Is President Obama A Three Envelope Leader?

There is a story about the CEO who loses his job. On the way out of the office as the new CEO is moving in, the new CEO asks, "Do you have any advice for me?"

The departing CEO says to him, "I left you three sealed and numbered envelopes in the upper left hand corner of the desk. Use them only when you need them and use them wisely. That is the only advice I have for you".

The terminated CEO then leaves. The new CEO registers the comment and goes about settling into his new job. All is going well for him for the first few weeks but in a few short months he finds himself all alone at his desk on a Friday night at midnight staring at his management reports and realizing that things are not going well at all. All the numbers are down and the Board is starting to ask questions and customers and employees are losing faith in him. He is at wits end and doesn't know where to turn. It is then that he remembers the words of the departing CEO and he opens up the top left hand drawer of his desk and there in in the back are the three envelopes, just as he had been told they would be. Not knowing what else to do with the business, he decides to open envelope number one and he reads inside this statement, "Blame your predecessor."

The sitting CEO takes the advice and begins pointing out all of the failings of the prior CEO and claims that the mess the business is in is really all because of the prior leader and administration. This sentiment resonates with customers, employees and his Board and for a few more months the heat comes off of him and all looks good. But, again on a late Friday night a number of months later, he finds himself once again under fire and he has now been in the job long enough that he just can't blame anyone else now but himself. The business is tanking and everyone is now pointing at him. Not knowing what else to do, he reaches for envelope number two and inside he reads, "Reorganize".

This seems like a brilliant suggestion so starting the next morning the CEO begins removing his team of managers and replacing them with new people. This seems to be a terrific piece of advice as for almost the next year there is lots of energy and activity with people changing jobs and bringing in new ideas and as the CEO he spends a lot of time introducing new people to the team and explaining how the new people will be the ones to lead the company to new levels of success, etc. But, just as before, now a year after the reorganization has settled in and he doesn't have anyone left to replace, the business begins to fail again and all eyes are on him to either improve the business results or he will be the next one to be replaced. As he comes out of his most contentious Board meeting, he rushes to his office to do the only thing he knows to do and he grabs the third and final envelope and rips it open looking for the advice to save him and he reads inside, "Make three envelopes".

We are nearing the midterm of President Obama's first term and these past few weeks I have not been able to think of much else other than the story of the three envelopes. For the first year plus, the President spent much of his political time and capital blaming the Bush Administration for the mess of the country and the mess he was inheriting. There was some truth in it, but after a while it began to tire and we looked to him to not tell us the problems of the past, but give us solutions for the future. We did get some of those but not without bitter partisanship that has left a sour taste in everyone's mouth and a feeling that our government is working more poorly than before. The press began to call for the changes at the top of the President's administration to try and recover the hope of Washington working differently. There was not much movement until the announcement that Rahm Emanuel, the President's Chief of Staff would step down, then Lawrence Summers, his senior economic advisor quickly followed suit, and then last week General James Jones, his head of National Security resigned. Leaks were coming from the White House that even a change with Vice-President Biden might be in the works to make room for Hillary Clinton to move out of the Secretary of State role to be Vice President. From the outside looking in, it looks like a concerted and deliberate reorganization is taking place.

Could it be that the President has reached for the first two envelopes and he is still only half way through his first term?

I am one American who certainly hopes not, but it is hard to not think that this might be the case. Soon we will know how the American people are responding to the agenda that has been set forth for us over the last two years. Much will ride on the November elections. Whether or not the President will need to reach for the third envelope, still resides with his ability to focus and deliver on the hopes, dreams and agenda that he laid out to the American people in 2008.

I still can still be optimistic and more than anything hope that he is not a three envelope leader.