Then the coronavirus hit Hong Kong, and the PolyU students have to stay home, and appeared as more than 2 dozen talking heads on screens. Then the virus hit Maryland and the UMD students also have to stay home and we ended up with several dozens of talking heads on screens. This has created many additional challenges, but the students are taking them in stride. In fact, the added complexities pose many challenges for them to practice what they are learning - leadership.
The coronavirus pandemic poses many more very visible case studies for the students in the study of global (public) leadership. Fortunately or unfortunately, the failures seem to be much more visible than the successes. There are plenty of honest, capable, courageous people making heroic sacrifices in tackling the coronavirus. Unfortunately, their efforts are often overshadowed and even negated by the very public failures.
First of all, it is incredible that so many highly placed and highly paid leaders made so many incredibly inane policies and pronouncements. Such as telling people to not wear masks. Some claimed that there is no proof that masks reduce the transmission of the virus. Really? Others want the civilians to save the masks for the medical workers. Some even forbid medical doctors who are not dealing directly with the virus to wear masks. If the concern is truly that surgical masks be saved for the front line medical workers, can’t people not wear masks that they make themselves, or masks that are otherwise not suitable for frontline medicals? What muddleheaded thinking! To think that these people are paid millions of dollars to make decisions like this. It would be laughable if the consequences are not so tragic.
Then there are those who sat on the sidelines watching other countries suffer for months, without doing anything to prepare for the eventual arrival of the virus on their own shores. Some gloated. Some are confident that they are spared or protected somehow, perhaps of their genius, faith or simply good fortune. When they are warned of the danger, they accused the whistle-blowers of exaggeration, rumour-mongering, panic causing, conspiracy-conspiring and worse. In the meantime, they did nothing to prepare for the virus; they do not mobilise their own medical systems, people, resources.
Then when their own people are dying by the thousands, these “leaders” have the gall to claim that they have not been informed, that other people are hiding the truth from them. While the frightening pictures of death and panic had been plainly visible for the whole world to see for months. When their own people have been warning them for months.
None of these “leaders” have admitted to their mistakes. Instead, they blame other people in their own countries, other countries, and more and more, conspiracy-conspirers. Conspiracies are a very convenient target. By definition, they are secretive, and it is impossible to prove that they do not exist.
The world, evidently, are full of “leaders” who make stupid mistakes, refuse to take responsibility, refuse to admit to their own mistakes, blame other people for their own mistakes, and hide behind easy scapegoats such as conspiracies. What is this teaching our students? That leadership is definitely not a post/position that people occupy? That being highly placed and highly paid is no guarantee that one is a good leader? That there are really tremendous need for good leadership everywhere?
Of immediate and very dire concern for us all is this: the whole world is paying dearly for very public failures of public leadership, on a global scale. If they fail so miserably in exercise leadership in such a public manner, how can we trust them to do well in other matters of governance? How can we trust in their judgement?
No comments:
Post a Comment