Haiti: A Crisis of Leadership

Haitian President René Préval, whose own residence was destroyed by the earthquake of last week, has been one of the only leaders speaking to the public.  As he said yesterday, "Parliament has collapsed. The tax office has collapsed. Schools have collapsed. Hospitals have collapsed."  More importantly, though, is what the people of Haiti are saying:  As one frustrated resident told ABC News, "The president is staying at the airport while he does nothing for us."   U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, speaking in Miami on Tuesday hours after ending a two-day visit to Port-au-Prince, noted that one of the most important things Haitians need right now are leaders:  "It is imperative that we get people who can make decisions on the ground right now,'' he said. ``We have seen in the past how decisions made by committee in Haiti lead to the loss of lives.''

The problem Haitians are facing right now did not start right now.  This is a country that has had poor leadership for a very long time.  Organizations can learn several lessons from the crisis in Haiti.

1. Over time, poor leadership will result in dispersion of accountability that teaches followers that no one "at the top" will take responsibility for anything that has happened to cause a crisis or, in business, a downturn.  In Haiti, it isn't the earthquake that is the culprit; the earthquake merely brought the primary causes of the crisis into clearer focus:  poor infrastructure and no investment in the people themselves, among other things. 
2. Leaders who do not invest in their people (who they often claim are their best asset) will ultimately not be able to depend on that valuable asset to help them pull out of a crisis. In Haiti, the richer nations have been "giving the people fish," not "teaching the people to fish."  Now, it is evident that the people who will be left will not know how to rebuild their cities, businesses, or government.
3. Leaders must be willing to recognize and admit their own complicity in their organization's problems.  When they are able to do this, they not only are seen as more trustworthy, they are able to rally support for actually solving the underlying causes.  A good example is Haiti's former president Aristide, who promised much and delivered little. Opposition groups called for Aristide's resignation, including students, business leaders, and human rights groups. There was growing unrest within Aristide's own party, claiming that he failed to keep promises to provide basic services such as sanitation and electricity. But Aristide dismissed the idea that he had lost the support of the people or that his government was unstable.  By avoiding reality, the issues of basic needs for the people of Haiti never got resolved.

Hopefully, the monumental crisis that is holding the world transfixed at the moment will result in better and more sustainable approaches.  Our own financial crises in the U.S. has the same potential.  Would that we remember the financial crisis of 2009 and the Haitian earthquake of 2010.

Or, as George Santyana's famous quotation reflects, "Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it."