It looks like Obama's management style has won the big prize

How did Obama defeat first Hillary Clinton and then John McCain supported by the Republican National Committee? Consider this description of Obama's management from Newsweek.

Obama wants people to talk, but he doesn't want to intimidate them. "If you haven't said anything, he'll call on you," says Strautmanis. "He's never said it, but he usually thinks if somebody is very quiet it's because they disagree with what everybody is saying … so Barack will call on you and say, 'You've been awfully quiet'." There are no screamers on Team Obama; one senior Obama aide says he's heard him yell only twice in four years. Obama was explicit from the beginning: there was to be "no drama," he told his aides. "I don't want elbowing or finger-pointing. We're going to rise or fall together." Obama wanted steady, calm, focused leadership; he wanted to keep out the grandstanders and make sure the quiet dissenters spoke up. A good formula for running a campaign—or a presidency.

How effective was this management style? Of the three major campaigns - Clinton's, Obama's and McCain's, which is described as disciplined and close to flawless? Obama's. Consider a few examples.

When everyone was complaining to Obama that McCain was gaining ground on him around the time of the Republican national Convention and were asking - demanding - that he respond somehow he stuck it out and prevailed.

When the McCain camp fielded Sarah Palin and was gaining major ground in the media, the Obama camp was quiet. The desperation at the base of the Palin decision soon became obvious as Palin herself became a major liability to McCain.

Consider the period when the financial markets fell out of bed. After a short time McCain decided to "suspend his campaign and fly back to Washington to deal with the problems." Then he got to Washington and accomplished -- nothing. It was a publicity stunt, one adopted by the losing campaign in a fit of desperation. Obama did whatever he did behind the scenes. It was like Aikido. Obama used McCain's own moves to defeat him.

As the last three weeks leading to the election passed it became clear that the Obama campaign was increasing the pressure. The McCain camp had no effective response and the polls shifted towards Obama. The election confirmed the polls.

Then the first Press conference by Barack Obama after the election demonstrated Obama's discipline and preparation.

The three major campaigns demonstrated the difference in their management by their willingness to leak to the Press. Both the Clinton Campaign and the McCain campaign began to leak like sieves during the final weeks before Obama was chosen as the winner. Obama's campaign has yet to suffer frequent leaks of information that is intended to be kept close. Those leaks are a symptom of both the recognition that the campaign is losing together with weaker management. Was the fact that Obama was winning the key to the few leaks, or was it the better management? That is not clear, because the better management very clearly led to the winning campaign.

It's going to be interesting to see if this winning management carries over into the White House. It probably will. It is a result to a large extent of Obama's personality. The problems in the White House involved in maintaining the same level of control will be greater, but the experience from the campaign should carry over to a great extent.

This Presidential campaign is an interesting study for students of management.