From time to time, I like to listen to a rousing university commencement speech. Sometimes I do this randomly, sometimes more deliberately, but always with a sense of wonder and excitement at how my mind is likely to be stretched.
Because you see, if there is one thing I love, it is the sharing and exchanging of ideas from anyone, regardless of their stature, designation or walk of life. I find people’s life experiences and takes on life infinitely wondrous and invaluable, which I suppose is no surprise, given the line of work I am in.
Recently I came across the commencement speech by the dean of Antioch University’s Graduate School of Leadership and Change, Dr Laurien Alexandre, in which she told the PhD class of 2024: “Dictators, or in our case, wannabe dictators, love to prey on people’s isolation and fears because that makes us more vulnerable to manipulation and susceptible to scapegoating.
“Historians tell us that it is precisely dialogue, love and a sense of shared humanity that authoritarian leaders fear most, and political scientists tell us that coming together is the only way to bring the country back from the brink… We need to cultivate ourselves as the kinds of people a just and inclusive democracy requires, which means that we need to transform the ways we live and work together.”
It made me pause and reflect on fear and intimidation, and how they can sometimes be weaponised by people in positions of power and leadership, whether it is personally, in the workplace or politically. However, most experienced leaders say that fear and intimidation are seldom effective or constructive ways of getting things done, as they breed resentment and distrust, lead to an unhealthy organisation and seldom achieve sustained success in the pursuit of their purported objectives.
Great leaders, who seem to be in short supply in the world right now, recognise this and are adept at ensuring that their internal grapplings as a result of perceived threats to their organisations are not at the expense of those they are charged with leading. True transformation, as alluded to by Alexandre, can only happen through collaboration and shared values.
Fear is a complex emotion. However, the person who experiences fear can look at the feeling as an opportunity to understand what it means, with the intention of working towards a way of effectively harnessing that knowledge so that it does not cloud judgement or decision-making.
From time to time, I have been confronted with this, and although it is unnerving and unsettling, I have come to accept that it can also be used to help answer important questions. It can be revelatory not only of ourselves, but also of those who seek to induce it in us.
As people, isolation in times of turmoil induced by a culture of fear and intimidation is the worst thing we can do. We must seek out like-minded people in order to remind ourselves that we are meant to be peaceful and harmonious beings, who find strength and communion in contributing towards a world where we all thrive.
At its best, when fear raises its ugly head, defaulting to our shared community and not our division is what will see us through. DM
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R35.