This pandemic has exposed politicians' leadership
The world has stopped and we were not prepared for this. Seven months ago we were not aware of all that was going to happen and we have lived through these last 50 confined days. The globalised world to which we were accustomed with freedom of movement, services, workers, goods, however, what a paradox, borders were closed because a virus has put all the world's governments in check.
This pandemic has exposed our politicians for their actions, reactions and we expected much more. One also wonders about the overall responsibility when watching viral videos of Bill Gates in 2015 or of politicians like George Bush in 2005 and Barack Obama in 2008, who announced and predicted that humanity would suffer from the greatest challenge in the air.
How is it possible that world leaders, despite having privileged information from scientists of the World Health Organization (WHO), large laboratories, epidemiologists, in short, the best experts, were not aware that the greatest risk would be a virus? How is it possible that public administrations had not provided themselves with real prevention plans, with supplies causing great damage that has exploded in our faces?
In crisis communication, the first thing that is needed is to have a prevention plan for the situation, but they have all become outdated despite hyperconnection, technological progress and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Corporations prepare themselves with simulations of adverse situations so as not to endanger their reputation and survival in the face of catastrophes. How is it possible that large oil refineries, to serve as an example, are better prepared than governments having a benchmark in 2014 with the Ebola crisis and have not strengthened themselves?
It all seems like science fiction and they have exceeded all expectations. This COVID-19 health crisis has shaken the leadership of politicians. They have put themselves under scrutiny and barely pass because they have failed to plan, act and manage.
From the beginning, the virus was minimised in Europe and the United States without taking into account the clear-cut decisions of China, where it originated. In Latin America, seeing the magnitude and development of the circumstances of the numbers of deaths in Spain and Italy, the closure of borders was brought forward, being effective in not having a high number of deaths.
No one is spared, the WHO has been criticised by the Swedish University of Umea, according to a study in the Journal of Travel Medicine, for underestimating the spread and stating that the effects would be those of a simple flu. And the same thing has happened to the world's most important leaders for their denial of the virus. Let us see how the management of the pandemic has been because in this type of crisis leaders either reinforce themselves, deteriorate or new strangers appear owing to their response capacity. First of all, analysing the female leadership of the prime ministers, it has been much more efficient due to the speed of action with better results: fewer deaths and even putting an end to the virus.
The most forceful leadership is that of Angela Merkel, the German chancellor who addressed the citizens on March 11 with a direct speech, stressing "this is serious, take it seriously too", she speaks the truth and thus involves her people and continues "it depends on everyone".
Merkel, at all times, has avoided the language of war in the face of the virus. It is the smartest thing to do and she uses the word "challenge". She is realistic; her country is not at war, unlike Emmanuel Macron, who did mention it seven times, or Pedro Sánchez, who used the term "battle" and excessive rhetoric in his speeches to Churchill and Kennedy, the great leaders of the past century, when it cannot be extrapolated to this moment.
The German leader shows strength and executes, preparing herself with medical equipment in advance. The results are evident: Germany is the second country in the world that is best protecting its population from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has gained up to 76 per cent in popularity. The Chancellor uses the exact words when she declares Germany has achieved a “fragile intermediate success”, no more and no less. In the right measure.
In this line of action and forceful management, the Prime Ministers of New Zealand, Jacinda Arden, - with a country of 5 million people and 19 deaths, is the only one who can say she has beaten the virus with a transmission rate of 0.3 per cent - as well as Taiwan's, Tsai Ing-wen, who acted quickly by closing the borders, taking 120 measures to prevent the spread. Their management has been exceptional and will go down in history as what CNN has called "one of the best responses in the world". For her part, Erna Solberg, Prime Minister of Norway, used "love" in a press conference addressing children, later adopted in other countries.
These female leaders succeed because they have applied empathy, closeness, forcefulness and speed of action. According to studies by Human Resources managers, women in top positions exercise leadership characterized by being more prone to compromise, more flexible, better able to adapt to change, encouraging participation and cooperation, and having greater emotional development and intelligence.
On the other hand, we have seen new leaderships that we did not know before, capable of overshadowing their presidents such as Andrew Cuomo, Governor of New York, and José Luis Martínez-Almeida, Mayor of Madrid. Both politicians have acted in a very similar way: immediate availability and help to the citizen, through action, management, transmission and constant and transparent information to all the media with a conciliatory tone and unity when meeting with other representatives from different formations to find out their opinion. In particular, both have received good evaluations and recognition from the public, the media and even politicians of different ideologies.
In contrast, populist hyperleaders who are incongruous, if not judge how Donald Trump adopts a negative reaction to the virus in testing, lack of reaction, execution and criticism of other leaders. Most surprisingly, last week he made a statement at a press conference saying that in order to defeat COVID-19, "I would recommend injections of disinfectant or applying sunlight to the human body", which would reduce its credibility as much as possible and lead to more than 100 hospital admissions for poisoning.
Along these lines, we have been perplexed by other Latin American leaders such as AMLO, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, President of Mexico, with a political communication that has polarised citizens, as well as putting them at risk and establishing contradictory measures of action and stating that stopping the virus would be "a stamp" instead of establishing the distance required to prevent its spread. He denied it by bathing in the crowds hugging and kissing the children because that was the slogan he used in the 2018 elections. With these acts he has put his population at risk instead of preventing and taking action.
And what about Jair Bolsonaro, defending that Brazil "couldn't stop" and the virus was a "cold" by confronting governors and ministers and refusing to take distancing measures and provoking resignations and tensions with the Health Minister, who has gained a 77% approval rating because he was "clear and transparent" in front of the country's leader who went down to 33%.
The COVID-19 has been a health tsunami because it was about "saving lives" in the face of ignorance, insecurity and fear, and now there is another devastating economic and social tsunami, to which politicians are also exposed, where unity of action is required for reconstruction and, above all, international cooperation and the best decisions are made for everyone's future.
The new generations are asking for close leadership to defend their freedoms, not to be put at risk. We have seen that the real heroes are health workers, supply, logistics, supermarket and cleaning workers who have helped, even risking their lives for the whole population.
This crisis marks a before and after in all humanity and the new world order is about to come: "more human and closer".