The newstatesman, a London weekly magazine in its special edition dated 17th October 2005 carried a prophetic story on its cover page: 10 people, who will change the world.

The magazine listed the then obscure 43 year- old Barack Obama, 'a skinny guy from the South Side with a funny name', Harvard trained, university Don, first time senator from Illinois in the USA as one of the potential 10 world-changers- those whose influence and actions will alter all of our lives across the globe forever.

How prophetic!
According to newstatesman : 'Washington has a habit of hailing new political celebrities chewing them over and then spitting them out, but Obama has come to DC prepared to shoulder the burden of high expectations. Indeed, the only problem may be that he seems a little too primed for political superstardom. He is a telegenic man who lights up parties and for whom the word 'charisma' might have been invented'.

Barack Obama's 'lucky break' came when he was invited as a key note speaker at the Democratic convention in 2004 at which John Kerry was adopted the presidential candidate. Obama powerfully seized the moment. He said: “We worship an awesome God in the blue (Democratic) states and, we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the red (Republican) states.

“We coach Little League in the blue sates and, we've got some gay friend in the red sates. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq, and there are patriots who supported the war in Iraq.” From that moment, Obama became the main issue in America's politics: it's either you are for him or against.

The big question is: how did Barack Obama, an underdog with an African blood and a Muslim background, the only black person in the Senate and the fifth in history, manage to over-run the famous 'Clinton war room', out-smart and out-compete the former first lady, a 'senior' senator with stronger name recognition? In a country where 98 per cent of decision makers with veto powers are whites?
No doubt, the rise of Obama from political obscurity at an absurdly youthful age to an overnight superstardom will continue to generate debate among analysts across the globe long after the 2008 presidential election might have been won and lost.

But opinion is unanimous that Obama has turned a page in the history book. What lessons can the CEOs and individuals learn from Obama's winning strategies and Hillary's gallant failure?
Hilary Clinton was originally considered 'inevitable'. Picking her party's ticket and eventually becoming the first female president of the world's only Superpower nation was seen as given, especially against the backdrop of the poor performance of the George Bush administration on foreign policy and national economy. The fact that Germany and four other countries are ruled by women fueled people's expectation for a woman commander in chief of the world's strongest army.

Hillary was probably the most qualified of all the candidates who signified their interest to take over the baton of leadership from George Bush. But what went awry? Looking back, it will be discovered that the Clintons became victims of their past successes: super-confidence, over reliance on old connections and old money. Bill Clinton misjudged the mood of the nation when he said: Americans will be getting 'two for the price of one' when Hillary becomes president. Little did he know that Americans wanted a total break with the past.

Barack Obama built his winning strategy on the following five blocks.

Building Block One: Technology. Technology is king in today's hyper competitive market place- and in political milieu as well. The man or the organization with the best technology is most likely going to win the race- ceteris paribus. Obama was the first to see and exploit the power of ICT as an instrument of mass mobilization. It was not a surprise that he has more supporters on face book, a social networking website than Hillary and McCain combined. And this became a veritable source of raising the much needed funds to oil his campaign machine. Obama presently has over one million fans (critical mass) on face book- three times more than McCain.

Building Block Two: Attack. Paradoxically, it was Bill who once opined that 'In any form of combat, whoever goes on the offensive first wins'. Surprisingly, Hillary campaign team failed to see the wisdom in that strategy. Obama was constantly on the offensive all the time, riding ahead of waves of change; he did not allow opponents to define him, rather he defined himself by admitting to every wrong thing he did as a youth in his two books: Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope. He is perpetually paranoid; he plays to win unlike Hillary- who played not to lose.

Building Block Three: Innovation. Before now, the accent was on winning the support of the Jews, the Catholics, and the EU. But Obama saw a missing link: the youths. He exploited this to the fullest. While the middle class was routing for Hillary, the youths in their thousands had been fully sold to 'I can, we can' campaign slogan of Obama. He wisely zeroed in on the 'voters' he needed to win and the 'voters' he can move.

Building Block Four: Perception. In the 'reset' milieu, the rules of leadership in business and politics have changed. There are no ideal products and there are no ideal presidential candidates: perceptions are reality. Obama is a master strategist; he imagines what the audience nationally and internationally thinks about every issue in America. Most Americans believe the war in Iraq was a 'mistake'. He opposed the war in the beginning; he cleverly built on that sentiment to win people's heart and minds.

Building Block Five: Communication. Communicating inside- out is very critical to the achievement of organization as well as political goals. Coke: The Real Thing. HP: Invent. New Horizons: Everything is possible. Pepsi Co: Generation Next. Obama: I can, Yes, we can. We manifest our thoughts and words as individuals and organizations.

The 'koko'of this piece is that everything is possible in life. That an Obama, an underdog can emerge in Nigeria who will be able to out-maneuver the four dominant political power blocks to become the Change-Agent and eventually take over power from the current good-for-nothing-politicians that can not fix simple electricity.

What Obama is doing in the States was what Pat Utomi, a young, untainted, de-tribalised and charismatic university Don (Utomi and Obama share many positive traits in common) tried to do in 2007 presidential election. The difference is that, while the youths and professionals in the USA believe 'they can', their Nigerian counterparts seem to have resigned to fate ('suffering and smiling', drinking and inhaling generator fumes 24/7). In place of audacity we embrace fear, in place of hope; disillusionment and in place of selflessness; parochialism. No thanks to diesel generators, the average life span in Nigeria is 47!
Lao Russell in: God Will work With You and Not For You- says: 'every man's destiny is of his own making. He is either its master or it masters him. He who has knowledge and desire may steer his ship of life anywhere he will, but he who has little knowledge and little desire is not even aware that he has a rudder with which to steer his ship of life'.
Note: This piece is reprinted in response to public demand.