The last chapter of my soon-to-be published book, Reading the Room, applies its theory, Structural Dynamics, in an analysis of President Barack Obama’s behavioral profile. These chronicles will, from a Structural Dynamics (systems) point of view, comment on the dilemmas Obama faces as he seeks reelection and the decisions he makes in the period leading up to the election and beyond.
A June 2nd article in the New York Times, Employment Data May Be the Key to the President's Job, begins “No American president since Franklin Delano Roosevelt has won a second term in office when the unemployment rate on Election Day topped 7.2%”. Today, roughly 9% of Americans who want to work are unemployed. The chances of reducing this rate to the article’s alleged threshold are dim if not grim. A second article in the Times of this same day, A Way Through the Debt Mess , describes how Lyndon Johnson faced the problem of how to raise the debt ceiling while also raising taxes. Obama faces the same debt dilemma, which is linked to unemployment. Johnson’s tactics offer important lessons.
In systems terms, Johnson, a master politician and tactician, looked for pressure points, what we would call leverage points, to move a stuck system. When a system is stuck, Structural Dynamics says, it is sometimes necessary to perturb it. The idea is that when a stuck system is “blown up”, so to speak, and the dust settles, it will have changed. Such tactics do not come natural to Obama. Let us say that, with reelection at stake, he has no choice and must consider imitating Johnson’s famous ability to twist arms in order to get his way.
Showing posts with label Behavioral Profile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Behavioral Profile. Show all posts
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Obama and Rahm Profiles--Match or Mismatch?
Introduction to the Language
The language has many terms—too many to grasp all at once. These concepts will be introduced gradually, from posting to posting. Repeat usage, which certainly will occur, can be followed by using the Labels function on the right pane of the page. Click on the term of interest and you will be brought to all the posts in which it was used. This way, you can see how the terms are applied in different situations, circumstances and contexts.
A Primer
The theory of Structural Dynamics has identified 36 Behavioral Profiles. Each Profile has three components: one covering an individual’s propensity for one of four action Modes (Mover, Follower, Opposer, Bystander;) three preferred Communication Domains (Affect, Power, Meaning) and three Operational Domains (Closed, Open and Random.) A Profile is an individual’s skeletal structure. Voice, nuance, intensity, and other qualities add fuller bodied resonance to a Behavioral Profile. Structural Dynamics emphasizes these core structures. They represent the subtext of all action propensities as expressed in speech and behavior.
Here are just a few quotes from an article that set the stage for my comments on leader's profiles--"The Limits of Rahmism" Rahm Emanuel is a Mover in Closed System Power. Barack Obama, is a Bystander in Open System Meaning.
Source: NYT Magazine March 14, 2010 “The Limits of Rahmism” By Peter Baker Online version
“…Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel, an unlikely tandem of inspirational leader and legislative mechanic, that was supposed to enact the most expansive domestic program since the The Great Society.”
Leaders choose their Followers carefully. Obama’s choice of Emanuel was a calculated strategic decision. Baker’s article raises questions about the wisdom of this choice.
“[This] paradox…has not been lost on Washington. A visionary outsider who is relatively inexperienced and perhaps even a tad naïve about the ways of Washington captures the White House and eager to get things done, hires the ultimate get-it-done insider to run his operation.”
In our view, for precisely Baker’s point, Obama made a smart choice. Obama is a skilled Bystander. Bystanders hang back, take in as much information as they can, internally reflect, and then act, Move. Emanuel, sleeves rolled up and quick to Act. That is, he is a strong Mover who is a known, arm-twisting Opposer as well. This combination may not endear him to adversaries, but no one doubts he intends to “get things done.” The Domain of Power, in our lexicon, is all about “getting the work done.”
“If Emmanuel’s philosophy is to put points on the board, to take what you can get and then cut a deal, everything negotiable except success, then the White House is testing the limits of Rahmism.”
Yes, the proof of a leader’s choice of Followers is in the results. One can imagine that during this critical search for Democrats to vote yes on the president’s health bill, Rahm Emanuel is not sitting on his hands wondering what to do.
“[Their relationship] is hardly a relationship of dependence and deferral. These are two strong willed individuals, yet…Obama calls the shots. When Obama makes a decision at variance with Emanuel’s advice, Emanuel does what staff members do and adopts the decision as his own.”
There are two main types of Followers. Those who follow faithfully, even blindly, and do not question (Actively Bystand) or Oppose (challenge their leader’s positions;) and those who do all this, but in the end, Move as One with the leader. Baker opines, we think correctly, that Emanuel is the second type.
The language has many terms—too many to grasp all at once. These concepts will be introduced gradually, from posting to posting. Repeat usage, which certainly will occur, can be followed by using the Labels function on the right pane of the page. Click on the term of interest and you will be brought to all the posts in which it was used. This way, you can see how the terms are applied in different situations, circumstances and contexts.
A Primer
The theory of Structural Dynamics has identified 36 Behavioral Profiles. Each Profile has three components: one covering an individual’s propensity for one of four action Modes (Mover, Follower, Opposer, Bystander;) three preferred Communication Domains (Affect, Power, Meaning) and three Operational Domains (Closed, Open and Random.) A Profile is an individual’s skeletal structure. Voice, nuance, intensity, and other qualities add fuller bodied resonance to a Behavioral Profile. Structural Dynamics emphasizes these core structures. They represent the subtext of all action propensities as expressed in speech and behavior.
Here are just a few quotes from an article that set the stage for my comments on leader's profiles--"The Limits of Rahmism" Rahm Emanuel is a Mover in Closed System Power. Barack Obama, is a Bystander in Open System Meaning.
Source: NYT Magazine March 14, 2010 “The Limits of Rahmism” By Peter Baker Online version
“…Barack Obama and Rahm Emanuel, an unlikely tandem of inspirational leader and legislative mechanic, that was supposed to enact the most expansive domestic program since the The Great Society.”
Leaders choose their Followers carefully. Obama’s choice of Emanuel was a calculated strategic decision. Baker’s article raises questions about the wisdom of this choice.
“[This] paradox…has not been lost on Washington. A visionary outsider who is relatively inexperienced and perhaps even a tad naïve about the ways of Washington captures the White House and eager to get things done, hires the ultimate get-it-done insider to run his operation.”
In our view, for precisely Baker’s point, Obama made a smart choice. Obama is a skilled Bystander. Bystanders hang back, take in as much information as they can, internally reflect, and then act, Move. Emanuel, sleeves rolled up and quick to Act. That is, he is a strong Mover who is a known, arm-twisting Opposer as well. This combination may not endear him to adversaries, but no one doubts he intends to “get things done.” The Domain of Power, in our lexicon, is all about “getting the work done.”
“If Emmanuel’s philosophy is to put points on the board, to take what you can get and then cut a deal, everything negotiable except success, then the White House is testing the limits of Rahmism.”
Yes, the proof of a leader’s choice of Followers is in the results. One can imagine that during this critical search for Democrats to vote yes on the president’s health bill, Rahm Emanuel is not sitting on his hands wondering what to do.
“[Their relationship] is hardly a relationship of dependence and deferral. These are two strong willed individuals, yet…Obama calls the shots. When Obama makes a decision at variance with Emanuel’s advice, Emanuel does what staff members do and adopts the decision as his own.”
There are two main types of Followers. Those who follow faithfully, even blindly, and do not question (Actively Bystand) or Oppose (challenge their leader’s positions;) and those who do all this, but in the end, Move as One with the leader. Baker opines, we think correctly, that Emanuel is the second type.
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