Which leaders will take the world forward tomorrow?

Have you noticed how Jacinda Ardern talks to her nation and addresses her people. Her speech is peachy full of words like “giving you clarity”, “what can you expect”, “what we can do together”, “I know there is anxiety” and so on. The choice of these words indicate an empathetic leader who while she knows that shutting down the borders to all kinds of travel is the only way forward, understands that her own people stand a lot to lose. Her speech is all about walking people through the symptoms, if they will be moderate or extreme, what they should do and how the nation as one plans to fight it to the last patient, while keeping everybody safe and healthy.  (Link to speech in comments)

Charles Michel, the President of the European Council wrote to President Sergio Mattarella of Italy in the last few weeks of March 2020. The tone of his letter belies how vulnerable he believes the world to be now. The letter commends Italy on their incredible efforts and for their resilience. At the same time he also acknowledges that they have seen great losses, and yet continued on their tough journey relentlessly. (Link to letter in comments)

That letter speaks of vulnerability, humility, resilience, generosity and compassion. The more that I see world leaders take a stand against the pandemic in the recent months, the nations that are faring the best have leaders who have those very qualities. These leaders understand that brash aggression doesn’t threaten the virus, it has a mind of it own. So they are taking all measures possible to keep everybody safe, as best as they can. In all these speeches and these letters, the leaders come out to be as human as any of us, only with the future of a nation riding on their shoulders. On the other hand, I read a tweet from one of Trump’s today morning saying he will start travel to campaign for the Nov 3 elections. The less said about that the better. 

My mom hung up on me last week, because she wanted to watch what Prime Minister Modi had to say about the lockdown in India. He started his speech with congratulating the citizens on their restraint and their adherence to the lockdown. In a nation of 135 crores, social distancing is a privilege and he is working very hard along with so many others to do the best that he can. He said that he is acutely aware of the pain that the citizens are in and that the governing bodies are working day in day out to look at better solutions and faster recovery. But that said, he appealed for the continued support of the public, with the hope that better times aren’t too far ahead. 

As the world becomes more and more unpredictable, the best leaders are those who have innately feminine leadership attributes. It has nothing to do with their gender and everything to do with who they choose to be as leaders. Given how ambiguous it is today, with the situation changing day to day or even minute to minute, it is unfair to think that leaders will have all the answers. The leaders who leave a mark will be those who will continue to be “authentic”. A few of the qualities that I see will take us ahead are: 

Resilience- it is no more survival of the fittest. Rather it is survival of the quickest. If you are quick to understand that your playing field has now been altered for ever, it is time to take a step forward. Travel, tourism and hospitality are the worst hit sector given where we are at. The players in those fields are moving towards “forced” entrepreneurship, be they individual employees or big companies. As leaders it is your role to be able to handle the stress that comes with so much ambiguity. Such situations stop one from thinking clearly and so the best of us know that we take one day at a time. 

Entrepreneurship - to my mind it is no more a matter of pursuing what we love doing. Rather it is largely becoming what one must do to survive. Some leaders are taking smaller risks, releasing quarantines in small groups to see how they will affect the population. Those are the risks that we need to take in our teams too. In all of this time at home, so many of us are coming face to face with the notion of “what is your purpose?”. We have realised that we lived in excess, probably we will have no need of that now, so if not luxury and money and resources, what is your purpose. Entrepreneurship can help you address that vacuum. As leaders you have to push your team members outside the zone of what felt comfortable to what more can you do. 

Influence - no I don’t mean stealthily nudging another towards what you want done. I mean actual influence, persuasion that builds on humanity and empathy. When you can draw from what another is thinking and feeling and helping them move in the right direction. There is no better space than now to start over determining change. Empathy, generosity and vulnerability will go a long way in re- establishing us back in this world and creating new space for ourselves. 

These skills can be cultivated by leaders irrespective of their gender. If you aren’t a leader today who can’t make space for the way the world is evolving, then you are losing. Very soon, after the dust settles, people will realise that what motivated them earlier doesn’t motivate them any longer. As a talent magnet, as a leader who attracts the best, you have to make space for these deeper definitions of life and of your employees. 

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About the author:

My passion is to create opportunities and catalyse relationships that help us thrive! I believe that personal, organisational and societal change is an interactive development process and through my interventions I seek to build awareness and action across all. I have had the privilege to have coached and trained leaders and management teams in 40 plus countries globally and on all continents.

Over the last two decades, I have engaged with leadership development, L&D and talent management across the entire spectrum from diagnosis to design to implementation. Currently I run my own niche Executive Coaching Practice to accelerate leader's path to success through my focus on #LeadershipBranding.

Drop me a message at [email protected] or to schedule a call with me please use : calendly.com/shivangi

Here are 2 initiatives I have founded : www.thrivewithmentoring.com, a non-profit that catalyses women to women mentoring (currently present in 5 countries) and www.xponential.cc (through which I bring award winning leadership trainings such as Crucial Conversations and Power of Habit).