World On Fire?
When the world seems to be on fire
We are living in very strange times. It strikes me that here in New Zealand we may be living in a bubble of security that doesn't really exist.
Like many, I have been charmed by Jacinda and her frank and sincere response. But the real world is catching up with us and not in a good way. Kiwis are returnung from oarts of the workld still stricken with the virus and we see our numbers rising again. We have to take them back. They are us and it's what we do.
The problem is, we live in a world that is seriously unravelling. The number of COVID-19 cases just keeps growing by the day all over the globe. People don't know what to do. They are sick of isolation so they go and do what they would normally do.
They listen to crazy talk about the virus being a deliberate attack on liberty and freedom. I am more inclined to believe that viruses, including this one, don't care about our beliefs. Viruses are a bit on the spectrum like that. They just don't pick up our feelings and emotions. They just get on with doing their job.
That brings me to the point of all this. Those of us who see ourselves as leaders have a really important role and we need to be playing it now. I don't use the term "role” lightly. It might conjure ideas of acting and insincerity.
It isn’t that. If you have people who are within your circle of influence, they are looking around and wondering what everyone else thinks. Free will means that anyone can think whatever they want. But, if you believe that you have the capacity for leadership, you need to be acting consistently with that right now.
What does a leader do? Provide a sense of normality and continuity. That doesn’t mean bullshitting. It means being authentic. Stand up for values that support frightened and stressed people. Stress and uncertainty can bring out the worst in people. Racism, sexism, bullying and selfishness. Excluding others and any number of other sub-optimal reactions.
As leaders, we need to look beyond the surface. These reactions are superficial and driven by fear and insecurity. People suffering like this don’t need chastising and judging. They need to be embraced and brought back from the
darkness.
I have been horrified by the way people who I would consider to be values- driven Kiwis have adopted the toxic rhetoric of the alt-right in the Americas and Europe. Think back to when you were a child. I recall vividly how there
were definitely monsters under my bed and when the porch light was on at my Grandmothers’ I could see the goblin in the window in the door.
That’s what’s going on here. People are afraid of the monster. They can’t see it, they can’t understand it and they can’t control it so they try and control the things they can.
Sometimes that means being depressed and anxious in a lonely way, sometimes it means just being vacant and blank and not performing at work or home. Sometimes it means hitting the drugs and/or alcohol hard and sometimes it means taking it out on people who are even more vulnerable.
Wives and girlfriends beaten and abused, pets the same. Vandalism, robbery, brawling and families and friends ignored and shut out.
Personally, I am in a good and secure place. Family tight, getting through with humour and the sort of infantile silliness that reflects our childhood. It’s lovely, but even with all I have to support me, there is a bleakness that lurks on the periphery.
So, it makes me all the more determined that I be a leader. I want to support those who are less empowered than I am and I want to demonstrate every day that being a kind, decent, compassionate human being is what makes the darkness recede. This is what RegenerationHQ is all about.
This is leadership and if you would like to talk about that in your business, we're here to help.