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If Volodymyr Zelenskyy was a Fortune 500 boss, his shareholders would presumably expect him to spend his end-of-year break reading “leadership” books on the art of the regroup, the pivot or the second chapter.
The latest wave of Russian missile and drone attacks on cities across Ukraine caps a tough year for its president. He is learning what charismatic leaders have had to absorb for millennia: that it’s all very well embodying a cause, but in difficult times you will be blamed.
He is too busy, of course, fighting Europe’s most industrialised war since 1945 to have time to ingest management books. But in the new year spirit of consolation, succour and guidance, if I were in his inner circle I might be tempted to pass on insight from three unflashy leaders I have encountered this year to sustain him against his ruthless foe.
Exhibit A is Siya Kolisi, the captain of South Africa’s Rugby World Cup-winning team. His life story embodies perseverance. He grew up in acute poverty and went on to become the first black leader of a team that, under apartheid, symbolised Afrikaner pride. This October, he defied the odds for the second time in a row to win the four-yearly World Cup tournament.
His philosophy is simple: abandon the ego. Kolisi was never one of the team’s superstars nor the ultimate strategist. “If I don’t know something, I will say I don’t know,” he told me. “The team is the number one. If someone knows better than me, they must take centre stage and speak. For a leader it shows strength when you know what you don’t know.”
All war leaders have their moments when they think they know better than their generals, and sometimes they do. Zelenskyy has certainly had his disagreements with his commanders — as was clear this autumn when a top general talked of a stalemate, a term Zelenskyy had all but banned. But as Kolisi would say, when you are on the defensive it can be important to let your senior teammates speak.
However unfairly, Zelenskyy has a reputation in Kyiv for possessing an autocratic mindset. Perhaps he could share the responsibility and limelight with his ministers and other Ukrainian political leaders in the spirit of national unity? This would also send the message to his allies — and their voters — that Ukraine’s government is about more than one dynamic man. As a South African put it to me of Kolisi, “he didn’t try to be the boss, to rule by fiat”.
A second source of potential reassurance is closer to home: Maia Sandu, president of Moldova. Ukraine’s tiny neighbour has also long been in Russia’s shadow and it, too, dreams of joining the EU. Sandu’s routine is to keep plugging away in tackling corruption in the courts and the political culture, a problem that plagues Ukraine too.
The bravura showmanship of Zelenskyy’s public performances was electrifying and essential in 2022. But in the second winter of full-scale war is there a case for a Sandu-esque, less showy yet steely routine? There is something remarkable about this former World Bank official’s dogged data-driven style. Leadership is not just about success. It is about persistence, as well.
Sandu accepts some things are out of her control, but believes you have to keep on trying to do the right thing. That surely applies to Ukraine. Advocacy will help, but frustratingly for Kyiv the vital matter of securing funding from the US and EU is out of its hands. For now, the Ukrainians have to get their heads down and build a war economy.
Exhibit C is another fellow head of state, whose capital is some 9,500km to the east of Kyiv. Indonesia’s political culture has similarities to Ukraine’s. It is an emerging democracy with an elite not always known for the transparency of its dealings. The country’s president, Joko Widodo, has made an art form of keeping expectations low.
His routine is to say what he is going to do, then do it, and then talk about how he has done it. This was how he marketed a vast bridge-building programme. He is now applying the same approach to moving his capital — although here, for once, he may have over-reached when it comes to managing expectations.
It was not Zelenskyy’s fault but this summer’s Ukrainian counteroffensive became imbued with such excitement that when it petered out the disappointment was all the more acute.
It is a commonplace to bemoan the world’s lack of leadership. Yes, in western Europe — beyond France’s Emmanuel Macron — there are few strategic thinkers. But it is facile to imagine the world was so much better led in the past. There have always been chancers, plodders and followers of the wind.
The coming year will be tough but we should not despair of humanity’s ability to rise to a challenge — and we should certainly not despair of Kyiv’s. And if Kolisi is right that leadership is all about team-spirit, it’s hard to see Russia’s Vladimir Putin emerging victorious.
alec.russell@ft.com
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