We throw the word “leadership” around a lot these days. Ultimately, leadership is not about dividing people into camps. It’s not about scapegoating. And it’s certainly not about stoking anger so that chaos looks like strength.
Real leadership is about decency. It’s about building bridges, not burning them. It’s about holding people to a higher standard, not dragging them into the mud.
And in a moment when politics has become an abhorrent performance of insults, conspiracies, and tribal loyalty tests, we need to remember what leadership is and what it isn’t.
Division Isn’t Strength. It’s Weakness.
Leaders who rely on fear and division often present themselves as “strong.” But history tells a very different story.
Divisive leaders thrive in the short term by exploiting insecurity and resentment. They manufacture enemies; whether it’s immigrants, journalists, or even fellow citizens, and then rally people around the illusion of protection.
That is not leadership. That’s manipulation.
The cost of division is staggering:
It corrodes trust in institutions
It makes compromise impossible
It fractures communities into “us” and “them,” leaving everyone weaker
A divided nation is not a strong nation. It’s a brittle one.
Decency Isn’t Weakness. It’s the Hardest Form of Strength.
Too often, decency is dismissed as “soft.” As if respect and compassion are luxuries, not necessities.
Lets be honest, it takes far more strength to listen than to shout. It takes more courage to compromise than to insult. It takes more resolve to solve problems together than to pretend you alone can fix them.
Decency doesn’t mean naivety. It doesn’t mean letting everything slide. It means having the courage to stand up for principles without tearing people down.
The best leaders in history; from Mandela to Merkel to Churchill to Ardern, aren't remembered for how effectively they sowed hatred. They’re remembered because they gave people hope, dignity, and a sense of shared purpose.
Leadership Is About Multiplying, Not Dividing.
Strong leaders multiply the good in people. They bring out their better selves. They remind us that we’re not just individuals competing for scraps, but a collective capable of more when we work together.
Divisive leaders, on the other hand, subtract. They subtract trust, subtract respect, and subtract any chance of unity.
The math is simple: subtraction shrinks a nation. Multiplication grows it.
Let that sink in a bit: “strong leaders multiply the good in people”.
The Leadership Test We ALL Face, in a globalised society and economy
Every election, every policy debate, every moment at the podium in the UN General Assembly, or every moment of civic decision comes down to this:
Do we want leaders who unite, or leaders who divide?
Do we want leaders who treat decency as strength, or leaders who weaponise cruelty as strategy?
Do we want a future shaped by shared responsibility, or one poisoned by endless resentment?
The choice isn’t abstract. It’s the difference between building a future together or watching it crumble apart.
The True North Take:
Leadership isn’t about tearing people down. It isn’t about turning neighbour against neighbour.
Leadership is about:
History has never been kind to leaders who build their power on division. And it will not be kind to the current political climate.
When the shouting ends and the dust clears, the world remembers who lifted people up and who tried to tear them down.
