Juno News - April 05, 2020


What does a leader look like？


Episode Stats

Length

4 minutes

Words per Minute

135.44118

Word Count

614

Sentence Count

40


Summary


Transcript

00:00:00.000 It's a little hard to define what makes a leader, but you know it when you see it.
00:00:09.000 In May of 1940, after years in Britain's political wilderness,
00:00:14.000 Winston Churchill took over from the appeasement prime minister, Neville Chamberlain.
00:00:19.000 Churchill immediately put the beleaguered nation on his back and led them to victory over the Nazis.
00:00:27.000 There was never a doubt that he was a leader, and exactly the right person to lead that country,
00:00:36.000 as it stood alone against the Nazi menace.
00:00:41.000 But leadership is a skill I cannot be taught.
00:00:45.000 It is either inherent in one's character, or it is not.
00:00:49.000 A real leader never has to tell anyone that they're the boss or the leader.
00:00:54.000 People just inherently know it. It's obvious.
00:00:58.000 Equally, it's clear to everyone when one is not a leader and pretends to be one.
00:01:06.000 If we look at Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, and the President of the United States,
00:01:12.000 this statement is very, very clear.
00:01:16.000 In looking at the current pandemic sweeping the globe,
00:01:19.000 Donald Trump banned flights from China on January the 27th.
00:01:24.000 Justin Trudeau took the same action six weeks later,
00:01:28.000 and only after he realized he couldn't escape the conclusion that he must act.
00:01:33.000 Both Trump and Trudeau had access to the same information.
00:01:38.000 So why would one arrive at a conclusion and take actions six weeks before the other?
00:01:48.000 The answer is simple.
00:01:50.000 One is a leader, and one is not.
00:01:53.000 I say this not caring whether or not you like Trump or Trudeau.
00:01:58.000 One only needs to look at photos or video from gatherings of the world leaders at a G7 or G20 summit.
00:02:05.000 Trudeau stands by himself while the world leaders gather around Trump.
00:02:10.000 It's pretty obvious.
00:02:12.000 A real leader is decisive and surrounds himself with knowledgeable people who can advise appropriately,
00:02:19.000 and then the leader weighs the information and makes the call.
00:02:23.000 Like him or not, that describes Donald J. Trump.
00:02:28.000 We see this daily at his press conferences from the James Brady Press Room in the West Wing of the White House.
00:02:34.000 He delivers an update from his Pandemic Task Force daily,
00:02:40.000 and is surrounded by the experts who he allows to respond to questions in their area of expertise.
00:02:47.000 Trudeau, on the other hand, appears alone.
00:02:51.000 It's taken to give him press briefings from the front stoop of Rideau Cottage,
00:02:56.000 where he announces, well, not much of anything, but does it in both official languages.
00:03:02.000 He takes a few softball questions that he doesn't actually answer,
00:03:06.000 then disappears back into his self-imposed isolation, only to appear like Puxatawney Phil the next day.
00:03:13.000 Trump, on the other hand, keeps a very busy itinerary.
00:03:19.000 Then, at the end of his day, typically at around about 5 o'clock Eastern,
00:03:24.000 he briefs the media and takes questions from anybody who has one and actually answers them.
00:03:30.000 Some days, he has taken media questions for two hours.
00:03:36.000 Trudeau takes scripted questions from the pliant media for maybe about 15 minutes.
00:03:43.000 One gets the impression that the Prime Minister's office has approved all of the questions in advance.
00:03:51.000 And even then, he provides a non-answer full of ums and errs and other indecisive pauses and stumbles.
00:04:00.000 He does not inspire the country.
00:04:03.000 If anything, many Canadians have taken to mocking him.
00:04:07.000 Whatever else you may think about Donald Trump, there is never any question who is in charge.
00:04:15.000 With Justin Trudeau, you can't escape the feeling that he is being handled, much like a puppet,
00:04:21.000 by the nameless, faceless puppet masters in the PMO.
00:04:25.000 And even at that, they can't make him look like a leader.
00:04:29.000 For True North, I'm Leo Knight.