Koehn’s Honest Advice for “Real Leaders” During COVID-19…

This week I explored various websites, articles, and videos provided to me by the professor of my Hospitality Leadership and Self Development class. Through the entirety of my experience, there is a single piece that stands out far more than others: Nancy Koehn’s article, “Real Leaders are Forged in Crisis”. 

Koehn’s article focuses on ways in which leaders should be behaving, based on the current state of fear and uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic. At the beginning of her article, Koehn shared David Foster Wallace’s term “real leaders,” which refers to “people who ‘help us overcome the limitations of our own individual laziness and selfishness and weakness and fear and get us to do better, harder things than we can get ourselves to do on our own.’” She then goes on to explain four step that existing leaders can take now (or during any form of crisis) in order to forge themselves into “real” leaders: (1) acknowledge the fears that people have, then encourage positivity and inspiration, (2) give people a role or task to focus on, adding a sense of purpose to their lives, (3) encourage experimentation and learning along the way in order to find solutions to new changes, and (4) tend to everyone’s energy and emotion, including yours – people will look to you as an example.

I believe the reason why this article stood out so much in my mind this week is because I was pleased to read an article that addressed the current coronavirus situation in such a real light, acknowledging the negative side of things, rather than simply focusing on the light at the end of the tunnel. Near the end of her article, Koehn even shared the recent passing of a closed family friend due to coronavirus, which is a very raw and personal aspect of her life to share with readers. The pure emotion and honesty that Koehn shares in this article added a level of certainty to her intellectual insight. I am looking forward to putting these four behaviors to use during periods of crisis in my current and future leadership roles.