Written by Sina Wendt, Chief Executive, Leadership NZ
Rest, reset, restore, rejuvenate, repair the vā, heal our planet.
In line with Leadership NZ’s vision to scale up our leadership movement in Aotearoa, we chose Transforming Leadership as the theme for 2020. As leaders, we felt it was time to focus consciously and intentionally on how we can be more transforming in our leadership: transforming of ourselves; the people with whom we live and work; and, collectively, how we can work to transform communities and organisations – creating the step change to build a society in which every New Zealander exercises leadership though head and heart for the wellbeing of Aotearoa.
Well, in 2020 the universe answered our call and local and global events manifested the theme for us in very real ways! Our collective experience of COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, climate change activism, national and global political polarisation made Transforming Leadership even more of an imperative as our worlds have been turned upside down.
In this chaotic, unpredictable and challenging year we have watched entrenched systems of inequity, injustice and inequality being challenged, dismantled and now transformed. In particular, COVID-19 has tested leadership at all levels in a way never seen before in our lifetime. Our individual and collective experiences of the pandemic have been traumatic, confronting and life-altering. We have had to face the complexity, volatility and uncertainty of a virus that does not discriminate – it spreads like wildfire and continues to undermine and threaten our very livelihoods and existence.
The isolation in this time of the pandemic has given me time to reflect on many things. I am Samoan, and our ancestral wisdom teaches us that the quality of our lives is deeply connected to where we stand in the larger genealogical family of things - our relationships with other humans, the cosmos, the earth, the sea, the sky and our spiritual essence (mauli). We connect in the vā – the vā is the space between – it’s not a space that separates – it is a sacred space that relates, that holds entities and things together, a space imbued with energy, that relates, that gives context and meaning.
To be in life is to be in relationship. Our health and wellbeing is associated with the quality of the vā - the quality of our interconnections. I think that the pandemic emerged from the vā because the vā has been broken and transgressed. The family of things, the order of life, our planet have been exploited. Our people and relationships abused, disrupted and trampled on by the greed and heartless ways of humanity.
It has been challenging during this time to be physically isolated from loved ones. The isolation we have been forced into has been vital though. It has required us to rest, to reflect, reset, restore, rejuvenate, to repair the vā and to look at how we can heal the planet. We have been given the gift of time and space, of sadness, loss, tragedy and grief to really reflect on our place, contemplate our mortality, to think about our behaviour, on the wisdom of the earth and the beauty and power of nature.
In this chaos and crisis, we have seen some of the worst examples of leadership (here and globally), but we have also witnessed, especially in Aotearoa, the power of leadership with care, compassion and capability – a decisive, resilient, determined spirit of alofa, creativity, risk taking, adaptation and innovation. Exemplary, transforming leadership in action. We have been reminded of the power of the connective tissue between people as we (ironically, in our isolation) have reconnected and deepened relationships – nourished and cherished the vā between us.
In this time of isolation I have learnt to be more grateful, appreciative and thankful for the small things – kindness, care and generosity of others. We are learning to open our hearts to help one another, to live more healthy lifestyles, to take greater care of Mother Earth and restore the vā with our environment, to unite in solidarity as communities and nations to help the world to heal.
To restore ourselves to Wholeness.