In a Crisis, True Leaders Stand Out.
Swift action, compassion and trust in science mark the most effective responses to the coronavirus.
'Leadership may be hard to define, but in times of crisis it is easy to identify. As the pandemic has spread fear, disease and death, national leaders across the globe have been severely tested. Some have fallen short, sometimes dismally, but there are also those leaders who have risen to the moment, demonstrating resolve, courage, empathy, respect for science and elemental decency, and thereby dulling the impact of the disease on their people.
The master class on how to respond belongs to Jacinda Ardern, the 39-year-old prime minister of New Zealand. On March 21, when New Zealand still had only 52 confirmed cases, she told her fellow citizens what guidelines the government would follow in ramping up its response. Her message was clear: “These decisions will place the most significant restrictions on New Zealanders’ movements in modern history. But it is our best chance to slow the virus and to save lives.” And it was compassionate: “Please be strong, be kind and united against Covid-19.”
Ms. Ardern, a liberal, then joined with the conservative prime minister of Australia, Scott Morrison, in shaping a joint effort that has all but eliminated the virus from their island nations.
Other examples of countries where swift and decisive action helped allay the impact of the disease and unite the nation range from South Korea and Taiwan in Asia to Germany, Greece and Iceland in Europe. Women, a minority among the national leaders of the world, emerged among the most effective and reassuring of them. . .
That said, the leaders who have gained the respect and attention of their people, and who have succeeded in dulling the impact of the disease, share certain traits and approaches to leadership worth noting as this pandemic roars on — and for future crises as well.
A willingness to take quick and bold action, even when it carries political risk, is surely among the most important hallmarks of leadership in a crisis. It is now obvious that China’s efforts to conceal the outbreak, or President Trump’s to downplay it for far too long, proved disastrous. Ms. Ardern, by contrast, chose, as she put it, to “go hard and go early.”
Other elements of effective leadership include a respect for science, transparent messaging, constant updating of the evidence and prompt assurance of financial support. And also experience: Ms. Merkel’s background as a scientist is by all accounts a major factor in her credibility; in Ireland, Prime Minister Leo Varadkar’s background as a doctor prompted him to start giving phone consultations half a day each week and helped boost his previously flagging standing.
Beyond politics, economics and science lie qualities of character that can’t be faked, chiefly compassion, which may be the most important in reassuring a frightened, insecure and stricken population. Ms. Merkel is arguably among the least flashy, charismatic or eloquent of Europe’s leaders, but nobody would ever question her decency. When she addressed her nation on television, something she does rarely and with evident reluctance, there was nothing pompous or bombastic in her parting words: “Take good care of yourselves and your loved ones.”'
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/30/opinion/coronavirus-leadership.html?
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