We all watched in horror earlier this week at the tragic and horrific murder of George Floyd. The anger, frustration, heartbreak, and hatred people were feeling erupted in violence across our nation. One of most violent locations was in Atlanta where I reside.
But in the midst of the chaos we watched, a shining light of leadership burned (and I do mean burned) bright in the form of Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms. It has been said crisis does not make a leader, it reveals one. As the demonstrations became exceedingly violent and destructive, the leadership of Mayor Lance Bottoms was revealed for an entire nation to see.
On Friday evening, Mayor Lance Bottoms gave the impassioned speech shown below ordering protesters to go home. The Mayor’s address is a clinic on crisis leadership. After watching, I will provide leadership lessons from the speech as well as analyzing her follow-up speech on Saturday.
The following are 15 leadership lessons from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s Friday news conference:
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Personal Place – “Above everything else, I am a mother.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Pain – “When I saw the murder of George Floyd I hurt like a mother would hurt.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Concern – “I called my son and said, ‘Where are you? I can’t protect you and black boys shouldn’t be out today.'”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Prayer – “I pray over my children each and every day.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Anger – “This is not a protest. This is not in the spirit of Martin Luther King, Jr. This is chaos. A protest has purpose.”
- Mayor Bottoms Touched The Past Before Advising On The Future – “This city is a city with a legacy of black mayors and black police chiefs who care and people who care about this city where more than 50% of the business owners in Metro Atlanta are minority business owners.”
- Mayor Bottoms Called For Younger People To Get Advice From Wise Mentors – “If you care about this city, GO HOME and pray that someone like Rev. Beasley will come and talk to you and give you some instructions on what a protest should look like and how you affect change in America.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Accountability And Reality – “You’re not affecting anything running out with brown liquor in your hand breaking windows in this city.”
- Mayor Bottoms Told People The Results Of Their Behavior – “When you burn down this city, you’re burning down our community.”
- Mayor Bottoms Gave Clear Next Steps – “If you want change in this country, go out and register to vote. Show up at the polls on June 9th. Do it in November. That is the change we need in this country.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Regret – “You are disgracing a city. You are disgracing the life of George Floyd and every other person who has been killed in this country.”
- Mayor Bottoms Called Out Our Better Selves – “We are better than this. We are better than this as a city. We are better than this as a country.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Great Clarity – “GO HOME! GO HOME!”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Meaningful Change – “This won’t change anything. We’re not talking about the murder of an innocent man. We’re talking about how you’re burning police cars on the streets of Atlanta, Ga.”
- Mayor Bottoms Added Emphasis By Speaking With Great Repetition – “GO HOME!”
Madam Mayor Bottoms held another news conference the following day discussing the impact of Friday’s speech and people’s response to it. After watching, I will provide additional leadership insights from this address.
The following are 9 leadership lessons from Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms’s Saturday news conference:
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Authenticity – “I didn’t know what I said last night. I was speaking from my heart last night.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Love For Her City – “Atlanta is going to look and feel like Atlanta to me even on its worst day.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Hope – “On the worst day in this city, I always know there is a better day coming.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Gratefulness For The Contribution Of Others – “When I saw the people out today cleaning up and our crews out there, that felt like Atlanta to me.”
- Mayor Bottoms Refocused People And Kept The Main Thing The Main Thing – “This is about lives being lost.”
- Mayor Bottoms Addressed Issues – “We don’t have a perfect police department.”
- Mayor Bottoms Generously Pointed To Her Teammates And Gave Them Credit – “This is a decision Chief Shields and I talked about and Chief Shields came back and said this is the right thing for us to do. That’s what happens in Atlanta.”
- Mayor Bottoms Spoke From A Place Of Healing And Unity – “We are the city that cities across this country only wish that they could be.”
Crisis reveals character and it also reveals what a leader looks like. Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is a leader. And because of her leadership, Atlanta is a safer city today. Madam Mayor, thank you!
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