Leadership in Crisis

This is not an article I had planned to write, but given the tragedies that are happening in the world right now and the divisions being sown, it needs to be addressed. There is too much fighting, too many extreme views, far too much trauma and resulting negative socio-economic impacts that affect the lives of citizens around the world. Even those who should seemingly have nothing to do with these crises are affected. The Ukraine-Russia war has been fought for more than 20 months. The Middle-East is on fire with the war between Israel and Hamas. The world has responded to both wars that bring in political and religious ideologies. The media does very little to unite. It thrives on hype and feeds on emotions, mostly negative ones. This raises tensions further, beyond the borders of these wars. Many people have added their voices to antisemitism and Islamophobia. As such Jews and Muslims have been threatened and attacked in countries around the world.

These wars have also impacted trade, not only with the countries involved in war, but also with their allies and trade partners. Locally, how do leaders maintain a form of control within their borders? Internationally, are they trading in war or are they facilitating peace? How do leaders support, guide, encourage and uplift? This is a huge challenge. In times like these all our emotions run high, both for leaders and those seeking guidance.

Leaders must self-regulate, leaders need moments to set their emotions aside while taking into consideration the emotions of those they are supporting. Leaders must also be clear on their values and also know that the values they espouse to uphold are reflected in their behaviour. It is vital that leaders find a space for reason and strength for their people to feel protected. This is how people can tell if their leadership can be trusted. If leadership cannot be trusted, people will feel and see the lack of clarity, direction and support, chaos can further ensue and people will look elsewhere for leadership.

A message to the media: You are not leaders, but you have influence because you have a booming voice with a vast reach. You have a huge responsibility to the citizens of the world because you influence the sense of unity or disunity. Start behaving like leaders. Provide factual information, based on reliable sources. Learn to distinguish between morality and immorality. Apply consistent standards so people know your message is reliable. Do not sow seeds of division. Look for moments and actions where unity is found. Show the world that we are better together than we are divided. Give people the opportunity to be heard in circumstances of calm.

We are all responsible for each other. If there is further damage from unconfirmed, opinion-driven reporting you are held responsible. If mistakes are made, own them and make sure that your corrections are heard even wider than your initial incorrect information, to mitigate the unnecessary, unhelpful damage. The media should not be given any free passes.

Find the courage, moral compass and strength to lead. EVERYONE deserves a place in this world and a piece of this world. EVERYONE deserves the right to safety and security, BUT even freedom has rules and those rules cannot be broken, for the sake of humanity and the world.