As someone who watched NY Governor Andrew Cuomo’s daily coronavirus briefings pretty religiously, I enjoyed reading this opinion piece from Australia about how leaders should communicate about the coronavirus. It brings in a lot of behavioral theory and psychological principles, and I found it to be dead on in terms of outlining in somewhat more academic terms what I have seen the best leaders actually doing in practice. Not just Cuomo of course but Jacinda Ardern has absolutely crushed it. Plus, she has a degree in Communications! Angela Merkel also seems to have done a great job earning her country’s trust, and her scientific background has been cited in playing a key role in that. The article doesn’t specifically mention empathy, but I think empathy is an key quality the best leaders have shown as well.
