From The Mind of Merc - Zelenskyy

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about the man that is Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Ukraine's president is garnering almost universal praise for his response to Russia's unprovoked attack on his country.

As with last month's Mind of Merc post, I think the reason for this adulation can be summed up in one online image:

And what do we have?

Alexander Boris de Pfeiffel Johnson

A man who:

-      Got a ‘deal’ for Brexit by literally BREAKING THE LAW! And lied to the Queen about it. And it’s crippling an already damaged economy.

-      Failed to take COVID seriously and adopted ‘herd immunity’ when a vaccine was still unavailable. Then ensured his Tory donors and cronies got business deals out of it. Then claimed the resulting test and trace system was world beating when it never worked – which he blamed on the NHS. And now has started charging for LFT tests.

-      Denied attending a party in lockdown – during a time when the Queen attended her husband’s funeral alone – despite their being photographic evidence to the contrary.

-      Defended every two-faced, lying, cheating, bullying member of his cabinet – e.g. Dominic Cummings, Matt Hancock, Priti Patel, the list just keeps going

-      Failed to act on the potentially life-saving recommendations from the report into Grenfell (in fact the Tories actively blocked it)

-      Is still trying to sell off the drastically underfunded and undersupported ‘failing’ NHS even though it’s surviving despite his best efforts.

-      Believes MPs deserve a £2,212 pay rise (for doing b*gger all) but nurses only deserve 1% for getting the country through the worst of the pandemix. And also that benefits should be cut but his own salary is too low

-      Was exposed by Greta Thunberg for exaggerating the success of the UK’s battle with carbon emissions

-      Runs a government famous for U-Turns – exhibit A: school exam results (Btw, Gavin Williamson is still education secretary.)

-      Serial adulterer whose current partner believes setting up a charity to fund redecorating 10 Downing Street is acceptable.
(By comparison, Zelenskyy’s wife – Olena Zelenska (his first and only spouse) is refusing to leave her husband in a warzone despite being on a Russian hitlist).

 

No comparison really, is there?

From The Mind of Merc - Leadership

Sometimes I find my mind wandering over various eclectic topics and occasionally I am inspired to write some of them down. Today I was thinking about leadership.

According to the Center for Creative Leadership, the 10 characteristics of a Good Leader are: integrity, ability to delegate, communication, self-awareness, gratitude, learning agility, influence, empathy, courage, respect.

So how does our own leader, the inexorable Boris Johnson, stack up:

1) Integrity - Nope. He'll back whatever horse is winning
2) Ability to delegate - (as in facilitate teamwork rather than pass the buck so) Nope!
3) Communication - Nope. Incredible stutterer though.
4) Self-awareness - Ha! Nope.
5) Gratitude - Definitely not (clapforNHS does not count)
6) Learning agility - (ability to know what to do when you don’t know what to do) Absolute fail!
7) Influence - (through logical or emotional appeals) Could have done - if he didn't ignore his own rules
8) Empathy - Given block of Grenfell recommendations and NHS pay rise, Nope!
9) Courage - More like cowardly lion. The man hid in a fridge to avoid an interview!
10) Respect - With comments like piccaninnies and watermelon smiles, does he know what this means?

Don't agree with the list? How about Forbes - they define 8 Essential Qualities of Great Leadership as: sincere enthusiasm, integrity, great communication skills, loyalty, decisiveness, managerial competence, empowerment, charisma.

Let's break them down again:

1) Sincere enthusiasm - Again not convinced he knows what this means
2) Integrity - Nope.
3) Great communication skills - See above.
4) Loyalty - In this instance it means to employees etc. so Nope.
5) Decisiveness - Ha! He's U-Turn Central
6) Managerial competence - Ditto
7) Empowerment - Hell no. He wants it all.
8) Charisma - Again not a word I'm convinced he's familiar with

Still not trusting the source? How about the government's own website? An article on there says there are 11 key features of leadership. (Paraphrased) these are: understand how to have positive impact, be prepared to lead, win and retain respect, motivate and inspire others, clear sense of purpose and direction, good communicator, lead the delivery, manage your energy, build the right team around, trust your instinct, accept that we all make mistakes.

So one more time:

1.   Understand how to have positive impact - Nope!

2.   Be prepared to lead - Nope. Hid in a fridge.

3.   Win and retain respect - Nope.

4.   Motivate and inspire others - Definitely nope. Have you seen the number of anti-maskers out there?

5.   Clear sense of purpose and direction - Nope. U-turn Central.

6.   Good communicator - Nope again.

7.   Lead the delivery - More like avoid the blame.

8.   Manage your energy - Ok, this one he can do. He's very good at taking holidays - even illegal ones!

9.   Build the right team around you - If this means right for him, yes. If right for everyone else, nope!

10. Trust your instinct - Again, he can do this one. But given he fails the others, this is not good thing.

11. Accept that we all make mistakes - Nope. It's never his fault (apparently).

Webster's dictionary defines accountability as:

the quality or state of being accountable
especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actionsI wonder if he, or indeed anyone in the Tory government, is aware of that.