Description: What
is true political leadership, and how do we get it? What qualities
should we wish for in our leaders? And why is it killing season for
prime ministers?
In this wise and timely essay, Laura Tingle
argues that democratic leaders build a consensus for change, rather than
bludgeon the system or turn politics into a popularity contest. They
mobilise and guide, more than impose a vision. Tingle offers acute
portraits – profiles in courage and cunning – of leaders ranging from
Merkel and Howard to Macron and Obama. She discusses the rise of the
strongman, including Donald Trump, for whom there is no map, only
sentiment and power. And she analyses what has gone wrong with politics
in Australia, arguing that successful leaders know what they want to do,
and create the space and time to do it. After the Liberal Party’s
recent episode of political madness, where does this leave the nation’s
new prime minister, Scott Morrison?
“The Liberal Party has been
ripped apart and our polity is the worse off for having one of its major
political parties rendered largely ungovernable … Malcolm Turnbull’s
fate came down to a series of judgements made not just by him, but by
his colleagues, who spent much of his prime ministership failing to
follow the leader and also failing in their own collective
responsibility for leadership.” —Laura Tingle, Follow the Leader