Testing times calls for real leadership

I’m a big believer that leadership is something everyone should exercise in their daily lives. The misconception with leadership is that it’s exclusively linked to a position of power. That’s simply not the case.

Leadership isn’t inherent to a position, it’s tied to your values and your actions.

That being said, in the complex world we now live in, not to mention the pandemic that is running its course, we can’t rely only on diversified sources of leadership among everyday people. We need positions of power for society to run effectively, to build better lives for us all.

"As too much power leads to despotism, too little leads to anarchy, and both eventually to the ruin of the people" - Alexander Hamilton

Positions of power are positions of great privilege and honour. No doubt they can be overwhelming, and require those that occupy them to exercise -with vigilance- the same traits of leadership that we should all strive to live in our own lives.

I’m a big fan of how Colin Powell articulates these traits, or rules of leadership. A former US Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Powell spoke about his ‘13 Rules for Leadership.”

You don’t need to reflect on these to realise the painfully obvious fact that these traits are sorely absent from the actions of a certain Premier of Victoria.

Checking the small things? Ensuring police oversight of hotel quarantine certainly isn’t rocket science.

Have a vision? A more hopeful vision than a near-perpetual lockdown might be nice.

You can’t make someone else’s choices for them? Need I highlight anything else?

Actually there is.

Powell misses one critical point from his 13 Rules, the most critical rule for good leadership.

Responsibility.

A leader can make mistakes. We’re all only human. But the most fundamental, compromising mistake a leader can make is to not take responsibility for their actions and the actions of people under them.