Reviewed by Rama Gaind.
By Laura Tingle, Quarterly Essay/Black Inc., $22.99.
Leadership works both ways. As journalist Tingle points out:
“Leaders kid themselves that they are setting the terms of play, even running the world. And we write and think about them in those terms but in fact true leaders only get to lead if they have followers whom they can persuade to follow. So often, it is what followers want that determines whether leaders get to emerge at all … Leadership often involves widely unpopular decisions.”
As this essay considers, the qualities and requirements of leadership are eternal in so many ways. Among some of the factors being considered are the “changing expectations we have of politics”.
It’s also about how leaders and leadership are responding to them. “We judge political leaders by their popularity rather than their ideas. And we seem to have little tolerance for the details of new policy – wherever they come from.”
There is a need to have a ‘sophisticated’ discussion.
Brisk and timely, Tingle examines political leadership in general – some profiles in courage, and cunning – as well as styles of leadership. Tingle analyses what has gone wrong with politics in Australia, arguing that successful leaders know what they want to do, and create the space and time to do it.
In QE71, Tingle argues that democratic leaders build a consensus for change, rather than bludgeon the system or turn politics into a popularity contest. They mobilise and guide, more than impose a vision. Tingle offers acute portraits – profiles in courage and cunning – of leaders ranging from Merkel and Howard to Macron and Obama.
She discusses the rise of the strongman, including Donald Trump, for whom there is no map, only sentiment and power.
