leading in the age of covid

I have been a member of the St. Louis County Council for a little over a year.  In my first year as a public servant, our county, nation, and every country around the world has been hit with a crisis no one alive has ever dealt with.  In every facet of my life, from mom to global professional and Councilwoman to human being, I have been stretched beyond my abilities on a daily basis.

And yet, I lead.  Every single day in all of these crumbling facets.

I have the unique perspectives of a side-by-side view of how leaders are handling this crisis in both the corporate world (in my day job, I’m a Director of Learning & Development at Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, a global law firm with 900 lawyers in 25 countries around the world) and in our government.  I see how leaders and constituents behave in both worlds.  

In the former, we are careful with our words, we respect the opinions of others, and we build consensus because the strongest argument, backed by the best facts, and best presentation wins.  In the latter, old grudges, petty games, and loud vitriolic voices not only bully out the best argument, but also cloud judgment, inform decisions, and stoke flames of intolerance.  

I have to remind myself on a daily basis that I’m here to make the world a better place.  I show up because I believe St. Louis County can be better, more equitable, and a place of opportunity for our people.  But the government on display right now won’t be the path to a better St. Louis County.

I have grappled deeply with trying to balance Council oversight with letting the experts lead us through this public health crisis.  I have been listening to County residents who want their kids back in school and sports (as I do!).  I hear, and agree with, my colleagues arguing that our County Executive doesn’t communicate with us, doesn’t share why decisions are being made with us, and that we’re sick of learning about the goings on of our government in the newspaper.  

I’ve tried to weigh data, CDC guidelines, and the decisions and recommendations of our public health experts (an expertise no one on the St. Louis County Council can claim) with our own need to make decisions about the risks to ourselves and others.  

There are no easy decisions here.  

But at the end of the day, when I weigh all of my perspectives, how we’re handling this crisis at my day job, how government is responding, and the narratives, emotions, and facts swirling through all of it, I see only one path forward.

The loudest voices in our community show up every Tuesday, with hours of public comment, reminding us that they don’t care about our community as much as they care about their personal liberty.  

And it is my responsibility to speak up for the quieter voices, the ones exhausted by the bullying from the highest levels of our government all the way down to the leaders sitting amongst us on this dais.  And the ones that will suffer the most loss of life, opportunity, and basic human needs are the most vulnerable of us, the ones not showing up each Tuesday because they’re the ones already stretched, already suffering, already losing their lives and livelihoods, and they don’t have the bandwidth to express their outrage over mask mandates and having to drive to St. Charles for sports.   

I believe we should vote to allow the County Executive and the Directors of Public Health to make the decisions about emergency powers in this Pandemic and all future emergencies, and I really hope my colleagues will too.