After a reversal of trends in 2020, which saw an improvement in perceptions of leadership, leadership perceptions declined throughout 2021.
Governments wanting to be seen as good leaders must have strong, well-implemented climate and environment policies. And when media coverage and public debate is heavily focused on these issues, governments cannot easily brush them aside.
Is there any evidence to suggest people of different ages have different expectations concerning leadership? We answer this question with data collected from the Australian Leadership Index.
Australian Leadership Index shows women’s perception of federal leaders took a steep dive from the end of 2020 to the first quarter of 2021.
In 2020, COVID-19 created a strong focus on leadership, placing increasing pressure on leaders to make decisions for the public interest, particularly at federal and state government level.
When the dust from the election finally settles, Republicans will be faced with the challenge of finding a replacement leader for Trump and the question of how to position their party more broadly. The temptation will be to find a Trump 2.0, another anti-establishment, populist leader with broad appeal to Trump’s base.
Overall, our 2019 annual report findings show a significant gap between public perceptions and expectations across all indicators of leadership for the greater good across government, public, private and not for profit sectors. Australian institutions are not living up to the expectations of the general public.
Transparency is a buzzword of modern leadership and governance. In the context of public concern about political and business ethics and low trust in government and business, improving transparency is one way in which leaders can restore public trust in their institutions.
In the space of six weeks, the threat posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and the sudden absence of partisanship from the political landscape have ushered in a focus on leadership for the greater good, the likes of which we haven’t seen for years.
Most Australians have had enough of the opportunistic point-scoring that characterises politics today and want leaders who put the public interest first. With the election a month away, many Australians have little faith the winners will be able to provide the type of leadership that can change the country in a meaningful way.
The Australian Leadership Index is the largest ever ongoing research study of leadership in Australia, by Swinburne University of Technology.
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