Comments on: Crisis + Danger = Obama’s Opportunity http://melissablogs.com/2009/03/02/crisis-danger-obamas-opportunity/ Information Pollination Thu, 24 May 2012 15:04:38 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Crisis + Danger = Obama’s Opportunity « Dirty Democrats http://melissablogs.com/2009/03/02/crisis-danger-obamas-opportunity/comment-page-1/#comment-13999 Crisis + Danger = Obama’s Opportunity « Dirty Democrats Mon, 16 Mar 2009 13:47:11 +0000 http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=12947#comment-13999 [...] a comment » Crisis + Danger = Obama’s Opportunity: [...] [...] a comment » Crisis + Danger = Obama’s Opportunity: [...]

]]> By: david foster http://melissablogs.com/2009/03/02/crisis-danger-obamas-opportunity/comment-page-1/#comment-13657 david foster Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:13:51 +0000 http://www.melissaclouthier.com/?p=12947#comment-13657 When people take a new management job in a corporation, they often try to position their job as especially hard so they will get more glory/money when/if they succeed. This is particularly visible in field sales jobs--"Dunno, Fred, gonna be really hard improving our Gerbilator resuls in the Chicago territory this year. Really tough competitors, couple of our big customers are about to go under, and I've got a lot of wet-behind-the-ears sales rep." BUT, the same person who tells the above story to his boss will--if he is at all wise--be much more encouraging to the people who actually have to deliver the results. "Hey, you guys are mostly pretty young and all, but I think we have the nucleus of a really first-class sales force here. And the competitors?...hey, everybody has problems, and I guarantee you these guys have vulnerabilities, and we're going to find them." Obama's problem is that his *bosses* and *the people who have to deliver the resuls* are one and the same group of people. Having spent so much of his life campaigning, his inclination is to focus more on the isn't-my-job-hard story than on the you-guys-are-great-and-going-to-win story. When people take a new management job in a corporation, they often try to position their job as especially hard so they will get more glory/money when/if they succeed. This is particularly visible in field sales jobs–”Dunno, Fred, gonna be really hard improving our Gerbilator resuls in the Chicago territory this year. Really tough competitors, couple of our big customers are about to go under, and I’ve got a lot of wet-behind-the-ears sales rep.”

BUT, the same person who tells the above story to his boss will–if he is at all wise–be much more encouraging to the people who actually have to deliver the results. “Hey, you guys are mostly pretty young and all, but I think we have the nucleus of a really first-class sales force here. And the competitors?…hey, everybody has problems, and I guarantee you these guys have vulnerabilities, and we’re going to find them.”

Obama’s problem is that his *bosses* and *the people who have to deliver the resuls* are one and the same group of people. Having spent so much of his life campaigning, his inclination is to focus more on the isn’t-my-job-hard story than on the you-guys-are-great-and-going-to-win story.

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