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One of the many headlines from this week was Carly Fiorina's statement(s) that Sarah Palin (and then included McCain, Obama and Biden) does not have the experience to run a major company like Hewlett Packard. Whether or not you agree or disagree with the Fiorina comment, I think the point (made loud and clear on Monday) is that everyone has lessons to learn. Are the Democrats learning something from Sarah Palin these last few weeks? You bet they are. Can businesses and CEOs learn something from politics? Without a doubt. So, whether you are Democrat or Republican -- here are 5 lessons from the Obama campaign that every business and organization should think seriously about integrating in 2009, if not before. Lesson #1: Expect more. Ask for more from your customers and employees. Your most loyal customers/supporters/fans want to help. Yes, trust us, they want to help but are rarely asked. We recently conducted a survey and were blown away with the percentage of regular people who said they loved their "X" (sorry, confidential) and would do whatever they could to make it better. We see this time and time again. In 2007, Obama realized that a critical part of his potential success was his ability to create channels through which his supporters could volunteer in whatever way fit their schedules. The Obama campaign provided the platforms for engaging, but equally as important, he provided a case and rationale for engaging, and constantly asked people to volunteer. Whether it is making phone calls to undecided voters in Nevada, text messaging friends from a rally or donating $10 a week through BarackObama.com -- the campaign is asking for help, giving up a little control and getting much more back. You can do the same, ask us how.Lesson #2: IT IS strategy, not an expense. Too often, organizations view IT as a line-item, often fat expenditure, a necessity for maintenance of the organization. Very often, one of the greatest stress points within an organization is the point at which the senior most technology person must interact with the rest of the organization, especially the marketing team. That becomes a stress point because IT (by the nature of what they are tasked with) comes at many things with the viewpoint of "What could go wrong?" That's just the way programmers have to think and I am glad (most of the time) they do. The Obama campaign did not view IT as a line-item expenditure or capital expense. For them it was every bit as much as investment as fundraisers or TV spots. Instead they took a page from my friend Charles SteelFisher's operation for Governor Deval Patrick's campaign, assembled a team relatively new to politics with fresh ideas from a myriad of industries and asked them "what are the limits of what is possible in the current environment?" then implemented a strategy that took advantage of maximizing the technology. Lesson #3: Develop a true social media engagement strategy. Senator Obama and his team deserve a lot of credit for meeting their objective of having the progressive blogs, the Netroots, coalesce around them -- as they were largely responsible for driving a lot of the story lines, particularly in the primary. Even more impressive given the campaign's chief strategist is an old-school newspaper man. It just shows that David Axelrod and the team he assembled are open to new ideas and realize that the best campaign may not be the last one, but this one. The Obama campaign recognized these blogs, such as DailyKos, Huffington Post and Talking Points Memo were important, but were not beholden to them. They, on occasion, took positions that were directly counter to the prevailing opinions of many of the bloggers, but they did it honestly, and did it without being dismissive. If you are a CEO reading this and have not commented on one of the top 5 most prominent blogs in your space, or worse do not read these blogs, or know they exist -- promise me you will start today. Like the WSJ or the box scores, it's a necessity. Lesson #4: Global community. One could make the case that one of the central tenets of Obama's campaign has been the idea that restoring the US image in the world isn't a campaign promise, it's a fundamental recognition of a new paradigm in US foreign policy. People are starting to the think of the US as a member of the global community, and its role as a community member being an important driver of foreign policy. The speech at the Victory Column in Berlin would never have been made by John Kerry, or John Edwards for that matter. It was bold. And while reminiscent of JFK in 1963 and Ronald Reagan in 1987, it also was a message to the rest of the world that Senator Obama recognizes that the US does not control every platform, every stage and every situation just by "being there." The US needs partners, and the partners and allies of this century will reflect a different world than the partners we had in the last century. I bet the same holds true for your company or organization. There are 300 million people in America, about 20 times that number in the rest of the world. Lesson #5: New Audiences.
One of the big business books of recent years (2005) is Blue Ocean Strategy. That is exactly the approach that Obama took to the electorate. Instead of going after a "red ocean" of swing voters in Iowa and New Hampshire (and elsewhere) he went after the "blue oceans" of new voters who were frustrated with the competitive mindset of US Politics (NB, many of these new voters happen to be Millennials, the largest generation in the history of the US. How did he ever think of that???) Think of it this way -- while Microsoft (Xbox) and Sony (PlayStation) battled to make the next technically advanced gaming system, Nintendo put out the Wii, completely rethought the notion of who a gamer was, and is now destroying them in terms of sales. Does anyone know someone who wants a PlayStation for their birthday or Christmas? Millennials, the Hispanic/Latino community, Asia, South America, Eastern Europe -- all blue ocean. Get there. I think these are the big lessons fo far -- let me know your thoughts.
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