Picture the tired and overused metaphor of a three-legged stool. It has been used to describe everything from retirement planning to product marketing to the concept of leadership itself. The idea, of course, is that it takes three solid foundations for the stool to remain upright, and that instability in any of the three legs can and will cause the stool to topple over.
But it's overuse has led to misuse. That is, at times an author will use a three-legged stool metaphor to describe a concept in which three elements are considered necessary for optimum performance, but no argument is made that the stool will fail unless all three legs are constantly strengthened and maintained in balance with one another.
The case of the worldwide pandemic associated with the deadly COVID-19 virus has revealed that leadership in the time of the coronavirus is a classic three-legged stool problem of historic proportions. That is, leading well during a pandemic requires skillful leadership in three, often mutually-contradictory, elements - the neglect of any of which will cause the stool to fail.
The elements are these:
The physical health of the public - keeping everyone healthy until "herd immunity" is attained through sufficient widespread exposure and/or vaccination
The economic health of the community - ensuring that the economy of the community (and the people supported by it) will survive in the face of the difficult measures required to produce Item #1, and
The emotional health of the public - keeping everyone from going crazy (and doing crazy things) as a result of the draconian measures necessary to produce Items #1 and 2
To further complicate matters, the three-legged stool of the COVID-19 has found itself perched on the precariously shifting sand of evolving information about the virus (e.g., how it is transmitted, how effective are prudent precautions, etc.) that seem to change daily.
Suffice it to say that this is a complex problem of the highest order, with human lives and entire ways of life at stake. Therefore, this problem requires our best and most creative consideration and sober thought - unburdened by our political or economic agendas. We have a higher-order calling here: the common good and the preservation of our society. Further, hope (while necessary) is not a strategy in and of itself.
Therefore, let us make every decision, during these difficult times while considering the implication on all three legs of the stool squarely in our minds simultaneously. For example, "Will this decision help preserve the health of the public without permanently destroying the underlying economy or lead to significant widespread emotional distress such as loneliness or despair?"
These are the types of difficult questions we must constantly be asking ourselves as leaders lest we face the unintended consequences of our actions to address only one or two legs of the stool at the unconsidered (or ignored) peril of another... destablizing the stool and bringing it crashing to the ground.