This morning as I read the news, my heart is very heavy. My life’s work is about Leadership and it makes me so very sad that so many people with the privilege of being in positions of leadership JUST DON’T GET IT.
At a time when the most wealthy of us have increased their pots of gold by $10.2 trillion, and when CEOs are getting large bonuses as they take subsidies from the government and layoff and furlough their employees and as the privileged few who have been tapped to lead us through the biggest crisis of our lifetime are displaying behaviours of gross negligence, I have to ask where in God’s name are the people who understand the concept of Leadership??? Ok, it turns out I am not sad. I am angry. Toe-curling, fist-clenching angry.
Normally I try to stay out of judgment and listen to people's perspectives but sometimes rage has its place...
I have to be honest, it has been a slow boil over the last few days. As the news trickled in about various vacation plans, as the antics of politicians north and south of our border eked out, as so-called influencers filled their social media feeds with their Christmas antics, my pot is now boiling over.
Perhaps the tipping point should have come faster, but the news today that the CEO of an Ontario HOSPITAL and a handpicked advisor to our COVID response travelled to the Dominican Republic leaves me ASTOUNDED. But the good news is he regrets his choice!
SERIOUSLY?!
Tom Stewart’s exact words “I regret this non-essential travel and I’m sorry, I recognize everyone should be avoiding non-essential travel now, including me.”
Let me make this very clear - A CEO OF A HOSPITAL ONLY INTERNALIZED HIS CHOICE TO TRAVEL AFTER THE CBC BROKE THE STORY.
I am trying to understand how his brain processed the decision to travel.
Tom - oh, I can’t wait for this vacation
Conscience - you can’t travel, there is a pandemic
Tom - I’m so tired, this has been going on so long, I’m going
Conscience - you told everyone they can’t travel and to stay home
Tom - but I booked this trip a while ago
Conscience- we’ve know about the risk since March 2020
Tom - yah, but it’s a really nice resort
Conscience - you can’t go
Tom- but I don’t want to disappoint my wife and kids
Conscience - you can’t go
Tom - no one will find out - I’m going
Conscience - you can’t go
Tom - do as I say not as I do...
Now, of course, the above is an imagined conversation because I am not convinced that Tom or the countless others who did exactly what they wanted despite telling their teams and constituents to stay home even have a conscience.
The numbers in Ontario are at an all-time high. In London Ontario, the morgue is using refrigerated trucks to store dead bodies because the morgue itself is actually full. And Tom Stewart thought his reasons for travel were more important than anything we have been telling the general public. Tom have you ever spoken to a nurse working double shifts in your hospital???
People - we have lost the plot line. We have obliterated the plot line. As privileged leaders you want your people to show up, drive results, sacrifice, innovate, strive. But what - you are past that point in your career? You’re past that point as a human being??
So let me make it easy for you. Do these four things:
1) Live integrity - your words and your actions need to be CONGRUENT
2) Be in service - the world is bigger than you and your needs. Leadership is a PRIVILEGE and your job is to help move the shit out of the way for others, to evolve your teams to their potential, to understand their priorities. Your teams aren’t lucky to be working for you - YOU ARE LUCKY TO BE WORKING FOR THEM!
3) Get out of the office - leave your ivory tower and go to where your people are. Talk with them, listen to them, hear them. If you are a CEO of a hospital, go to the emergency room and talk to a nurse after her shift. If you are a CEO of a Bank, go into a branch and talk to a teller about the abuse he takes. If you are the CEO of a distribution company, go to the warehouse and spend a day fulfilling last minute orders. Do this EVERY MONTH.
4) GET YOUR SHIT TOGETHER!
BSOFO,
