The Fault Lines of Leadership: Lessons from the Global Covid-19 Crisis

In this article, we reflect on the role that leadership has played in the response to the global Covid-19 crisis. We discuss two major ‘fault lines' of leadership: narcissism, and ideological rigidity. A fault line is a problem that may not be obvious under normal circumstances but could cause leadership to fail stakeholders and society at large in a defining moment such as a global pandemic. Using case examples from global political leaders we elaborate on these breaking points in crisis leadership and contrast them with the healing properties of leader compassion and mending forces of evidence-based decision making. We conclude our article with implications for responsible leadership research and practice. MAD statement: The Covid-19 pandemic is a global health crisis of unprecedented speed and proportion and it has highlighted that crises can bring out the best and the worst in leaders. In this article, we aim to Make a Difference by encouraging reflection on the crucial role of responsible leadership in crisis, specifically leaders’ ability to build and cultivate sustainable and trustful relationships with different stakeholders. We draw attention to two toxic leadership tendencies–narcissism and ideological rigidity–and make an argument for curbing narcissism and instead fostering compassionate leadership, and for careful reflection on the role of ideology and evidence-based thinking in leadership development and practice.