Having been brought up in Latin America, I have little to no connection to the monarchy. My first memory is related to my beloved grandmother America de Lucca, the firstborn of an immigrant family that came from Genoa. We discussed many times how she followed Charles and Diana’s wedding on live (black and white) TV. The monarchy’s general appreciation in LA was probably not as idyllic as the wedding.
To be honest, I never paid much attention to it until I moved to Europe, then; I was able to watch the Queen's last eleven Christmas speeches. Then, she encouraged many messages such as “You are not alone” (during the pandemic) or how it is the “Small steps, not giant leaps" that bring lasting change in the world, or "On our own, we cannot end wars or wipe out injustice, but the cumulative impact of thousands of small acts of goodness can be bigger than we imagine”. Many positive messages during her 70-year reign. Christmas will never be the same without her and I’ll remember them fondly.
Even though like any longstanding leader, there are plenty of things to criticise, her contribution is more positive than negative. The last few days after her passing allowed me some time to think about her impact, not only on British nationals but on our global history because as Emmanuel Macron said “To you, she was your Queen. To us, she was The Queen”. More so, how her leadership helped to inspire women around the world and paved the way for new leaders to come forward over the last few decades, I’ll try to clarify why.
The first leadership lesson: Trust.
“I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” April 21st, 1947
Trust is complex but rooted in a very simple principle, you do what you say you are going to do. Hard to build and easy to break right? Well, she served as the Queen from a very young age until her last few hours, before her passing… She was devoted as a public servant her entire life, much longer than any other person I know.
Second lesson: Example
In an era where female leaders were scarce, she stood up to her responsibilities and showed the world that a woman could be a good leader, someone worth the admiration of many other world leaders, from Mandela to Pope John Paul II, from J.F. Kennedy to Charles De Gaulle, from Angela Merkel to Barack Obama, Winston Churchill to Mikhail S. Gorbachev and the list goes on.
During her reign, she inspired many of the qualities a female leader could bring. She showed us that compassion, curiosity, respect for others, and embracing change are the foundations of a proactive leader, which unfortunately most world leaders lacked during the 20th century.
Third lesson: Humour
Naomi Bagdonas a member of McKinsey’s Consortium for Learning Innovation once said, that humour “is a superpower in business, now more than ever”, I always thought that, but I believe this is now more important than ever.
This was probably one of my favourite qualities of her majesty because makes the leader more approachable and the Queen excel on this, she was well known for helping others that struggle in her presence, Justin Trudeau was one of his "victims" during a gala for the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in 2015, pointing out that he was the 12th Canadian prime minister to hold office during her reign. In turn, Queen Elizabeth joked that he had made her feel old.
My favourite is when she participated in a video with "James Bond" in witch she appeared to jump out of a helicopter.. you can't beat that...
Fourth lesson: Compassion
Dalai Lama stated that individual acts of compassion and kindness have the power to spread harmony across the entire world. Compassion can be defined as a sensitivity to suffering in self and others with a commitment to try to alleviate and prevent it (Paul Gilbert - The Compassionate Mind). Throughout her long life as a public servant, she was able to show compassion through actions of empathy, love, and care during times were those things were not discussed. For those who live outside the UK is not easy to see but the uncountable charitable actions, visits, donations and other activities she supported (or relay in Princess Anne) are beyond believable.
Fifth lesson: Create new leaders
The role of a real leader is to create more leaders. On this point, she encouraged, facilitated or supported many of the actions that allowed Charles (now King Charles III) to become over time, an innovative leader. I know this could be the most debatable point of this article and I know many will challenge this but bear with me.
He created in 1976 the “Prince’s Trust”, a charity to help vulnerable young people. To date, more than a million young people (and particularly minorities) have been supported, this has become over time, a benchmark for charities or NGOs all around the world.
She encouraged him to become one of the first leaders to talk about global climate change in 1970.
He also created the Duchy Organics company in 1990, with the aim of promoting organic farming. I would consider all those achievements remarkable and ahead of its time.
I believethise was possible thanks to positive encouragement and visionary leadership.
While trying to close the article, I realised that I was lucky to work with many great leaders that deserve a mention, they share many of those skills and characteristics and they are great to work with... they stand out from the crowd for sure! Thank you Maureen Pittenger, Lena Ölund, and Carna Cureton for being great. Thank you Ville Karkiainen for putting your heart were your word is, you are a hell of a leader too. A special mention to my mentor and friend, Horacio Domingo D´Amico who helped me to believe in myself and push my boundaries.
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