What has COVID-19 taught us about leadership? Lead with Empathy

Remember the images of migrants heading home during the COVID lockdown? Estimates say that 12 million Indians walked across the country to reach their home, the biggest migration in the history of India.

With little money in their pocket and society closed around them — they had hope only in going back to their native. And as they moved with little home, some surprises awaited them. While the government failed, the common people stood up beside them.

We do not need strongman leadership, but rather leaders who care, and are empathetic for every citizen.

Empathy, popularly defined as “getting into someone else’s shoes”, is getting increasing currency in all walks of life. Governance is no exception.

The limitations of both trickle-down and socialistic models in bringing in all within an inclusive society stand exposed. COVID only aggravated that and displayed it in a very vulgar way.

There is learning here. Governance must be radically redefined in a post-COVID world — hyperlocal, empowered, solution-oriented, quick off the feet, and delivered within constraints. And that needs empathy.

Only when look engage with someone with an empathetic mindset, do we understand the real pain points and look at the real solutions. It will no longer only be an institutional intervention with standard guidelines that need to be followed, but a customized solution that takes into account the social, financial, and personal context of the individual.

COVID has shown the power of empathy across the world — both among the millions of common citizens who worked tirelessly against massive odds, and in sparks among the political and administrative leadership.

This must be mainstream. It must be the DNA, the breath, of all involved with society to make a difference in someone else’s life.

And it is probably most important for political leadership. Because whatever may be our reservations about them, there is no other section of society that affects our everyday life — through setting the narratives, through legislation, through prioritization, through implementation.

However, the tragedy is, that even the best among them, with all the good intent and content, many times are so bound by the constraints, provide something that keeps out the weakest, the marginalized, the ones lacking the voice.

That is how CoWIN does not work for the vast majority, while the educated young revel in it. That is why ration cards linked to Aadhar eliminate corruption, but some suffer from malnutrition as the lack of linking deprives them of ration. Ayushman Bharat promises support, but only a handful knows how to avail it.

And that is where empathy will come in. When we look at the world through the lenses of empathy, we will start with the ones who are most vulnerable when we work on a challenge, and that will make whatever we do inclusive in every sense of the word.

So the question is, do we have it in our leadership today? If so, why is governance so exclusive for a few? If not why?

That is the change we need to seek — not swag, not spin. Not unbridled optimism or pessimism. Not branding or image management.

But empathy — at each stage, at every touchpoint, for everyone.

And here is one area where we can’t get it wrong.