War in the time of corona
It’s no secret that Boris Johnson’s hero is Winston Churchill. Everyone knows that Churchill led the UK in the fight against Germany in World War 2. What’s less well known is that he was unprincipled, had a gigantic ego and “death defying self-belief”… qualities Johnson celebrates as the positive attributes of great leadership, in his biography of the great man.
Dominic Cummings also has a hero — Sun Tzu. Cummings referred to Sun Tzu’s book, The Art of War in his battle to lead the UK out of Europe. Many business leaders also use this book as a blueprint for success, because a “winner takes all” strategy applies just as well in the board room as the battlefield. It seems the principles of war have hardly changed in the 2500 years since the book was written. Except this time things are very different.
The fight against coronavirus is a game changer because the template of hero has changed…
In previous wars, heroes left home to fight.
In this war, heroes leave home to care.
In previous wars, heroes risked their own life to kill others.
In this war, heroes risk their own life to save the lives of others.
The fight against coronavirus is a game changer because our definition of success has changed…
In previous wars, captains of industry made billions of dollars, in secret deals with people like Dick Cheney.
In this war, captains of industry who act like dickheads, are being outed on social media.
Led By Donkeys have put up a series of billboards called Hero vs Zero. The heroes are people who support the NHS with their time, their money or their devotion. The zeroes are companies like Sports Direct, who have increased the price of exercise equipment by 50%, or Weatherspoons, who are using the virus as an excuse to avoid paying their employees.
People may not be able to take to the streets, but they’ve certainly taken to twitter to ridicule the many companies who think that sending emails saying “we’re in this together” counts as actually caring.
The jig is up on artificial caring… now that we’ve seen the real thing.
And of course Jacob Rees Mogg deserves a special mention. His investment company sees the coronavirus as a fantastic financial opportunity. “History has shown us that super normal returns can be made during this type of environment”. Whoever put that sentence together should be hiding under a rock.
Rampant capitalism was never going to be brought down by socialism — it’s far too dour and humourless — but it could be brought down by creativity.
Creativity can turn a problem into an opportunity, not the usual crass opportunity, favoured by capitalists, but a heart opening, collaborative one.
Before World War 2, women were excluded from the workplace. When men went away to war, somebody needed to do the jobs that got left behind. Necessity became the Mother of Invention. Once there, the women remained. Society changed forever. The war allowed something that years of petitions and pleading hadn’t been able to achieve.
This virus could do something similar.
Before coronavirus, parents paid huge sums of money for childminders, then they commuted on overcrowded trains to work long hours, in order to pay for a lifestyle they had become so habituated to that it seemed impossible to do without. Now, out of necessity, they’re doing things differently. Some of them are finding resources in themselves they never knew were there. A lot of them are discovering the joy in sharing these resources. Children are experiencing their parents in a different way.
Before coronavirus, people assumed that “somebody” was in charge of making things fair. But now, regular people are taking matters into their own hands. There are examples of open hearts and collaboration everywhere…
A nurse who finished his night shift, only to find his bike had been stolen, was flooded with responses from the general public. “I’ve an old bike in my shed, you’re welcome to it”. “I’ll buy you a bike… DM me”. “I work in a bike shop, we can rent you one free of charge”.
Four NHS staff shared a flat, but one had to leave to be with a family member. The remaining three asked if they could pay three quarters of the rent as they couldn’t afford the extra share. Their landlord refused and wanted to evict them. (Zero) When this came out, a couple who also had to leave to quarantine with family, let them stay in their house free of charge (Heroes).
Before coronavirus the pubs and restaurants may have been full but people felt lonely… a kind of existential loneliness that’s often worse in a room full of people when the conversation is meaningless and the banter banal. Stress, anxiety and depression levels have been rising sharply for years. In a strange way social isolation could take away existential isolation by bringing us back to what has real meaning… caring, collaborating, creating.
It’s time to change the image of hero… from cunning and ambitious to caring and collaborative. It’s ironic that the people currently in the front line with Boris are not carrying guns but carrying ventilators. They’re not taking orders from him, they’re giving orders to him.
It’s time to change the image of leader. We don’t want to be led by donkeys, who are themselves being led by the carrot of capitalism. How much better it would be if we could lead ourselves into becoming better human beings.
