Poetry and Leadership

By Bong C. Austero

2011 PMAP President

When Joe Biden was inaugurated as 49th President of the United States early this year, the most enduring message of that day came not from the inaugural speeches, but from the poem The Hill We Climb, written and read by poet laureate Amanda Gorman specifically for the occasion: “For there is always light, if only we’re brave enough to see it, if only we are brave enough to be it.” The few simple words laid bare the vulnerabilities in the hearts of those witnessing the event, but also ushered a sense of redemption and pride, and yes, hope; ultimately, fostering a sense of community. 

Such is the power of poetry.  It infuses profound beauty and meaning to the events of our lives. It inspires empathy and fosters human connections. It allows people to come to terms with their humanity, and in the process strengthening the capacity to understand, really understand – a human trait that is fast diminishing in a world where cancel culture has become a norm. By reading, writing, or reciting poetry, people can deepen understanding of the human condition and consequently, regain their ability to empathize.

Given this, one would think that poetry is staple fare in momentous occasions such as presidential inaugurations. Not quite.  In fact, poetry has been read at only six US presidential inaugurals: Kennedy’s, Clinton’s first and second inaugurals, Obama’s first and second inaugurals, and Biden’s. It must be noted that all four US Presidents are known to be leaders of vision and charisma. As far as I know, poetry has never been recited in a presidential inaugural in the Philippines.

The most charismatic leaders, however, have been using poetry for ages. Abraham Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, which changed the course of a nation, is considered the most poetic speech in history: “The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work for which they who fought here, have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion.” It would be difficult to find a person impervious to the beauty and poignancy of the cadence and imagery painted by Lincoln’s words.

Poetry moves people emotionally. More importantly, poetry inspires reflection. It makes people pause and ponder. Wise leaders know this and leverage on poetry to engage and influence people.

We know of leaders who quote other famous people in their writing or in their speeches. And then there are those who recite poetry. Studies show that the latter are generally perceived as more eloquent, and are better remembered. 

Some leaders use poetry as the standard that defines their brand. One of the defining moments of Margaret Thatcher’s leadership brand, at least as depicted in The Crown, features poetry. To be more specific, Charles Mackay’s No Enemies. “You have no enemies, you say? Alas! My friend, the boast is poor; He who has mingled in the fray of duty, that the brave endure, must have made foes! If you have none, small is the work you have done. You’ve hit no traitor in the hip, you’ve dashed no cup from perjured lip, you’ve never turned the wrong to right, you’ve been a coward in the fight.” Historians are unsure if Thatcher really recited the poem to Queen Elizabeth, but it is not disputed that the former did love the poem so much she kept a copy in her desk with some words heavily underlined.

I have personally been enthralled by leaders who use poetry very effectively when communicating, particularly when delivering important speeches. As a college student leader at the height of Martial Law, I remember jumping to my feet with tears streaming down my face after the legendary Jose Diokno ended a speech with a stirring recitation of Amado Hernandez’s Kung Tuyo Na Ang Luha Mo Aking Bayan (When Your Tears Have Run Dry, My Country). Diokno, the great nationalist, intoned “May araw ding ang luha mo’y, masasaid, matutuyo. May araw ding di na luha sa mata mong namumugto and dadaloy, kundi apoy, at apoy na kulay dugo. Samantalang ang dugo mo ay aserong kumukulo. Sisigaw ka ng buong giting sa liyab ng libong sulo. At ang lumang tanikala’y lalagutin mo ng punglo!” (The day will come when your tears run dry, the day will come when tears no longer flow from your swollen eyes but fire, fire the color of blood. While your blood will be boiling steel. You shall shout with full courage in the flames of a thousand torches. And the old chains you shall destroy with gunfire). Had Diokno rallied us to storm Malacanan Palace immediately after that speech, we would have gladly done so. Poetry makes leaders larger than life, and cloak their mission with infallibility.

The late Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago wrote fiction and some poetry. Senator Richard Gordon is known for being invincible at the Senate floor when using poetry to buttress his political swashbuckling; the man knows his poetry and wears it with pride. Many of my own personal mentors used poetry as well to persuade, impress, or move people. Their influence in my life, and in my leadership brand is indelible. When I was National President of PMAP in 2011, I drew heavily from Robert Frost’s The Road Not Taken for my inaugural speech and for the theme of my term of office: “I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence - two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” I also borrowed from Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream for my valedictory speech: “If we shadows have offended, think of this and all is mended: That we have all but slumbered here, while these visions did appear…. so give me your hands and we be friends, and Robin shall restore amends.” It is a given that when done right, poetry adds drama as well as pomp and pageantry to any occasion. 

Poetry allows leaders to express their messages in ways that magnify the capacity to feel and imagine.  As such, poetry is one of the most powerful engagement tools that leaders should have in their arsenal of tricks. In fact, the ability to reframe poetry to suit any agenda is a leadership skill. For instance, Shakespeare’s Seven Ages of Man from As You Like It (All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players: they have their exits and their entrances; and one man in his time plays many parts, his acts being seven ages) have been appropriated in different ways. I have listened to leaders read the passage as part of a eulogy, to celebrate a coming-of-age at a birthday, and yes, at an inaugural. The Great Bard originally intended the passage to be a sarcastic commentary, but the fact that poetry can be appropriated for any occasion or intention is proof yet of the intrinsic value of poetry.

But the link between poetry and leadership extend beyond engagement and theatrics. There exists a wealth of empirical proof indicating a strong link between poetry and effective leadership. In fact, historians have long noted the presence of poetry even in ancient leadership storytelling. For example, it is said that ancient Chinese poetry has always played an important role in the development of Chinese leadership ethos. Most ancient poets were philosophers and government officials, leading to many leadership tenets and philosophies written in poetry form. The myths, epics, and heroic stories of most cultures are, understandably, written as poetry. This is also true in the Philippine culture where the bravery of Lam-ang, or the wisdom of Datu Bankaya in Hinilawod is written in epic poetry form.  

How else does poetry contribute to the practice of leadership, particularly given the current challenges? Beyond using poetry to engage people and establish empathy, poetry can help leaders in four other critical leadership areas: fostering inclusion, building creativity, regaining simplicity and focus, and strengthening self-leadership.

First, inclusion. One of the great things about poetry is that it allows for various layers of interpretation and appreciation; people can appropriate poetry based on their own personal situations. A reading of Kahlil Gibran’s On Marriage from The Prophet could cast a spell of intimacy and affection: “Yes, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of heaven dance between you. Love one another, but make not a bond of love.” However, the more analytical may appreciate the poet’s intended political meaning; the poem was supposedly written to promote a less oppressive view of marriage, freed from patriarchal dictates. Similarly, Walt Whitman’s O Captain My Captain is really an elegy on the assassination of Lincoln (Exult o shores and ring o bells! But I with mournful tread, walk the deck my Captain lies, fallen cold and dead).  The layers of appropriation allow ample room for inclusion. In fact, a most common observation about poetry is that “everyone is entitled to his or her own interpretation.” Thus, by using poetry, leaders consciously or unconsciously develop respect for diversity and promote inclusion.

And then there is creativity. Probably the most referenced poetry during these difficult times is Lynn Ungar’s “Pandemic.” “Do not reach out your hands. Reach out your heart. Reach out your words. Reach out all the tendrils of compassion that move, invisibly, where we cannot touch. Promise this world your love– for better or for worse, in sickness and in health, so long as we all shall live.” The poem resonates with so many because of the creative ways in which Ungar first humanizes the pandemic and then carefully balances the paradox of having to practice social distancing without necessarily committing emotional distancing. Creativity has been identified as the key competency required of leaders in the New Normal. Reading and writing poetry has been found to be a powerful tool towards developing creativity. This is because poetry necessitates the use and mastery of the imagination.  Moreover, the delicate balancing that must be made between structure and flow, logic and feeling, sense and intuition, go a long way in honing creativity among leaders.

In today’s VUCA world, managing complexity requires the ability to focus. Very often, this means regaining the lost are of making the complicated simple. Steve Jobs once proposed that simplicity and focus are mutually inclusive, both feed on each other. The two are also basic components of any poetry. Poetry distills complexity and provides clarity of focus, as evidenced by works that show knotty concepts like truth and beauty rendered in stark black and white images. Ernest Hemingway in his poem Ultimately lays bare the utter discomfort of telling the truth in just four lines: “He tried to spit out the truth; dry mouthed at first, He drooled and slobbed in the end; Truth dibbling his chin.” Or perhaps Nadine Aisha Jassat’s loving tribute in Mother: “At home, by the kitchen’s table I watch my mother’s hands spin the yarn, of meals and housework, of duty and obligation.”

Moreover, a haiku, the Japanese poem of three lines and seventeen syllables, allows readers to focus on a specific imagery without the usual static, such as Matsuo Basho’s Haiku No. 3 (The summer grasses. All that remains. Of warriors dreams). In a few carefully chosen words, the poet opens a window from which we can all appreciate a moment of utter clarity and poignancy. Poets are masters at the lost art of making the complicated simple and of highlighting specific truths, competencies that leaders need to learn today.  

And finally, poetry teaches leaders about the importance of self-leadership. Nobel prize winner Rudyard Kipling, in his poem “If” offers some sage advice on what it takes to have “the earth and everything in It” and be a “man:” “If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with Kings – nor lose the common touch, If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you.” Kipling makes a strong case for the value of character resilience in leaders.  

For William Ernest Henley, it is about having courage and conviction. He writes in Invictus: “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.” Maya Angelou in “Still I Rise” says it is about grit: “You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I’ll rise.” 

And finally, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow in A Psalm of Life has this to say: “In the world’s broad field of battle, In the bivouac of Life, Be not like dumb, driven cattle! Be a hero in the strife!