More than 100 college presidents are expected to gather with Mr. Obama on Thursday to discuss ways that they can commit to enrolling more low-income minority students and ensuring that more of them graduate.

Two weeks later, corporate executives will be in the White House to talk about how they, as employers, can reduce the hiring stigma that attaches to many jobless Americans the longer they have been out of work…

But rather than continue to wrangle with recalcitrant Republicans, Mr. Obama has told associates that he sees more opportunities for progress in using his so-called convening power to summon to the White House and mobilize some of the nation’s most prominent citizens, who can have an immediate impact in their fields.

In the dual metaphor now favored at the White House to describe the reliance on executive actions — the phone and the pen — the phone signifies presidential invitations to the meetings, while the pen represents Mr. Obama’s more familiar authority to sign executive orders and federal regulations.