The team is staring down a challenge.
Great opportunity lies ahead. But so do obstacles. Obstacles determined to keep this opportunity out of reach.
With the fog of adversity looming, a leader steps in front of the group and gives a fiery speech. The words energize the team. They overcome the odds and reach their goal.
Chances are, you’ve seen this situation unfold. Maybe you experienced it in real life. Or you saw it in a movie about sports or war.
It’s become the de facto playbook for wide scale leadership.
Bluster on. Rally the troops. Achieve victory.
It sounds good on paper. But that playbook has a fatal flaw.
Speak softly and carry a big stick.
If you weren’t nodding off in history class, you might remember that this quote comes from Teddy Roosevelt.
Roosevelt talked the talk. But he also walked the walk.
He made his name in the Spanish-American War, when he led his regiment — the Rough Riders — in a daring charge up a hill in Cuba. He often ventured out to the Dakota wilderness to hunt ferocious animals. And he treated the United States as a global power — even though it was yet to truly be one.
Roosevelt became the 26th President of the United States in 1901, when his predecessor was assassinated. And he instantly stood out. For in its 125 previous years, the U.S. had never quite seen a leader with his level of bluster.
Indeed, the three other presidents immortalized on Mount Rushmore with Roosevelt — George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln — conducted themselves much differently.
Washington led the fledging Revolutionary Army to victory over the British. But he didn’t achieve this feat by charging at the enemy in broad daylight. Instead, he used a series of skirmishes and retreats to lure them into a trap.
One need only look at the most famous painting of Washington to understand that he was more about guile than bile. That painting shows him and his troops crossing a frigid river for a surprise attack.
As President, Washington maintained his understated style. Despite the divisiveness all around him in the early days of the nation, he refused to resort to bravado.
The same went for Jefferson. As President, he’s perhaps most famous for purchasing land from the French. All the bluster was reserved for Vice President Aaron Burr, who got into an infamous duel with Alexander Hamilton.
And Lincoln? He led the United States through a Civil War with candor and compassion. His most famous speech — The Gettysburg Address — was more solemn than boisterous.
Yet, Roosevelt blazed a different path. And in his stead, a new form of leadership emerged.
The blustering style was in to stay.
Bluster has had a long run. Nearly 125 years in the daylight, to be precise.
But now, the sun might be setting on it.
Indeed, as a global pandemic tears its way through humanity, the virus at its center punishes defiance. And yet, many leaders have felt compelled to bluster on.
One of these blustering leaders was Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. As the virus ravaged nearby nations — first Italy, then Spain, then France — Johnson seemed convinced that those in the British Isles had nothing to worry about.
Johnson blustered on about the strength of those across the UK. He continued to shake hands. And he resisted initial calls for a national lockdown.
This behavior all seemed reckless. But Johnson was not one to bow down to an opponent. He preferred the familiarity of a rally-the-troops style — even if it put his nation on a collision course with disaster.
Then, Johnson caught the virus.
He carried on with his duties at first, albeit remotely. But his condition worsened. Soon, he ended up in an Intensive Care ward at a London hospital, his life in the balance.
Johnson pulled through, and ultimately recovered from the virus. But he emerged from the ordeal deeply humbled. His brush with death had seemingly convinced him that the virus couldn’t be scared away with bold talk.
Johnson’s messaging has since taken a more pragmatic tone. And his voice has seemed to carry more weight.
The situation in the UK has remained dire. But the nation has avoided calamity, even as others have dealt with surging caseloads.
Perhaps this is a coincidence. But I think not.
It shouldn’t have to come to this.
Leaders shouldn’t have to risk falling in the abyss to see the light.
For the truth lies in front of us. Bluster just doesn’t work.
Sure, bluster might seem tantalizingly shiny when times are good. But when the going gets tough, all that glitter is as good as lead paint.
It’s dangerous. Even fatal.
Yes, when uncertainty takes hold, when fear and doubt infest us, we don’t look for the loudest voice in the room. We look for the steadiest hand.
We choose a Lincoln over a Roosevelt. Every time.
And yet, those in power can’t help themselves. After all those years watching war movies and all those months on the campaign trail, their egos have deluded them.
Noise becomes their most trusted tool. Their only trusted tool. And in the teeth of a crisis, they just turn up the dial.
It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy. A prophecy in the form of a doom cycle.
Crises are good for precious few things.
But a fresh start is one of them.
The global pandemic has forced us to part with life as we once knew it. It’s compelled us to sacrifice so much that we once considered essential, in the name of survival.
So, why should we cling to a warped notion of leadership? Why should we tolerate the err of bluster?
Now is the time to celebrate a new class of leader. A leader who speaks through actions, rather than a bullhorn. A leader who is more deliberate than forceful. A leader who embraces humility over hubris.
Such a leader might not bring an aura. Their story might not catch the eye of Hollywood script writers.
But they will be the one that we follow out of the darkness.
It’s on us to make sure we continue to follow them in the light as well. That we make it clear precisely what we will tolerate from our leadership — and what we won’t. That we snuff out bluster once and for all.
Our future depends on it. No more. No less.
The stakes are high. Let’s make sure we meet them.