Management Perspectives

This article is based on our book, The Silent Rebellion, which points out how the world has changed since COVID-19. It identifies who has benefited and who has lost. There is nothing new in this because the results are familiar. If there were divisions before COVID-19, then they were deepened, accelerated, and widened by COVID-19. It split rich from poor, manual from managerial, young from old, sick from strong and nation from nation. In this article, we have tried to dispel some myths, based on topics from our book.

MYTH 1: The world has recovered from COVID-19.

It has not. We are still dealing with the economic, social, scientific, and emotional effects. COVID-19 saw one of the largestever transfers of wealth from public to private sectors. This money ended up in banks at record-low interest rates. The resulting inflation triggered rapid interest rate rises to twenty-year highs causing four of the five largest-ever bank failures. This destroyed confidence from which the world is only just beginning to recover. Global treasuries are now putting in place tax rises to repair the damage to national finances. These economic extremes have, in turn, triggered extremism in politics as division has increased. The emotional scars will take longer to heal. Trust needs to be rebuilt and scepticism remains high.

MYTH 2: DEI and inclusion have had their day.

Since when have understanding, empathy, and consideration been of no use to leadership? This is a myth promulgated by those who are uncomfortable with the future. There is also a myth that inclusion is well-meaning but woolly-minded and financially inefficient. This is to belie the strengths of multi-racial, multi-national communities like Singapore. It has no resources except its culture and people, yet it has proven to be one of the most economically successful and socially integrated nations. If leadership wants to achieve greater efficiency, it must make greater efforts to harness the whole team. Ignorance, intolerance, and insensitivity make this task much harder.

MYTH 3: History does not matter.

Perhaps, if we had studied history more closely, we would have been better prepared for the pandemic. The last such was ‘The Spanish Flu’ epidemic of 1918, yet it is barely recorded. There are no memorials, no films, nor any traces left by an event that killed more people in America than in every war before or since. If there had been greater understanding, there might have been better preparation. Some would like to erase any ‘unpleasant’ aspects of history because it no longer fits a modern agenda. Those that ignore history approach the future unprepared. Past is prologue. It is perhaps the speed of modern information that demands attention be focused on the present at the expense of the past and consequently, the future.

MYTH 4: The best leadership is the most famous.

Our book about leaders whom you have never heard of. This is because we have become obsessed with the leader rather than the team. Real leadership requires less focus on the ‘leader’ and more on the ‘ship’. There is brilliant and better leadership out there that you never hear about. You know it is brilliant because it does not spend time talking about itself. It is these leaders that are highlighted in the book. Many of them work in difficult or unattractive areas of life. These can be places where there is little corporate interest in sponsorship, despite them being of enormous benefit to the community.

MYTH 5: The best leadership is in the private sector.

Of course, there is good leadership in both private and public sectors, but the most ignored realm of leadership is in the voluntary sector. None of the leaders profiled in the book consider themselves to be leaders. In fact, they all expressed surprise at their inclusions. This is because they are focused on the task. For many of them, it is a lifetime calling. They neither have riches, nor fame, but the value of their work is undisputed. Their leadership style is worth at least as much study as those who have achieved commercial success. The Silent Rebellion also points out that so much division raises important questions.

These are not just about healthcare or governance; they also raise questions about the capital system. The proportion of wealth accounted for by billionaires has risen more since COVID 19 began than in the last 14 years. At $5 trillion dollars, this is the biggest surge in high-net-worth wealth since records began. As governments cut public services to balance budgets, leadership must be aware of the perception of this inequality.

This is another reason for sensitivity and understanding not just at the top but throughout the organisation. The book (and it’s proceeds) supports the work of the Team Lewis Foundation, a global pioneer in employee-directed philanthropy. It has helped over 2,000 causes all over the world. It allows each colleague to choose their own causes, allocate company resources and cash (a minimum of US$2,000 per annum), and supervise its application. The Foundation’s only criteria is that the cause must be a registered charity. Employee-directed giving has an important implication for senior leadership. In these days of business and political cross-dressing, politicians behave like business people and business people like politicians. Business cannot have a position on every political issue—environmentalism, equality, identity, etc.

This is dangerous for many reasons. Firstly, business people are terrible as politicians. Secondly, business colleagues are rightly skeptical of top-down schemes designed to make them look good. They have seen too many examples of corporate pink-green-blue-washing. Finally, it is also not what all shareholders want. Of course, shareholders are as diverse as colleagues. Seldom are shareholders pleased with a onesize fits all approach. We want to raise the values of community leadership—these are dedication, humility, modesty, consistency, and flexibility. Above all, we want to show that modern leadership is not just about goals which are ‘Specific’, ‘Measurable’, ‘Achievable’, ‘Relevant’, and ‘Time-specific’ (so-called SMART goals). It is about values. You cannot ‘do’ inspiring, reassuring, or visionary. You can only ‘be’ them. Modern leaders need a ‘to-be’ list as well a ‘to-do’ list.