Leading in Public

A rash of recent events illustrate the high-risk nature of leading in the public eye. Two episodes are particularly instructive. In the first instance we have Missouri Governor Jay Nixon's handling of events surrounding the Ferguson unrest (failure to appoint a special prosecutor last summer, compounded by a slow and uneven deployment of national guard troops last week). Nixon, described as "hapless" by Time Magazine, seemed not to understand that Ferguson was a highly visible leadership case study (some would say "train wreck" instead) in slow motion. At almost every turn, Nixon appeared to be wanting to stay apart from the problem.The second instance involves Roger Goodell's mishandling of the Ray Rice domestic violence episode. For those not following National Football League (in America) scandals, Rice is the player who coldcocked his fiance (now wife) in a viral elevator video some months ago. Goodell's belated and (to all appearances) reluctant suspension of Rice was overturned in Federal court last week for technical (read: Goodell's mishandling) reasons. Not the NFL's finest hour in any sense.And the corporate world suffers from much the same, from Tony Heyward's cluelessness as BP CEO in the wake of a disastrous and very public oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico to various misplays by Malaysia Airlines executives in the wake of the disappearance of Flight MH370 (including one more just now). The fact is that few leaders seem to grasp what it means when one leads in the public eye.First, optics matter (a lot). Appearances either wind up or wind down emotions and reactions. Nixon, Goodell and Heyward seemed not to grasp this basic fact. When in the public eye, everything a leader does or says will have impact--sometimes more than it should.Second, there are few degrees of freedom for error. Once the cameras and recorders roll, it is all improv for leaders. Nothing is a rehearsal; nothing can be done over.Third, leaders must seem connected and engaged, not distant and reluctant. Rudy Giuliani masterfully showed this in New York post 9/11. Bill Clinton did as well after the Oklahoma City bombings and more. I am sure there were times when Giuliani and Clinton would have rather been elsewhere doing other things, but that wish was not apparent to the camera (and, optics matter) nor to those around them.Maybe the final lesson is that one never knows when it will be his or her turn. Every leader wants to be there on good days. A fraction seem to understand that sometimes there are bad and ugly days, too.