Leadership

The 12/17/08 edition of Time Magazine, which named President Elect Barack Obama Person of the Year had an interesting article? “Why History Can’t Wait.”

In the interview, President-elect Obama shared his leadership philosophy, which I thought was worth repeating here.

“…I hire really good people. … I’m not scared of hiring the smartest people, even when they’re smarter than me. And I have a low tolerance of nonsense and turf battles and game-playing, and I send that message very clearly. And so over time, I think, people start trusting each other, and they stay focused on mission, as opposed to personal ambition or grievance. If you’ve got really smart people who are all focused on the same mission, then usually you can get some things done.”

Seems to be a sound strategy to me: hire great people, stay focused on the mission above all, get things done.