My Friends, A Change is Gonna Come

"My friends," the endorsements for Sen. Barack Obama are piling on like Tampa Bay Rays at the pitchers mound after their victory over the Boston Red Sox.  Recent endorsements by General Colin Powell, The Washington Post and the Chicago Tribune (no big surprise here) signal a societal shift in how Americans are yearning for a fresh, new direction.  

The Washington Post endorsement states: "Mr. Obama is a man of supple intelligence, with a nuanced grasp of complex issues and evident skill at conciliation and consensus-building.  Gen. Colin Powell added:  "Sen. Obama is a 'transformational leader' that is needed during this difficult times." 

These recent endorsements fortify the argument that paternalistic individualism is not the type of leadership we need in these difficult times.  Good communication skills, a global vision, conciliation and consensus-building should not be perceived as weaknesses as the GOP suggests. 

These shifts in governmental leadership values hopefully will begin to reverberate in other institutions----like corporate America.