Lead us to freedom

AT the 6th Thursday Forum on History and Global Citizenship convened by the History NGO Forum for Peace in East Asia and moderated by former Kyung Hee University research professor Sungho Kang, the concept of “Leadership models for cooperation, sustainability and Peace” was presented by Neil McLennan (Senior Lecturer and Director of Leadership Programmes, School of Education, University of Aberdeen, Kings College, UK).

Among others, leadership is about forming teams that cooperate together, and McLennan (2019, 2020) proposes that the principles of cooperative learning, devised by north American academics (Johnson, Johnson and Maruyama 1981, 1983; Johnson & Johnson 1989; Kagan, 1979, 1980, 1982; Slavin 1983, 1985, 1989) be used to give a theoretical basis to leadership thinking and practice. He clarified: “Cooperative leadership brings more expertise to diagnosing issues and forming a plan.”

McLennan listed the Principles of Cooperative Learning [Leadership]: Positive Interdependence, Group processing (formation and coherence), Individual and Group Accountability, Social Skills, and Face to face interactions. Applying these items to the Covid-19 crisis, he asked Raymond Ciriaco (President, Ciriaco Consulting; Executive coach, Consultant and Facilitator, Franklin Covey Center for Leadership and Change, Philippines), James Offuh (Peace Advocate of UFPACI, Cote d’Ivoire, Africa), Hong-Jae Im (Former South Korean Ambassador to Iraq, Iran and Vietnam), Flora Chong (Executive Director, ALPHA Education, Canada), Paul Hoeffel (Director, Rain Barrel Communications; former Director, DPI of the United Nations), and other attendees of the international Forum: “How many of the issues have been known about but no adequate contingency plans, i.e. UK Cabinet Office 2008-17 (accountability)?”

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For reflection, McLennan concluded: Which bits got you thinking? As response, the head of the UP Manila Graduate Program in Management (and your columnist) cited as specimen of Cooperative Leadership the 12 Apostles of Jesus Christ, the Avengers of the Marvel Universe and the Allied Pacific War Council of World War II (which bested the fascist Japanese Imperial General Headquarters-Government Liaison Conference or Daihon’ei seifu renraku kaigi). The initial meeting of the Pacific War Council, presided over by President Roosevelt at the White House, discussed “Broad strategy for the immediate defense of the Southwest Pacific against an anticipated further Japanese push, and, eventually, a United Nations offensive against the Japanese.” [https://www.nytimes.com/1942/04/02/archives/war-council-studies-plans-for-a-drive-against-japan-the-pacific-war.html]

In 1942, the Pacific War Council consisted of British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dr. Eelco Van Kleefens (ambassador of the Dutch government-in-exile), Owen Dixon (ambassador of Australia), Leighton McCarthy (ambassador of Canada), W.L. Mackenzie King (Prime Minister of Canada), Lord Halifax (British ambassador to the USA), Dr. T.V. Soong (Foreign Minister of the Republic of China), Manuel L. Quezon (President of the Philippines), and Walter Nash (ambassador of New Zealand who advocated the formation of a United Nations as a world peace council after the Allies triumph) plus K.S. Digvijaysinhji of India and FDR’s key advisor Harry Hopkins. [http://docs.fdrlibrary.marist.edu/psf/box5/t59b01.html]

A better example of Cooperative Leadership in WW2 is the troika of the UK Prime Minister, the US President, and the Marshal of the USSR. More than seven decades ago, this is how they coordinated: Personal and secret message from Mr. Churchill to Marshal Stalin. “As we have all three agreed to broadcast messages when our forces link up in Germany, I suggest the following procedure. Each State should broadcast all three messages. We will have to exchange records by air. Mine will read as follows. Begins:

“After long journeys, toils and victories across land and oceans, the armies of the Great Allies have traversed Germany and joined hands (in Berlin). Now their task will be the destruction of all areas of German resistance, the rooting out of Nazi power and the subjugation of Hitler’s Reich. For these purposes ample forces are available and we join hands in true and victorious comradeship and with the inflexible resolve to fulfil our purpose and our duty. Let all march forward upon the foe.

“It seems to me to be best to leave it to the broadcasting authorities in each country to decide the precise time at which they wish to broadcast the records to their respective audiences. They would, of course, be under pledge not to put these broadcasts on the air until a firm link-up of the Russian and Anglo-American armies has been officially reported. It would be a great convenience if this official announcement could be made in all three countries at the same time. Would you be agreeable to synchronising your announcement of this event with a similar announcement by General Eisenhower? If so, I will ask him to communicate with you to this end. I am sending a similar telegram to President Truman. 19th April, 1945.”

Personal and secret from Premier J. V. Stalin to the Prime Minister, Mr. Churchill. “I have received yours of April 19 concerning the messages to the troops. I am in agreement with the procedure set out by you. My message will run as follows:

“The victorious armies of the Allied Powers, waging a war of liberation in Europe, have defeated the German forces and linked up on German soil. It is our task and our duty to finish off the enemy, to force him to lay down his arms and surrender unconditionally. This task and this duty to our people and to all the freedom-loving peoples will be fully carried out as far as the Red Army is concerned. We salute the valiant troops of our Allies, who now stand on German soil shoulder to shoulder with the Soviet troops, fully resolved to carry out their duty to the end.

“The message will be recorded and sent to you immediately. I have no objection to leaving it to the broadcasting authorities in each country to fix the exact time when our messages will be broadcast the moment the link-up of Soviet and Anglo-American troops is officially announced. Nor have I any objection to coordinating our link-up statements with a similar statement by General Eisenhower. Your suggestion that our messages be broadcast first in the respective countries over their own network is likewise acceptable. April 20, 1945.”

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