The Next President: Look Past the Rhetoric

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Through all this, McCain has operated more like an entrepreneur than an executive: outspoken, direct, and creative, but often leaving a trail of messes that need to be cleaned up after him. Projecting what McCain would be like in the White House, one could probably expect a few clear messages emanating from the President. However, these would likely be accompanied by lots of turnover and instability in his cabinet and White House staff.

In contrast, Barack Obama got his early training as a community organizer. He has translated that experience into a massive field team that reflects a bottoms-up (BusinessWeek, 8/21/08), empowered organization. His key central staff members have been with him since the beginning of his campaign, as his team has experienced virtually no turnover, dissension, or organizational problems. Obama himself set the standard of operation (BusinessWeek, 8/23/08) at the outset, telling his people he wouldn't tolerate dissension and internal squabbles—earning him the label: "No Drama Obama."

A Google-Like Team

As his candidacy has progressed, he has expanded his central team and successfully married it to his field organization. His organization resembles a growing corporate structure like Google (GOOG) or Intel (INTC): a strong central core linked to a creative group of individuals building off the Internet.

Projecting this forward into the White House, one would likely expect a disciplined staff around Obama, integrated with empowered people throughout the government carrying out multiple initiatives. Taking on a broad set of initiatives, Obama's messages would be more nuanced and more complex than McCain's. Whereas McCain is a pragmatist, Obama is a visionary.

How would each of these men respond to the pressure of surprise events like September 11 or Hurricane Katrina? McCain would probably rely more on his own instincts than the advice of his team and would be decisive and possibly impulsive. In contrast, Obama would be likely to gather a group of experts around him, listen carefully to their advice, integrate it into his own thinking, and make decisions that were more nuanced.

Comparing these candidates to previous Presidents, I envision that McCain would operate more like Harry Truman, while Obama would function more in the style of John F. Kennedy.

In deciding their choice for the next President, voters should look past the rhetoric and focus on what kind of leader our country needs at this crucial time in our history.

George, professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, is the author of two best-selling books, True North and Authentic Leadership. The former chairman and chief executive of Medtronic, he serves on the boards of ExxonMobil, Goldman Sachs, and Novartis.