LETS ALL STAND UP FOR THE RIGHT OF POLITICAL LEADERS TO DANCE! REALLY?! YOU MUST BE KIDDING!
I was flabbergasted by the recent avalanche of global and passionate posts in support of Sanna Marin, the Finnish PM who — based on some (unduly?) leaked pictures — was evidently enjoying herself at a private party. It seemed that every freedom-loving intellectual or wannabe feminist on the planet felt an urgent need to join the party (pardon the pun!), eagerly contributing selfies in the most-ridiculous-possible poses. Emma Goldman’s dictum that “If I can’t dance I don’t want to be in your revolution” was on everybody’s lips…
Here, I was getting extremely confused. Having a good time had suddenly become emblematic of… exactly what? Individual freedom? A new human “right to party”? Female leadership? Good leadership in general? An exquisite opportunity to kick all those conservative “old farts” and party-poopers? Dionysus over Apollo? I guess all of the above…
The problem is: all the outrage was completely missing the point. I strongly believe what political leaders do in their private lives is their private business — whether it lands on social media or not. Hence, maybe, rather than all that exhilarate jubilation and childish selfie-mania — desperately trying to demonstrate that “we are dancing, too!” — we should have simply ignored the post.
But what makes me more anxious is what all of this potentially tells us about our political culture. What makes a good politician, simply put, has very little to do with their partying skills. We might feel very strongly that leaders should be more “humane”, “just like us” — maybe even “good sports”, or at the center of social life. Or we might believe it should be praiseworthy in itself to be “authentic” — allegedly expressed especially well by getting drunk and having a good time. That’s all very nice, but, frankly, none of it really is a recipe that makes good politicians. See Boris Johnson, if you need any evidence…
In fact, any politician — of any gender, race, nationality etc — might impress me if they display wisdom, compassion, courage, trust, or perseverance… in pursuit of common good and public duty. Had we suddenly discovered that any politician had courageously provided proper arms for the Ukraine to defend itself, or given up some of their salary to finance tuition for disadvantaged children, or compassionately hosted Syrean refugees at their home, or or or… I would have gladly added my cheers! But glorifying personal authenticity, expressed as gleeful participation in some after works event — sorry, whatever the circumstances, that’s just pathetic.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve been a dancer all my life and I love a good time as much as the next man or woman (I wish we all had been at that aforementioned party!) - but that is just beside the point! More than all the ridiculously superficial and self-enamored commentary about whether people should have a right to enjoy themselves, what we really, desperately need is a serious debate about what type of leaders we can and should trust. What the requirements for public office are — beyond “authentic” social skills, good looks and well-rounded rhetorics. Because what we desperately need are GOOD politicians. With a capital “G”. Political leaders who have character and integrity — ideally, across all their roles in public and private life. And that we cannot judge by a few facebook pictures — hence, we should not try…
And in this context, maybe, collectively, we should also ponder a bit more deeply about what our own role in politics is — what it means to accept civic responsibility. So that beyond engaging merrily in the very enjoyable spectacle of “party politics” (!), we might invest with equal zeal in less spectacular yet more important citizenship duties, and think a little harder before electing the next “clown” to office.
Do politicians have “a right to party”? Yeah, they undoubtedly do — whatever their gender. Sadly, that does not make them neither better (nor worse) leaders. So let’s not get distracted!
#politics #leadership #transformation #leadershipdevelopment
From: “Sunday Morning Thoughts on LinkedIn” — I will report some of the interesting LinkedIn dialogues here, paraphrased and applying the Chatham House Rule — trying to protect some of the sentiments, thoughts, and above all our stimulating discussions from oblivion ;-)
