Leadership during the Corona Crisis

When you watch an Austrian press conference during these Corona times, you see the ministers walk in all wearing masks. They are at least one meter apart from on another. Before each podium is a transparent barrier. They are following the health & safety guidelines they have insisted the population follow. They are protecting the people they have sworn an oath to protect. 

The press conferences with the Chancellor (prime minister) are weekly. There are other press conference with other ministers during the week. The press conference opens with the Chancellor providing a summary of the decisions that have been made and the data upon which those decisions were based.  Because the Vice Chancellor comes from a different political party, he also provides a summary of the situation with his own view, often reiterating what the Chancellor said. Both try to reassure the residents of their country that the best measures are taking place and, despite scary times, they understand and want to minimize and mitigate the fear especially as the situation changes regularly. 

Then, the health & science minister makes a statement about the science and the effects of the measures that have been put in place; the finance and economic ministers make statements about how business and economy will be handled; the interior minister makes statements about how the police will enforce the new laws; the foreign & tourism ministers address travel restrictions; the minister for education talks about what will happen with exams.

One leadership lesson I have learned in my career comes from the US Navy, from aircraft carrier commands, ironically: subject matter experts have command in their areas of expertise. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellor  only make simple summary opening statements. They let the area experts do their jobs.  All members of the press conference have a common vision and each member speaks only on his or her area of responsibility.

When you watch a US press conference during these Corona times, you see the president, members of the Corona task force, and security personnel all enter. None are wearing masks. They are all huddled together. Only one person is making statements. When questions are posed specifically to subject matter experts, the one person answers without consulting the expert. Although there is a single voice communicating, it is unclear if there is a common vision among the area experts.

It feels like there is a giant experiment in leadership taking place. Each country — and sometimes even smaller polities like US states — are conducting separate experiments. The Austrian People’s Party and the moderate wing of the US Republicans are similar ideologically yet the demonstration of leadership seems very different despite this similarity.