Leadership Lessons from the COVID 19 pandemic

       Dr. Aparna Tembulkar
      Director, IndSearch
      13th May 2020

This blog is not so much about the COVID 19 pandemic, as it is about the Leadership Lessons that this Pandemic is teaching us.

It clearly signals that we need more Women Leaders. Yet according to the United Nations, as of January 1, 2020, only 10 out of the 152 heads of elected states are Women, and less than 5% of Fortune 500 Companies have Women CEOs according to a research article published in the Harvard Business Review in June 2019 and the numbers are on the decline globally

Over the last few weeks I have been reading several articles about Women Leaders and their response to this crisis. All articles pointing to how Women leadership has been able to tackle the crisis more efficiently and why?One article, I remember, was in the Forbes magazine, titled “What do Countries with the best Corona virus response have in Common? Women Leaders”.

Be it Angela Merkel in Germany, Tsai -Ing Wen in Taiwan, Jacinda Ardren in New Zealand, Sanna Marin in Finland, Erna Solberg in Norway or Katrin Jakobsdottir in Iceland. These Leaders have been successful in containing the virus and are now on their way to rebooting. That is not to say that all Male led Countries have fared badly. But the question that naturally arises is what is it that they have done differently?

For one, these Leaders were really fast in decision making and implementing these decisions. They also took decisions based on scientific data and by seeking expert advice. Secondly they were empathetic towards the public; thirdly they put the society before self and last but not the least they behaved in a pre-emptive manner.

These responses are in stark contrast to those of Countries like Sweden where the Government refused to impose a lockdown resulting in a very high death rate, or the United States where President Trump called the Virus a Hoax and ignored warnings from top scientists, leading to more than 25000 deaths. Similarly UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson dismissed the Public health crisis refusing to impose the lockdown and told reporters that the virus would not stop him from shaking hands with Patients- before he was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with COVID 19. Like I mentioned earlier, it is not that all Countries with Male Leaders are performing badly. We have South Korean President Moon Jae-In who has received praise for widespread testing which helped contain the virus. Our own Prime Minister Mr. Narendra Modi is being looked upon as a Leader to follow for his deft and efficient handling of the COVID 19 situation in a diverse and highly populated India.

The irony is that the few Women Leaders that we do have are expected to behave or lead like the men because after all if there are so many Male leaders, they ought to be doing something right.

Obvious in this crisis are certain Leadership traits that the Women leaders have exhibited. So rather than ask Women Leaders to emulate their male counterparts, I believe it is time, we identify those

leadership traits that women have displayed, which perhaps the Male leaders should learn. So what are these traits.

1. Behaving in a pre-emptive manner – In fact many have called this behaviour as called this being risk averse. But if being risk averse is going to save lives. So be it. On hearing about the mysterious virus, Taiwanese President Tsai-Ing Wen immediately ordered all planes from Wuhan to be inspected, halted all flights from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau and ramped up the production of Personal Protective Equipment like Masks ensuring that the outbreak was restricted to 393 infections and 6 deaths.

2. Seeking Expert advice and taking decisions based on scientific data – Chancellor Angela Merkel relied heavily on scientific data and took decisions supported by expert advice. Research does suggest that in the face of a crisis Women are more pragmatic and willing to listen to and take expert advice.

3. Empathy – Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg used television to talk directly to the Country’s children reassuring them that it was OK to feel a little scared, but they would be cared for. All the Women Leaders have been addressing their respective nations explaining the need and the urgency of the drastic measures winning over the trust of their people

4. Society before self – All the women leaders enforced the lockdown, closed down tourism, and took the most unpopular decisions knowing well that these decisions were not going to go down well with their people. But they still went ahead and took them. Because they believed that what they were doing was for the good of their countrymen.

With all that we have learned in this pandemic, is it not time, we did something to ensure more Women in leadership roles?