403: Ashish Jha, part 2: Battling covid-19, leadership, and the environment
From a leadership standpoint, acting on sustainability and the pandemic overlap.
You probably see Ashish’s name everywhere too. He’s in the thick of it at the highest national level. He shares an inside view of the political happenings on responding to the pandemic. He also shares the emotional experience—the frustration at seeing people dying unnecessarily. I think you can tell that despite the numbers, he cares. You may hear me realized I spoke too glibly in stating the number of American depths.
Most of our conversation covered the leadership vacuum responding to the pandemic as well as the environment in general. I believe you’ll hear we’re moving toward talking leadership strategy, the emotional challenge of leadership, and finding what works besides management.
We cover
- Avoiding political polarization and engaging leadership from other areas than politics seem challenging.
- What opportunities exist for voices to get out there, either on the pandemic or the environment?
- How have we abdicated or lost our alternatives to lead to Washington DC or state or local government?
I don’t just mean exercising authority. Leadership doesn’t require authority. We can lead in other ways than political representation.
Ashish talked about debate. I’ve come to equate debate with provoking argument, as I alluded to. Instead, what stories can we tell? What images can we evoke? Is there a way to reach people to hear views they aren’t in a way they’ll appreciate after?
This is the challenge. I focus on it in the context of sustainability. It applies equally in the pandemic response.