Encountering the Wisdom of President Obama
Dialogue notes and takeaways for the young emerging leader
In my last article, it was all about the learning gleaned from the wonderful people I had the privilege to meet at
Design Workshop Hawai’i. A cohort of 21 young emerging leaders spent 3 days brainstorming, digging deep into what matters, and conversing with fellow changemakers to help build the ‘Obama Foundation Leaders: Asia-Pacific’ programme.Part of the workshop included, of course, a closed-door dialogue with President Obama, where we also presented some of our findings and suggestions from the convening. The first time I met him in person was at a Roundtable discussion held in Singapore, one which he and his Foundation graciously put together given he was visiting our nation for a private event. In hindsight, I spent that meeting trying to do many things at once — avoid being too starstruck, do your cause justice, share your passion, and don’t hog the conversation. This time round, being keenly aware of the privilege I had, I endeavoured to do more than just the above.
I knew that the former President would’ve been briefed on our profiles, so there was no need to seek the spotlight. Despite ‘suffering’ from the paralysis of being starstruck (again), I was able to keep my focus on two goals I had going into the session:
- We use our privilege to elevate others, so have a mind focused on sharing the learning. My pen worked on overdrive and my handwriting showed medical school promise.
- There is no shame in receiving wisdom, there is no fame in putting up a show. Focus on the learning and be the dumbest, hungriest person possible.
This served very well in my own reflections, so as promised, I will share some of the learning from that dialogue that hit me the hardest — for the profound wisdom and rich learning within.
On young people chasing careers
We live in a pragmatic world, and in my home country of Singapore, this cannot be truer. Meritocracy and capitalism creates a prosperous population, one defined by excellence committed through a combination of hard work and talent, rewarded accordingly and in most cases — hopefully — proportionately.
What this does, as ideologies and systems perpetuate and last decades and centuries, is that it creates in people a focus. In this case, it is a focus on personal achievements and career chasing. And increasingly, more young people adopt this focus and laser in on that, disregarding other ennobling causes.
President Obama was asked: “What would you say to these young people?” His answer in a nutshell: Find a purpose. Take basic self and family care. Find a way that you can help people, and leave a better world for the next generation.
But a common response you get from people is that they will help — when they earn enough. This sparked a conversation on what was considered enough. At what point does someone say that what they are earning and what they have is enough? Research done by the famed Daniel Kahneman in 2010 finds that general satisfaction with life and happiness begins to stop after a person’s annual income hits around US$75,000. Pursuing a number higher than that will never change how one feels about life. What we tell young people today, and the signals we give, will influence how they decide to live their life.
So what do we inspire them to do? Have a community, build connection with others, contribute, have a sense that you are useful and that you are helping others, have people that you love, and have a sense of being loved. Simple words from President Obama — but I’d be the first to admit that it’s a hard goal to reach.
On young people pursuing power
Too often as we begin our careers — and I speak for myself as well — we are more concerned about who we want to be rather than what we want to do. While the difference seems insignificant, the mindset this perpetuates is dangerous even as we commit ourselves to building young people. As people become single-minded on the position of power, they forget what they wanted that position of power for. President Obama advised us not to worry about who we want to be but what we want to do — that having a position is not the goal.
This happens everywhere, and in so many cases today. We see people who spent their entire careers chasing after a powerful position, that once they actually get the power — they forget what they wanted the power to do in the first place! This is the greatest derailment of youth ambition, and potentially what we as youth developers have to have in the back of our minds as we invest in helping them achieve their dreams.
That being said, we also need to remind them that pursuing power is fine — but only if that power helps them make the impact that they want. How they define power is also important. The world has always defined power as ‘stepping on others’. Another definition, the better definition, is how impactful and inspiring you are. Protecting against your impulses, teaching others, and making others more powerful with your power.
On risk-taking to make an impact
One of the topics that I could identify strongly with was the topic on risk. It’s a commonly heard adage: Leadership is risky, and often if you want to make a big impact, you have to undertake a fair amount of risk. The inspiration stories tell of everyday heroes who risk and sacrifice, and watch it pay off.
The advice President Obama shared that really hit home for me was how risk is different for everyone. Allow me to break down how I heard that: The risk faced by a person who has children is very different from the risk faced by the one who doesn’t. And likewise, the risk faced by a person in her 60s is very different from the risk faced by a person in her 30s. As risk is different for everyone, the calculation each person does becomes different. What’s important is that you know what level of risk you’re taking and know what you are willing to sacrifice almost everything for.
This gave me much to think about. Blind risk is foolish, and we would be fooling ourselves if we think that we need to adopt an insane level of risk just to do something meaningful. The truth is that there is a trade-off between level of risk and what we are willing to sacrifice. Factor in also that making an impact is a marathon, not a sprint. So how do we balance out these three factors of risk, sacrifice, and perseverance? It differs from person to person, leader to leader, but the laying out of these factors so clearly really gives me a new perspective on what risk-taking to make an impact truly consists of and means.
As you can already tell from the media and other portrayals, President Obama is a family man — he advised us to find that cause for which we would be willing to sacrifice everything except our family. No wiser advice.
On a key leadership habit
At work, I lead various teams focusing on each of Halogen Foundation’s different programme arms while also supporting the CEO in leading the organisation. So naturally I was curious about how President Obama led his diverse teams and what leadership habits he had. His answer: Listen.
I think this is one thing that good public servants figure out early in their careers. I find that the best ones have learnt to listen carefully to people’s ideas, thoughts, and opinions, not based on their position but based on the quality of what they say. They, like President Obama, have realised that wisdom doesn’t always come from the top, and truth can come from many different places.
But how do we make this actionable? It’s easy to proclaim and preach, but how do we actually make this happen? He recommended that we recognise the dignity and worth of every person, and the possibility of them teaching us something that we don’t know.
If you really think about it and look at the best leaders you personally admire, you’ll realise that most of them are simply good synthesisers. They make sure everyone on the table gets to speak, challenge each other on their opinions, sort out the root issue, and solve the problem at hand. We can’t do that effectively if we brush people away — no matter who they are. So you have to first listen, identify what is being said, and synthesise the ideas and opinions. The mantra is worth repeating: If you want to lead, listen.
Making the inspiration practical
As mentioned earlier, I truly believe in sharing the privilege of learning. I hope this has given you more than just an insight into our dialogue, but also some ‘sticky’ nuggets of wisdom that will help you become a better leader.
Coming this year, the Obama Foundation will hold the larger convening of 200 young emerging leaders from the Asia-Pacific region. If this inspired you as much as it did me, I invite you to take the leap towards scaling your impact. Join us in this convening.
If you’re looking to start now, and make an impact to young people on the local level, get in touch with me or the good people at Halogen Foundation. The work we do every day puts boots on the ground to build youth capacity, on a character, mindset, and skill set level. I can’t wait to do more for our home region, and to see the future world that our youth will change for the better.
Thanks to Laura from the Obama Foundation team for editing drafts of this article, and to the Halogen Foundation team for inspiring me to do what I do for the future of Singapore.
(Timothy Low is the Chief Operating Officer of Halogen Foundation, a youth development non-profit organisation focusing on building young leaders and entrepreneurs. Prior to this, he founded a training consultancy, tenured as Entrepreneur-in-Residence in an L&D firm, and led an accelerator-VC programme for deep-tech startups. Outside of work, Tim is involved with communities making real impact, including Sandbox, Global Shapers, Kairos Society, and +Acumen Impact Circle.)
