history (tracking corporate strength and shareholder value). No American politician admits to making decisions based on polls, but that's what almost all of them do.

Top politicians, like top CEOs, are strong personalities, and they must guard against "group-think" stupor. A strong antidote to the poison of pre-formed homogeneity is diversity of senior staff members (such as in education, culture, experience, ethnicity and gender.).

In a world where individuals are more empowered than ever before, the requirements of leadership, political and corporate, have never been greater. And political and business leaders should learn how to learn from each other.

The author is an international corporate strategist and investment banker who advises multinationals on doing business in China.

(China Daily 08/25/2012 page5)

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