Chief Executive Obama runs a good meeting — even if it does run past schedule

In one of President Obama’s highest-profile days as America’s chief executive, all eyes were on how well he managed what was at times an acrimonious debate on health care. The Daily Caller talked to business and management experts about how he did as the man at the head of the table during his marathon public meeting.

“He’s very much what we could call in academic circles a transformative leader,” said Drumm McNaughton, chairman and chief executive of the Washington-based Institute of Management Consultants. “When you have a political environment like ours that has become so difficult because of polarization, you can see he’s the right leader for the right time.”

“And that’s coming from a lifelong Republican.”

Many experts pointed out the president’s tactfulness today.

“I’m sure he has his own agenda, but he doesn’t express it heartily,” said Betty Price, chief executive of Price Group and a management consultant in the leadership development area for 25 years. “He’s very conciliatory and engaging, and tends to be open to other people.”

“The interesting thing that the president does is that he’s very paced in his delivery, and that tends to give off more of a calming effect,” Price said.

“With these kinds of meetings in Washington it’s difficult because people need to leave their egos at the door. What you see Obama doing by cutting his remarks short, he’s looking at the outcomes and not grandstanding,” McNaughton said.

Others were warier.

“The conversation is full of people making the obligatory political points. The president is doing his thing and trying to hold court,” said Mark Haas, president of Bethesda-based Research and Organization Management. “The purpose of this is to have a discussion and for the American people to see the discussion.”

“If I were facilitating a session with a client in which there were contentious issues this would be the first step. They’ve deliberately gotten ridden of people like [New York Democrat] Anthony Weiner who are firebrands and whose inputs you want but maybe not in that environment,” Haas said. “So the mixture of invited people was appropriate, and people are behaving themselves in this environment … there’s not a lot of sighing or eye-rolling.”

Some business leaders pointed out that the problems of presidential leadership are different from almost any other role.