Obama series 2/3: Vision and Ownership

We’re on a journey through the Obama campaign and in this second of three posts we’ll unpack two other big factors in Obama’s winning strategy: the way he used vision and gave ownership.

Vision

Obama created a new vision and was able to communicate it such that he achieved agreement from his supporters. This inspired a generation to take ownership for communicating this to their peers. It signalled their backing for the ‘audacity of hope’. ‘We are Americans’ he said, ‘We can do anything if we put our minds to it’. Why is this clever? It’s a story that appeals to our subconscious without believing that he is trying to sell us a vision. But he is already. He’s telling a third party story, (which includes the audience), that draws them in, because every time Obama says something the audience finds themselves nodding in agreement. One of our clients recently started a ‘cultural transformation programme’ and in this document they stated that the reason why they wanted to implement this new culture was that it would enable them to ‘transform their industry’. That is a bold claim. When we saw the faces of the Emerging Talent group that would be a part of the team to help do this, their eyes lit up. They realised they were on the edge of something huge, and they wanted to be on the winning side.

Ownership