Obama's Post-Presidential Goal Is Fostering New Leadership

[Sunlei]

Source: Bloomberg

Barack Obama, making his first formal public appearance since leaving the White House, said Monday that partisanship and special interests have poisoned the political process and hindered the search for solutions to the nation’s most pressing problems.

Speaking inside a University of Chicago auditorium to about 400 people, the former president said that the focus of his life outside of office will be the kind of work he did before entering politics, fostering leadership and grassroots engagement.

“The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can to prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton,” Obama told the audience. While the nation confronts serious challenges including income inequality and inner city violence, he said they are all solvable.

The Chicago event is the first in a series of public appearances that Obama, 55, will make in the coming months. On May 7, he’s scheduled to accept the Profile in Courage Award in Boston from the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation.




Read more: https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2017-04-24/obama-sees-post-presidential-goal-of-fostering-new-leadership

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Two days later, he’ll speak about food, climate change and agriculture at the Global Food Innovation Summit in Milano, Italy. He’ll be joined by Sam Kass, a family friend who was his White House chef.

On May 25, Obama is set to appear at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin with German Chancellor Angela Merkel for a discussion about shaping democracy. The former president, who is writing a memoir that’s expected to earn him tens of millions of dollars, also will deliver paid speeches both in the U.S. and while in Europe.

[LisaM]

1. I respectfully disagree.

Real leaders grow into the position. Start at the bottom, not the top.

[Sunlei]

2. he's been working on the bottom for years, still is.

[LisaM]

7. We must have read the beginning of the article differently.

“The single most important thing I can do is to help in any way I can to prepare the next generation of leadership to take up the baton,” Obama told the audience.

How do you know who a leader is before she/he emerges?

[CherokeeDem]

13. You don't know....

that is why you prepare all and see who rises to the top.

[frazzled]

5. Wha? The panel he was speaking with consisted of high school and college students

As was, for the most part I think, the audience. How is that "starting from the top"?

Obama was asking them about their own experiences in civic involvement in their communities or politics, how they see young people getting more engaged, how the media and internet were affecting the kinds of information they were receiving, etc. And it was not even partisan: he included one college Republican in the group.

This is better than a politician getting up there and saying "I am the way: young people, follow my political prescriptions and make my revolution."

[TomCADem]

10. Wow. Criticizing President For Encouraging Young People to Engage

That's worse than when Republicans criticized him for addressing school children.

[LisaM]

12. That's absolutely wrong. I said no such thing.

I am simply making a point that (and this has nothing to do with Obama personally, just a trend that I see) that I don't think leaders can be identified at an early age. IMO, leaders emerge, they aren't chosen by some special provenance. I have a friend whose daughter is in grad school for arts administration and is already speaking of herself as "one of the next generation of leaders in the arts". I like my friend and her daughter, but man that statement rubbed me the wrong way.

[BumRushDaShow]

14. "I don't think leaders can be identified at an early age."

You must not have been around youngsters much. You can get a good-sized group of 5 year olds and will often see one or two who are more assertive and/or empathetic than others, and might find others with even temperaments who will tend to "herd" the others or direct others to do some activity with them or the group. At the same time, you might also see bullies emerge among such a group - i.e., those not willing to share or who act out aggressively, etc.

I have mentored many young (and older) people over the years and if you are willing to be observant, certain personalities emerge, and you can guide folks towards certain activities (and then training) that can or will lead to leadership opportunities.

[LisaM]

15. Again, untrue. I worked at a preschool for years.

and I've seen all kinds of kids and parents. What a thing to say to me!!!! And, my father taught high school and coached. I've been around young people my whole life.

I think leaders do (and should) emerge through experience, circumstance, of course having some of the necessary abilities, empathy, and the ability to see things through a range of prisms. I think that the right times can create the right leaders, but chaotic times can also produce some spectacular failures in leadership.

[BumRushDaShow]

16. If what you post is true

then you would have not dismissed seeing children and young people who have certain temperaments that can serve them well in a leadership role. Oddly enough, people don't change much as they grow older (although certain behaviors may be tempered or magnified depending on life circumstances).

I have taken countless "leadership" courses, workshops, and other training associated with such over the past 40 years (including having been a supervisor for years) and although you can give someone some good "leadership tools" to help them improve their time, organizational, or risk management abilities, communications skills, or conflict resolution/negotiation skills etc., you can't "educate" someone into leadership. The "leader" is a person who usually has some sort of innate desire or drive to succeed, and the willingness to keep at it.

The "experience" part will come if someone is identified early enough to guide them towards activities where they can "take charge" and go from there... And yes, "failure" will (and must) happen, but that is par for the course, and notably when the individual is willing to engage in some "lessons learned" retrospectives in order to improve.

[LisaM]

17. Actually, I think we have a philosophical divide (one point of which is that I'm uncomfortable

with the term "leader" as a title). I've read your points. I just have some basic disagreements. I think maybe you can tag people who don't want to run or manage things from an early age, but I don't think you can always predict who will eventually have the tools to govern well.

[BumRushDaShow]

18. I agree with your point

There will never be a "sure thing" when it comes to something as nebulous as this. But if you are of the mind to intervene - you can always try to be receptive when you see potential and then try to encourage and guide someone towards such a goal. But ultimately the old adage - "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" applies in any case. That has to come from within.

[LisaM]

19. You water the plants and help them grow!

I love kids, I loved working with them (hated having to be dirt poor to do it). I think you can actively hinder self-confidence at an early age (I can point to myself as an example of that one).

[BumRushDaShow]

20. Agree

My mom was a Brownie (Girl Scout) leader, my sister is a Junior Girl Scout assistant leader, and I have been involved with scouts for years - and that is an activity where the teaching and nurturing and busting stereotypes takes place (one of the most recent badge-earning activities one of my nieces was involved in included interviewing me with questions about "stereotypes&quot . I.e., it provides the opportunity for you to tell young girls - yes you can do it if you have the patience, where-with-all, and drive to "lead" (in whatever role). You might not want to or like it or fear you'll fail at it or find you love it, but don't let anything hold you back from trying if you want to go for it!

[BeyondGeography]

3. Post-presidential generic gobbledygook

De rigueur.

IOW, the door is open for the next leader of the Democratic Party, as it always is when Presidents move on. The more partisan, the better. Republican partisans have gotten us to this place, not Democrats.

[VigilantG]

4. Obama is coming full circle and

I think it is a great idea to cultivate our youth. We have been lacking in civic duty and community service for decades. We need to bring young people and even Gen Xers, into the conversation.

Obama has two smart young daughters to be watching too. I think going back to his Community organizing roots is invaluable.

[bluestarone]

6. Obama is right on in his

Getting youth involved! Heaven knows we need them more than ever!!!!

[sheshe2]

9. Exactly, bluestarone.

Welcome to DU!

[George II]

8. I would have loved to have seen him with Tom Perez on the Unity Tour.

[sheshe2]

11. Obama is...

the definition of unity!