Leadership reimagined in the race to the White House

Dear friends,

How does a leader win your support? It’s something 350 million Americans are contemplating ahead of the most watched leadership contest on the planet: the 2024 US Presidential campaign.

Away from the headline-grabbing drama, we’re seeing the quiet emergence of a trend that has the potential to impact everyone, politically engaged or not. New displays of leadership that are challenging gendered norms.

The recent Democratic National Convention was filled with them. For one thing, the party’s presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, owned the word empathy. Vetted speeches endorsing her candidacy spoke of it often. It’s a trait typically seen as soft and therefore, lesser. Certainly not a core leadership skill. But Harris, and the Democratic party, have embraced it as a power move.

Tim Walz, who joins her on the Democratic ticket, showcased a career based on it. As a school football coach he championed LGBTQIA+ allyship. As state governor he ensured schools were stocked with menstrual products. When his critics dubbed him “Tampon Tim”, he reportedly owned it with pride. By doing so, he displayed another key leadership quality often missing from US presidential races - a genuine commitment to gender inclusion.

He wasn’t the only man at the convention to do this. We heard from Harris’s husband, Doug Emhoff, who has repeatedly prioritised his wife’s career over his own - a sacrifice familiar to women but not often noted among men.

One speaker, Josh Zuraswki, stood next to his wife, Amanda, and declared the reason he was on that stage. She’d had complications arising from a miscarriage and didn’t have ready access to an abortion. “I am here tonight,” he told the crowd “because the fight for reproductive rights isn’t just a woman’s fight”.

Each of these people, without meaning to, are modelling ways for men and women to work together that smash stereotypes. The open endorsement of empathy as a presidential trait. The proud displays of gender allyship in its various forms. Even the joyful showcasing of fatherhood in a way not often celebrated as a form of leadership.

Regardless of who wins the next US presidency, the campaign trail might lead to a seismic shift in what it means to be a good leader. It’s a race not just towards the White House, but - we hope - to a more gender-equal world.

FW

Be part of the energy and anticipation as we gather to celebrate Kamala Harris' groundbreaking campaign for the US presidency. Join our panel, Kamala Harris: History in the making, on Wednesday 23 October in Sydney. Secure your plac e.