Channeling Obama: Harnessing the Power of Passion

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Though the history-making presidential election is, well, history, lessons remain about who voted for Barack Obama — and why.

Hospitality industry employees were a friendly constituency, it turns out. In fact the people who make up a huge portion of our industry — minorities, women, people under 30 — voted overwhelmingly for Obama. Impressive statistics, these: Young voters favored Obama by a margin of 68% to McCain’s 30%. Latinos, 67%. Women, 55%. African-Americans, 96%.

Why the lopsided victory? Exit polls showed that Obama prevailed not merely as a youthful, vigorous alternative to McCain. Instead it was Obama’s message — “hope”, “we can do better”, “McCain is another Bush” — that truly resonated with voters, and even inspired them.

Far from denying that possibility, many can easily recall how inspired they were by a young John F. Kennedy. In his time Franklin Roosevelt so lifted the electorate they asked him back again — and again. More recently, there was the immediate and powerful effect of President Bush’s speech atop the New York City fire truck right after 9/11.

If it’s true that Obama’s message — and not just voter dissatisfaction with President Bush —was the major factor in his victory, we ignore our employees’ passion for the new president at our own peril. On the other hand the specter of misguided legislation emerging in the next Congress — we hear a lot about the Employee Free Choice Act, for example — is a genuine cause for concern.

So, what do we do now? Stage a pre-emptive attack on Congress’s new spending initiatives? Speak with a united voice, saying our industry will not accept new or expanded entitlements or wrong-headed “free choice” legislation? It’s likely we will do a fair amount of that.

How will these attacks on President Obama’s ideas resonate with our employees? A wholesale condemnation of Obama’s thoughts about “change” could backfire, encouraging employees who believe management is tone deaf to look for work elsewhere or, worse, galvanize their co-workers to promote change. Did someone mention the EFCA?

A more moderate, no less determined approach may alienate far fewer employees and even win allies. While keeping an eye on emerging legislative proposals, employers can earn important goodwill by demonstrating to their employees that their desire for change was heard.

But where to begin? Think demographics: for example, what employer policies might we alter to appeal to the more mobile Generation Y? What benefit programs could we amend, without adding costs, to permit part-timers to have some albeit limited health coverage? How soon could we support more community involvement by everyone on the team? Could we sponsor a modest employee scholarship program?

Engaging and energizing a shrunken workforce during an economic decline unprecedented in recent history is a tall order, even for the best of companies. But if we view this challenge from a different perspective — there’s a new president with a huge cheering section, anxiously awaiting its marching orders — we could harness the power of passion, and profit from it.