In the face of a dramatic spike in COVID-19 cases in Germany I watched this passionate speech by Chancellor Merkel – a true leader that I deeply admire/respect – amazed by this truly Iron Lady with a Purple Heart in her strong sense of duty/responsibility to country, and all I could think about is; Germany I’m very jealous. Leadership traits are hard to come by these days; traits that are mainly a result of life experiences/exposures coupled with a sense of duty/integrity. In this precise moment in human history when we’re facing a host of difficult issues in a world growing ever more complex we need to become much more selective about identifying/selecting our leaders to eliminate the concept of Accidental Leaders or Single Issue Leaders (lucky us in the UK where we’ve experienced them both back to back in one of the most critical moments in our history) while ignoring the fundamental leadership traits needed because Democracy as a governance model is unsustainable in its most effective/pure form without the safe guiding hands of wise leadership and of course a reliable info eco system that promotes debate/compromise but that’s another story altogether. In the UK it is safe to say we’re struggling at the moment as a nation precisely because we do not yet have someone in the horizon that confidently projects these traits; this coupled with the broken/dysfunctional/archaic political system means that we’re in for a rough ride at least in the near future and we simply don’t have the time/energy to think beyond that point.
As for Chancellor Angela Merkel I predict in the same way I predicted with President Barack Obama that once they leave the political stage people will sense the value of their leadership style/contributions; I wish her well, very well.