15. Leaders who care are leaders who give a damn and make sure everyone knows it.

Leaders who care are leaders who give a damn and make sure everyone knows it.

Leaders who care know that Black Lives Matter. I first wrote All Lives Matter. They do. Always. Yet, right now that seems to diminish the underlying racism in America and Australia. Known and unspoken.

I’ve watched the murder of George Floyd in deep sadness and angst. The world might have never known his name. Yet, in bloody circumstances, we do. Now let’s ensure his name (and so many others) are remembered for the change that comes about because they died.

I worked in Washington DC for 3 years. I witnessed a mix of cultures in a difficult town that personifies the separation between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’. And, between those that care and care not. Visible in Australia too.

My hope is for radical change, I just can’t imagine when. Black Lives Matter. In America, Australia and everywhere.

For that hope to be realised, we need leadership that looks in the mirror as much as it looks out the window. I write this as a President despatches the military and imposes a 7:00pm curfew. My hope is for calm voices and systemic change.

Martin Luther King reminded us: “Riots are the voice of the unheard”.

Leaders listen, use the mirror, act systemically. Check the window: Black Lives Matter.

#ThisCentury #leadership #culture #governance #systemsthinking #leadateverylevel #BLM