Strong leadership
Being clear and consistent are key factors for those in charge during the pandemic.
When the novel coronavirus laid Italy low last month, forcing millions of its citizens to shelter in place, the head of the Catholic Church used his unique perch within the Vatican to shine a clear beacon on the need for everyone, even worshippers, to avoid large crowds. In the lead-up to Holy Week, Pope Francis’ celebration of Mass in the cavernous and empty St. Peter’s Basilica set a powerful example that no edict could have rivaled in influence.
That’s leadership, something all of us on Earth are desperate for as communities everywhere race to contain a contagion that has already killed more than 180,000 people and threatens the livelihoods of billions of others.
We wish America had more of the pope’s leadership by example. Imagine the power President Donald Trump could marshal were he to don a mask during his daily news conferences, even briefly, to remind Americans that covering up while in public is essential to slowing the spread of the virus. Or if, instead of urging Americans to protest governors whose life-saving restrictions remained in place, he had spoken to the pain caused by the slowdown while urging all to strive for unity, rather than division.
Of course, mistakes are inevitable for any president dealing with a crisis on this scale. His supporters have pushed back against criticism that he did not heed warnings from within his administration and take action in February beyond banning travel from China and Europe. What’s clear is that Trump’s leadership failures have sown confusion when America desperately needed clarity and consistency.
Someone else leading by example? Newly elected Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear took early action last month when superintendents in his state struggled with whether to close schools.
Few states had done so and Beshear didn’t, either. He simply urged school leaders to put public safety at the top of their concerns. Within hours, the largest districts had announced plans to shut down, and within days every district was closed. Beshear was clear, consistent and early.
Those three things are key aspects of leadership in the current crisis, according to an April 13 piece for Harvard Business Review by Michaela Kerrissey, an assistant professor of management.
The lack of clear messages in Texas has been crippling at times. For every step forward Gov. Greg Abbott has cautiously taken in upping the urgency of Texans’ response, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has taken three leaps backward with his continued insistence that human life shouldn’t be the state’s top concern.
Kerrissey’s article also cited another example, one that hit closer to home for Houstonians.
On March 11, the day the World Health Organization labeled the virus a pandemic, the NBA commissioner canceled the league’s entire season. He acted decisively at a time of great uncertainty, and soon pro and college sports leagues of every description followed suit. That’s the power of influence.
Another aspect of strong leadership? The ability to quickly make adjustments to inevitable missteps.
It may have been a mistake to allow the Houston rodeo to go on as planned, but when it became clear that community spread of the novel coronavirus had begun, Mayor Sylvester Turner reversed course and joined Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo in ordering the shutdown of a wildly popular annual event.
More recently, Hidalgo once again led on the decision to shut down county parks over Easter weekend to keep people from congregating. Turner initially resisted, but after seeing data on a spike in Houston virus cases, he did the right thing and closed city parks.
Other examples of leadership on display in Houston have come from disparate sources.
Democratic Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee was an early voice calling for more testing — and she’s backed up her words with action in setting up testing sites around town, despite Abbott’s mixed messages about their importance.
Republican Sen. Ted Cruz has showed leadership in two ways — by immediately entering self-quarantine at his Houston home after being exposed to the virus in February, and since then by spending his conservative political capital to urge everyone to take the virus seriously.
It turns out, just as the virus wears no party labels, neither does the kind of leadership everyone in Texas and worldwide is counting on to see us safely through this crisis.