Leadership Lessons From Prior Pandemics: Turning the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Pandemic Into an Opportunity

摘要

COVID-19 is more aptly thought of as a trigger than a crisis; the actual crisis is a combination of two other factors: the direct health effects of the viral pandemic and, far more important, the effects of the measures necessary to mitigate the former. Administrative leadership responsible for policy development can beget three outcomes: (1) aggravate the crisis; (2) merely manage it; or (3) lead the institution to emerge stronger. History is replete with leadership examples during pandemics to avoid or emulate, and administrators are well advised to study it. There is no such thing as a coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis. The virus, or more precisely its perceived threat, is more aptly thought of as the trigger. The actual crisis is a combination of two other factors: First and obvious, the direct health effects of this viral pandemic, and second and far more important, the effects of the measures necessary to mitigate the former. As with any crisis, infectious pandemic included, it is instructive to separate responders into two groups: those charged with ad hoc policy development (hereby called administrators) and those charged with executing those policies (hereby called frontline personnel). That administrative leadership being responsible for policy development can beget three outcomes: (1) aggravate the crisis; (2) merely manage it; or (3) lead the institution to emerge stronger. History is replete with leadership examples during pandemics to avoid or emulate, and administrators are well advised to study it. The first well-documented pandemic crisis was the Athenian plague, described by Thucydides1. In 430 BC, Athens was stricken by a pandemic in the midst of the Peloponnesian war against Sparta. As the death toll mounted, eventually claiming nearly 100,000 lives or one-third of the population, social order broke down entirely. The crème de la crème of Athenian statesmanship failed their subjects. Athenians, who prided themselves in their commitment to the common good and service to the state, lost confidence in their leadership. Lawlessness took over, class distinctions became more acute, and eventually Athens fell to Sparta, ending the Greek experimentation with democracy.