About Leaders Who Care: Why Cooperation Matters
By: Next Visions
Tags: Sea Rescue, Society, Leadership, Personal Development, Podcast

The drama surrounding the Sea-Watch-3 captivated the world public for weeks. Carola Rackete rescued 53 people off the coast of Libya, following a two-week standoff with the Italian government. The authorities at the time had closed its ports and refused to authorize her docking in Lampedusa, a small island off the southern coast of Sicily. Despite a port closure, she headed for the harbour, mindful of the emergency on board. On land, Carola was imprisoned– and placed under house arrest. Later, Italian judges would say: she had acted “in the fulfilment of a duty.”

In the latest episode of the Next Visions podcast, hosts Christian Knörle, head of Company Building at Forward31 by Porsche Digital, and Tim Leberecht, co-founder and co-CEO of The Business Romantic Society, welcome two experts on leadership with responsibility. Gianpiero Petriglieri is Associate Professor of Organizational Behavior at INSEAD Business School in Fontainebleau, France. A physician and psychiatrist, his research and teaching focus is on leadership development. Carola Rackete is an activist and ship captain, she became the international face of sea rescue for refugees in the Mediterranean as “La Capitania.”

Collaboration is crucial for the future

Carola’s role as a symbolic figure does not have much to do with her real person, she says. But she stands for a larger story. A story about responsibility, about care — and about distributed leadership. “Overall, people are really looking for stories of humanity and kindness,” says Carola. “We have a lot of discussions about people, who are only driven by economic interests, everyone just looking for themselves,” she says. It is always about competition.

From her point of view, however, something else is crucial for success: “Society only works, and humans have only evolved, because of mutual aid, because we’re actually very good at cooperating.” Around the world, Carola’s perseverance and house arrest in Italy have elicited sympathy and fueled political debates. “Those are the kind of stories which remind the wider society that not everyone is only looking for their own benefit,” she says today.

“We have a natural tendency as humans, to look for charismatic leaders who show us the right way so that we just need to follow.” -Carola Rackete

Shaping society together

Carola herself doesn’t believe in heroic leadership, even though in media reporting she was often framed as the hero of the story. But she understands why society is so eager to look up to people: “It really makes our life easier when somebody else tells us what to do.”

In Gianpiero’s view, one reason why many people we’re so drawn to Carola’s story is the kindness in her action. Under thread, many leaders become unkind or isolated as Gianpiero knows: “Your story was a reminder that this doesn’t have to be the case”. Additionally, the event addressed many problems at once: ”You’ve made the case for a systemic approach: the intersection between economic policy, environmental damage and social exclusion.”

For the future, Carola hopes for a social change in which individuals can and do take on more responsibility. “I always hope there will be a system of distributed leadership in the future, more than there is now.” She understands that people have always followed other people, that strong leadership of individuals has been a big issue. “But I think what we would need is people generally to have a more active role in forming the society that they’re part of.”

“The possibility of making a difference in the world is what allows us to take a risk.” — Gianpiero Petriglieri

To learn more about Gianpiero and Carola’s ideas on leadership and our future society, tune in to the full episode. You can listen and subscribe to the Next Visions podcast on all the usual platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Deezer, and Google Podcast.

Recently published episodes: