Where are the leaders

A few months back, at the beginning of the epidemic I had in my dreams, dreamt of how leadership should be and written a blog on the same. 

https://blogs.icmda.net/2020/03/24/leadership-in-pandemics-six-principles-to-guide-us/

It was with a hope and dream that I will be such a person, and there will be around us, leaders of our nations who will lead from the front. Leaders who will lead with evidence-based strategies, at the same time compassionate, agile, dependant and interdependent! 

As the pandemic continues to ravage all our nations without signs of an immediate end, what we see around in the world leadership is far from what I had dreamt! I want to consider a few leadership pictures that we see around in political leadership around us.

We see one group of leaders who seem to be “blind” to the context around. In one sense like Ostriches with their head under the sand! For them life goes on as normal, pandemic is just another thing to ignore, and they are busy with their own plans and strategies. Some good, many self-serving, but business is as usual. The pandemic response is handed over to a few bureaucrats and professionals with no oversight of what they are up to. They are oblivious to the wreck that is around them!

Another group are “paralysed”! They seem to be totally out control and do not know what to do. They appear off and on in the media, with some weak disjointed directions and comments. They are frozen in their tracks, hoping and praying that this context will pass soon. Some pass the buck on to other nations, people groups and even God for this context. Some of them throw up their hands in the air, saying that we have to wait and see!

The third group is very vocal and loud! In one sense “Maniac” in their responses. They seem to be talking always, but things that they want to communicate! Highlighting data and information that promote the messages they want public to hear. These messages are primarily driven by their personal and political agenda than control of the pandemic or wellbeing of their communities. They also see to it that the media and other systems align to what they want the nation and people to know! They seem to be speaking a voice of optimism and everything being under control, though the reality is different.

There is yet another group, who seem to be cool and composed. There is a seeming perception of being in control. They do not speak much and are generally silent. They seem to give a façade that things are being taken care off and by their way of approach seem to exude confidence. But behind the silence there is the undermining of the democratic systems, and slow and silent cutting away at the roots of the freedom the nations had. Using the pandemic and panic to rewrite the narratives, create an alternative narrative, where oligarchy and the privileged will be in control!

There is a minority who acknowledge that they and their systems are broken. They agree that they have been made lame. This group is also willing to get crutches and use them as they try to walk in and out of the mess around. They are willing to ask for help and be interdependent. They are doing well, because they know they need help and come together to support each other! But this group seems to far and few and do not get much attention in the loud-mouthed media! 

How did the world reach here? How did nations end up with such leadership? I read some where “We get what we deserve”. Someone else said, “What we put in when we are comfortable is what we get out when we are in crises”!

Is this what our generation have to live with? And leave it to the next generation to pick up the pieces from the mess we have made? Are there signs of hope in such a messy context?

Yes, I believe yes! Listening to 100 plus rural health care leaders over last 2 months, reading stories of impromptu responses from various local communities, reading between the lines of what is promoted in the media, listening to stories of health care professionals in the forefront, I can see glimmers of light in darkness!

Many informal, non-political leaders emerging to respond. We hear stories of people who are leading from the front in the midst of vulnerability and brokenness. We have seen coming together of many (who never would have done so in good times,) to hold hands with each other in dependence and interdependence. There are many stories of leaders who are agile and innovating in the midst of severe resource constraints. Leaders who are preparing their followers for a long-term response with tenacity. The context is same for them too, one of VUCA - volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity. But they are there leading from the front.  We see them in villages, small local communities, small and medium sized institutions, NGOs, faith-based groups and many other contexts.

That is what we should celebrate – the stories of these unsung heroes – who have a faith and vision that they can make a difference in the contexts and communities where they are placed. Their stories do not come up in the media much, but they are there, toiling away to make difference!

They are our true leaders….