Have you also noticed that numerous so-called leaders appear to have no sense of ethics, consequences, compassion and civic responsibility? Let’s do a bit of a roll call regarding what some leaders are alleged to have done. In compiling this list, I must emphasise the word “alleged” as much of what is alleged has not yet been tested in a court of law.
Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister: a series of photos were leaked that showed Johnson hosting parties at 10 Downing Street in violation of the country’s strict Covid-19 ban on gatherings. There was also a birthday party with 30 in attendance.
Rishi Sunak, UK Prime Minister candidate: reports claim he is spending about £400,000 (almost ZAR 8M) to construct a luxurious swimming pool inside his mansion while the British public are battling to warm their homes.
Vladimir Putin, President of Russia: invaded a neighbouring sovereign state (Ukraine) under the guise of a special military operation to free the country from neo-Nazis. In doing so, he is responsible to date for almost 40 000 deaths, apart from destroying the lives and livelihoods of thousands more.
Donald Trump, former US President: claimed the election was stolen from him and incited a mob to storm the Capitol in an attempt to regain the presidency.
Kim Jong-un, Supreme Leader of North Korea: according to a UN report, it is claimed he is responsible for “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.”
Closer to home in South Africa, political and other leaders have not done much better.
Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa: still promising to take the nation into his confidence with regard to the alleged $4 million that was allegedly hidden in couches, stolen by Namibian nationals who were pursued across the border (illegally), allegedly brought back for torture and interrogation then paid to remain silent. In the words of Donald Trump’s former Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, on his resignation from his position, “You can’t make this sh*t up.”
Busisiwe Mkhwebane, SA’s Public Protector: reported to insist that her staff address her as, “Madam,” that they bow when they speak to her and that they stand up when she walks into the room.
Enoch Godongwana, Finance Minister of South Africa: has had a charge of sexual assault laid against him for allegedly forcing a young female masseuse to perform sexual acts on him at a game lodge while on holiday with his wife
John Steenhuisen, DA Leader: in a podcast he referred to his former wife with whom he shares two daughters as “roadkill” and “flat chicken”.
The list goes on but, in the interests of space, we will not …
Now, let’s just quietly and calmly stop and think this through. If we were to distil all the complexities around these people down to a few simple points, one of the reasons that these leaders demonstrate such (alleged) behaviour is that they either are not the right people for the positions they occupy/occupied or – and here’s my point – they received no leadership development/training whatsoever so don’t have the faintest idea of what being a leader is all about.
If they DID receive any leadership training, the organisations which provided the training would be well advised to keep it very quiet as their training obviously. Did. Not. Work.
So … if you want the right leaders in positions of authority in your company, you have to make sure you do your homework when selecting them and then, more importantly, instead of assuming they will somehow automatically become good leaders, no matter how good they are with their mouths, you have to give them the necessary training and development. I’m not talking about a one or two day course that is done today and forgotten tomorrow. There are over 50 skills and qualities leaders need to acquire in order to be ethical, effective, empathetic leaders and you can’t learn them in a day or two.
If you’re serious about developing your leaders, you have to give them the opportunity to go on a leadership journey of between six and 12 months to acquire the skills, qualities and insights that will shape their beliefs, emotions, thoughts, words and actions. And as part of the journey, they have to be helped to develop internal and external self-awareness. Without that, all other training is a waste of time and money.
Not convinced? Look at the examples I quoted earlier. If any of them had the slightest internal and external self-awareness, they would not be facing the allegations they are indeed facing.
In a world of instant everything, the one mistake you must avoid is thinking leadership development can be bought like instant coffee. What’s more, leaders at different ages and stages require different training and development. Under 30s need one kind of a learning and development experience, those between 30 and 50 need another kind, and those 50+ need yet another form of learning and development experience.
If you’d like to know more about these three learning and development experiences, email me and I will explain in more detail!
Alan Hosking is the Publisher of HR Future magazine, www.hrfuture.net and @HRFuturemag. He is an internationally recognised authority on leadership competencies for the future and teaches experienced and younger business leaders how to lead with empathy, compassion, integrity, purpose and agility. In 2018, he was named by US-based web site Disruptordaily.com as one of the “Top 25 Future of Work Influencers to Follow on Twitter“. In 2020, he was named one of the “Top 200 Global Power Thought Leaders to watch in 2021” by peopleHum in India. In 2022, he has been named on the Power List of the “Top 200 Biggest Voices in Leadership in 2022” by LeaderHum.
