What Donald Trump’s response to Covid-19 teaches us

It’s time for our romance with leaders to end

Bibliographic Data

ID12883308
AuthorsDonna Ladkin (0000-0002-2369-0812, Antioch University, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume16
Issue3
Pages273-278
Publication date2020-05-21
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueLeadership (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1742-7150 • E-ISSN: 1742-7169
PublisherSAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/1742715020929134
OpenAlexW3027550913
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited3

This article challenges our collective focus on individual leaders such as Donald Trump especially during times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. It argues that such attention distracts us from larger systemic dynamics which are contributing to the severity of the pandemic in the US as well as obfuscating the influence of unelected parties whose interests are served by Trump’s actions. In light of these observations, rather than continuing to feed our romance with leaders, leadership scholars are encouraged to (1) expand their inquiries to interrogate the structural and societal forces which contribute to a situation’s outcomes and keep individuals in place as leaders and (2) pay greater attention to the irrational, primal dimensions at play in the relationship between leaders and those they lead

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak · Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19 · Irrational number · Pandemic · Political science · Psychoanalysis · Public relations · Romance · Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2 · Sociology · Leadership, Courage, and Heroism Studies · Management and Organizational Studies · Management Theory and Practice · Psychology

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