If you’ve worked with me for any length of time, you’ll know that I am inspired by people who lead from their values or principles, no matter how hard this is.

I’ve just read former US First Lady Michelle Obama’s book Becoming. Her story is inspiring, covering her rise from the South Side of Chicago through Harvard and her work as a lawyer, to her ‘swerves’ into purposeful roles in university administration, hospital administration, and an NPO that helped young people build meaningful careers.

But what stands out for me, more than anything, is how Michelle Obama points to the aspiration she shares with former US President Barack Obama, which is: “You may live in the world as it is, but you can still work to create the world as it should be.”

The climate in which we live and work can be discouraging, disheartening, and debilitating. In a context of global political uncertainty and economic challenges, here in SA we deal, in addition, with continued inequity, crime, and corruption in the public and private sectors.

On a smaller scale, many people in business want to do the right thing – but it’s hard. They may operate in toxic organisational cultures, or in businesses where, understandably, the priorities are to survive, pay the bills, and pay the salaries.

But I remain convinced that a key way to make sense of the context we live and work in remains to rise and stay above rotten or slap-dash practices, above disrespect of others, and above mere box-ticking governance by – wherever we may be in the echelons of power – being real and ‘doing’ deep, purposeful, ethical leadership.

In a speech delivered soon before the end of Barack Obama’s second term as President, at a time when political campaigns meant some candidates were denigrating other people on the basis of nationality, race, gender, or beliefs, Michelle Obama shared one of the couple’s mottos from a stage: “When they go low, we go high.”

What does ‘going high’ look like? What can we learn from Michelle Obama? How can we ‘do’ deep, purposeful, ethical leadership?

First, use what you have. Use your story. Obama speaks of how her father, Fraser Robinson, taught her how to work hard, laugh often, and keep her word. And she says: “Together in our cramped apartment on the South Side of Chicago, [my parents] helped me see the value . . . in my story, the larger story of our country. Even if it’s not pretty or perfect. Your story is what you have, what you will always have. It is something to own”.

Second, use your voice. Obama credits her mother for showing her how to think for herself and use her voice.

Using your voice can be a dramatic action, for example, former SAA treasurer Cynthia Stimpel speaking out about a dodgy deal that would have netted former Board chair Dudu Myeni a cool R250m. Or it can be an everyday approach – challenging the biased way a colleague speaks to you, or making suggestions for improving the governance practices in your organisation. Most of us won’t land up being in a high-profile position like Obama but we can lead where we are.

Third, choose your cause. Make life choices based on your values and principles. Obama moved out of the predictable, safe career of a corporate lawyer because there were opportunities to contribute in a meaningful way through work in a hospital and an NPO. In her book, she speaks about the four ethical causes she launched as First Lady – around healthy eating for children, support for military spouses and veterans, and supporting the education and development of girls and women.

Obviously, many of us don’t have this type of platform but we have access to others – for example, church programmes to alleviate the effects of poverty or hardship, or social enterprises which engineer new forms of employment or education.

Fourth, stay the course. Know yourself and your principles. What do you stand for? How do you choose to operate? What is the ‘filter’ you use for your every action? Here is a quote which sums up the Obamas’ belief (emphasis mine):

“My mind sometimes landed back in the church basement in Roseland, on the Far South Side of Chicago, where I’d gone twenty-five years earlier to be with Barack as he spoke to a neighbourhood group that was struggling to push back against hopelessness and indifference. Listening to the conversation that evening, I’d heard something familiar articulated in a new way. It was possible, I knew, to live on two planes at once – to have one’s feet planted in reality but pointed in the direction of progress. It was what I’d done as a kid on Euclid Avenue. You [get] somewhere by building that better reality, if at first only in your own mind. Or as Barack had put it that night, you may live in the world as it is, but you can still work to create the world as it should be.”

References

Obama, M. 2018. Becoming. New York: Penguin Random House