As if he were not an inspiring enough speaker alone, at the end of his first speech to Congress Tuesday night Barack Obama did something that every CEO should take note of – he took the time to not only shake the hands of named Congressmen and women, but seemingly as important to him he stopped shook hands with and even engaged in brief conversation with the “pages” who had attended.

This is the leader of the free world and nobody had to remind him that those young pages were a huge part of the movement which elected him. Nobody had to explain to him what a thrill it would be to be 20something and have the President shake your hand and ask what you thought of his speech. Which is why it was both natural and so very classy when Obama took the time to seek out the pages.

Take this lesson outside of the political arena and bring it to the corporate arena. Every CEO claims to have some sort of open door policy and each will tell you that they know and value their workers. They might even have a corporate communications person write thank you emails for them, but now stop and ask yourself a question – When was the last time the CEO walked the floor of your company? Does the CEO know anybody at the company (outside their inner circle) on a personal level?

If you work at an organization where the CEO is at the top of a large group it’s a good idea to ask yourself these and related questions and if you are the CEO of a company you shouldn’t have to ask the questions, rather you should know the answers and be proactive about ensuring the answers to the questions are always yes.

The point is that it is really simple to espouse an “open door I’m in touch with the workers on the ground level” policy but it is much much more important to walk the walk than talk the talk.

Barack Obama has a love fest going with the American public right now, he certainly did not need to score extra points by including the pages in his historical evening but the fact that he did so in such a seemless way makes you really believe him when he says he values every voice and is thankful for every vote.

Not every CEO can inspire the way Obama can simply through his presence, but you can certainly inspire by showing your team that you value them, care about them as people and that they can approach you any appropriate time. If Obama can spend an extra few minutes being a true leader, so can you.


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