Analyze This

This story is appearing on every internet news outlet this morning, mostly for the headline appeal. Appearing on yesterday’s “Meet the Press”, Defense Secretary Robert Gates was asked by David Gregory to reflect on the differences between his current boss and his prior one.

“It’s hard to say,” Gates began. “I think President Obama is somewhat more analytical, and he makes sure he hears from everybody in the room on an issue, and if they don't speak up he calls on them.” This in contrast to President Bush, who didn’t go out of his way to elicit input, Gates added.

Obviously, this means President Obama is of superior intellect to George W. Bush, right? Not necessarily. All it means is that Obama’s management style may be more decision-by-consensus rather than a top-down approach, but that’s not what the headlines would lead one to conclude. In his memoir of his years as advisor to President Clinton, George Stephanopoulus wrote that Clinton’s “paralysis by analysis” was one of the more annoying traits of the former president. Stephanopoulos described several instances where President Clinton and his advisors would hole themselves up in the Oval Office for hours debating and crafting policy, only to have that policy directly contradicted the next morning after the president spoke with his wife prior to retiring for the night.

Management by consensus doesn’t mean you’re smarter, it just means you have more people to yell at if your decision goes awry.