When a good leader can also be an enemy

Leadership in the time of COVID, like everything else, is going to be studied for a long time. A recent article by Keith Grint* (found here) explored the differing approaches to leadership, including when, in Grint’s view, leaders needed “to tell us the truth, even it is unbearable”.

Grint continued:

Few people like to hear bad news, especially from their leaders in bad times, when we all seek solace and comfort. But telling people good news is easy, even (or especially) if it is not true; while telling people things they need to hear that they would rather not, is much more difficult, and therefore a more important test of leadership.

In [Henrik Ibsen’s play] An Enemy of the People, the bad news is that the new public baths have been poisoned by the local tannery, just as the tourist season is starting (this, of course, is the frame for the 1975 Spielberg movie ‘Jaws’). In the play, the hero, Dr Stockmann fails to persuade his brother, the mayor, to close the baths and is then shouted down at a town meeting for trying to persuade the people that they have an unpopular but necessary duty to perform; they call him ‘the enemy of the people.’ This is the opposite of telling people lies that keep followers happy.

And it might be no coincidence that one of the heroes of the UK’s Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, is Larry Vaughn, the Mayor of Amity in Jaws, who wants to keep the beaches open, despite the evidence that a shark is devouring the swimmers one by one (Heritage, 2020).

In our own Coronavirus times, the equivalent problem is represented by both Johnson and Trump beginning the response to the threat by denying its potential significance and ignoring their own advice about social distancing and wearing face masks. Then, when reality threatened to swamp their respective medical systems, switching from Larry Vaughn to Martin Brody, the Chief of Police in Amity, suddenly demanding that all the metaphorical beaches be closed, telling people that they have to quarantine themselves, stop going to work or clubs and bars, and stay at home to protect themselves, their neighbours and their health system.

(My emphasis) But here is the thing: even democratic leadership is not necessarily about popularity. It is about doing what is right, even if that means sacrificing your own popularity and career. And confidence is not the equivalent of competence. There are times for optimism and times for realism, and sometimes the quest for popularity undermines the importance of being realistic rather than over-optimistic.

Whether or not you agree with the above statements, it is worth considering the various reactions across the spectrum to the leadership shown by State and Territory Premiers and Chief Ministers during COVID, and in particular the negative commentary about Dan Andrews, the Victorian Premier, during Victoria’s second lockdown.

It's worth reading Grint's (6 page) article, and maybe questioning current cliches about leadership as not just being about the leaders, but how they lead, whether their actions are ‘popular’ and who actually benefits from their actions..


*Grint, K. (2020) Leadership, management and command in the time of the Coronavirus, Leadership 16(3): 314-319