World Views

Leadership is a big buzzword for the Twenty-First Century. You hear about leadership everywhere in books, and in all forms of the media. Consultants peddle “authentic” leadership as if it is a commodity that has been packaged and branded. But there is no second-guessing the real thing. Real leadership doesn’t have to be packaged and branded; you know it when you see it. 

My column today is a collection of observations that are based in part on the social isolation we’ve all felt for last 22 months. We always knew pandemics were a possibility, especially after the H1N1 scare in 2009, but our earlier national preparedness had lapsed into a broken stockpile and a rusty supply chain.