True leaders prove fear is cheap, hope worth sweating for

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews. Picture: Getty

April last year was a blur. Who am I kidding? Most of last year was a blur for so many of us. Looking back, the week or so leading up to Easter was the most frightening period of my 18 years in business thus far. And that’s saying something.

The world was shaking and shifting by the day. Nobody had a clue. Borders, businesses, and schools slammed shut and stayed shut. Commercial decision-making went into a holding pattern. The only thing going into overdrive was the production of loo paper and cortisol.

I had asked my team to take an extended break at Easter, to collectively run down our annual leave. We all agreed and, to be honest, most of our clients did the same. When you’ve no clarity on how big the storm would be, you batten down and wait. One memory stands out more so than others, a phone call from one of my team. Her voice was steady, but not strong as she spoke. Gem, will I still have a job?

I wish I could remember what I said to her. Stress does strange things to memory, though. I’m pretty sure I told her yes, because my glass is half-full by nature, but what I learned since that day, and what so many of has have learned during this wretchedness, is that leading from a place of hope and optimism takes grit. It’s a choice. It’s got nothing to do with feelings and it’s a significantly tougher gig than leading via fear.

These past few weeks, as the difference in leadership styles between the state premiers has become even more pronounced than it previously was, I’ve found myself thinking more about these characteristics. About hope and optimism. The power carried in words. About how, around Australia right now, there is crushing proof of the truth that hope deferred makes the heart sick, but words laced with hope, carried by optimism, lift and carry.

If there’s one thing that we’ve sadly learned from Covid, it’s that the politics of fear is the easy sell. Takes zero skill. No leadership and absolutely no effort.

WA Premier Mark McGowan. Picture: Jackson Flindell

Leading with optimism? This isn’t the stuff of fairytales. It’s potent and it takes more than a sunny disposition to do it well. It takes sweat. It takes courage to stare down the giants and lead anyway. Imagine if the former and current premiers of NSW had been too timid to lead?

In life and in leadership, fear assaults, hope embraces. Fear shrinks a person’s world, hope enlarges is. Fear as a political tool is only ever about gaining and holding control. Hope is the language of freedom. Fear says: Queensland hospitals are for Queenslanders only. Fear says: we won’t let you in, we must protect our special way of life.

Even as the NSW government was opening the state up under the former premier, even as Gladys Berejiklian spoke with hope and optimism, fear shrieked from the cheap seats. That chorus grew louder when successor Dominic Perrottet fast-tracked the process. Everyone will die! This government is hiding the true numbers! Fear. It’s easy to be gutless from the sidelines, isn’t it?

It continued still, even as the sense of hope among battle-weary Sydneysiders swelled into a tidal wave that was felt on the other side of the country. It was impossible not to be buoyed by it. I’ve never seen so many people delighting in the haircuts and dinner dates of complete strangers thousands of kilometres away.

That’s what hope does – it unites. In leadership, optimism is the gold that you don’t mind digging for, sweating for, because it never disappoints. Leaders who speak the language of fear and sow division will eventually reap the whirlwind. The unfolding tragedy of Victoria is simple evidence of that. The tens of thousands of people who have simply abandoned hope and left the state for good is heartbreaking.

It’s not just leadership at a political level. That’s simply the most obvious and visible space.

So many have led businesses, staff, teams, families and the hardest one of all – yourselves – with hope and optimism during this season. Led your children through endless hours of homeschooling. Put on hope with your activewear day in, day out, and smiled brightly when you’ve wanted to climb the walls.

We need to honour and acknowledge this. It’s the stuff of titans. So, as we collectively sprint, walk, dance or limp out of this pandemic, let’s remember this and, while we’re at it, one more thing, too.

Fear may seem powerful, in the moment. It may shout the loudest, but it has a very limited shelf life and is always exposed for the cheap commodity it is.

Nobody, but nobody, looks back on history and celebrates a person whose greatest legacy was keeping people afraid and shrinking their lives.

Hope isn’t denial. Optimism isn’t lip service. It’s acknowledging how garbage things are but choosing to believe the good, regardless. This is true leadership.

Gemma Tognini is executive director of GT Communications.