Hope Is Not A Strategy: Leadership Lessons from the Obama Presidency - Paperback

by D. M. Lukas (Author), John L. Mariotti (Author)

This is a book on leadership, which uses the many mistakes and failures of Barack Obama's first term as illustrative examples for leadership lessons to be learned. The mistakes and failures during Obama's presidency are nearly all traceable to his fundamental leadership and experience shortcomings. Barack Obama's grand intentions and soaring rhetoric have not translated into effective leadership-and that is the great learning opportunity. Amidst the many differences about ideology and challenges of the US presidency, one fact emerges clearly: Barack Obama lacked the leadership skills and breadth/depth of experience for the job. Elected with expectations that he would be a "uniter," Barack Obama failed at the most important role of a leader and has, in fact been a "divider." His stated goal: "to fundamentally change America" has materialized in mostly negative results-unfulfilled "HOPE" and "CHANGE" for the worse. In thirty short, easy-to-read chapters, the book offers useful lessons about what to do differently and how to do that more effectively-translated to business and personal situations. A summary of the "Lessons" is also provided at the end of the book for a quick review. This is a great resource for current and aspiring leaders, who can learn a lot from the book's familiar high-profile situations, the problems that Obama had or created, and how the right kind of leadership would have dealt with them.

Author Biography

Dave M. Lukas is a modern day "Renaissance Man," recently turned age 30. He's an accomplished speaker, entrepreneur and investor, known for his no-nonsense, common sense approach. He has been invited to work with thought leaders such as Brian Tracy, Tony Robbins, Zig Ziglar, and others. He founded his first business at the amazing age of 5, and continued to develop business successes through college, after which he moved to a Fortune 500 company, where he was Rookie of the Year, Sales Consultant of the Year, & Top 25 Producer (out of 1500). He is also an accomplished management executive and has developed numerous winning sales organizations. Dave consults with companies at all stages of growth, often taking ownership positions. As Vice President & co-owner of Grasp Technologies, Dave has led 100% growth in each of the past 5 years. He has been published alongside John Mariotti in Forbes Online and is author of the upcoming, highly anticipated book, The Ten Year Career. Dave holds a BA in Management & Finance from Baldwin Wallace College. John L. Mariotti, CEO and founder of The Enterprise Group is an Internationally recognized executive, award winning author and keynote speaker recently turned age 70. In his 47-year career, he led major global businesses as President of Huffy Bicycles, and Group President of Rubbermaid Office Products. He was also Chairman of World Kitchen, Inc. John has served on multiple corporate boards, advised and spoken to numerous well-known companies, been read by millions, heard by thousands. His 9 Books include two award winners: The Shape-Shifters (1997) and The Complexity Crisis, one of 2008's Best. He blogs for American Express-Open Forum, for FORBES-Prosper Now, and on his own "Telling It Like It Is." He holds a BSME from Bradley Univ. and an MSME from the Univ. of Wisconsin.