Decoding Angela Merkel: Lessons from the rise of the World’s Most Powerful Leader
As she beamed to her fullest smile looking at the fresh-faced students during her 2019 commencement address at Harvard University. The World’s most powerful woman urged the graduates to break down the walls of ignorance for nothing is here to stay. She encouraged them to think and act in terms of the multi-lateral global world, cautioned them to never take their freedom for granted, advised them to always do the right thing and reassured them that nothing is impossible.
Through her speech, Angela Merkel communicated to the 20-year-old me sitting in India. Her speech sparked my interest in studying her life and work. Merkel’s journey from the small town of Templin to Germany’s first woman Chancellor is indeed inspiring but what is even more fascinating to me is her ability to survive the political regime in East Germany while advancing herself consistently and finally making her mark on the world stage as a formidable international leader.
This has indeed been a long road to power and she certainly has used it to her advantage which reflects in her calculating, analytical and cautious style of leadership.
But, what does power mean to this woman?
Merkel once explained that “Power per se is nothing bad. It is necessary. Power is ‘to make — to do something. If I want to do something, I need the right tools; that is, the support of a group. . . . The opposite of power is powerless. What’s the use of a good idea if I can’t execute it?”
As Merkel stepped down as the Chancellor of Germany she has certainly shown the world how to strive, thrive and retain a powerful position with quite an authority, dignity and without losing the human touch.
Apart from her key reforms in making Germany the most powerful economy in Europe. Through all her popular decisions such as allowing more than a million Syrian refugees in Germany to her handling of the COVID pandemic which further boosted her popularity — her deep humanity always shines through.
Beyond Germany, known as Europe’s Empress Merkel became a steady hand steering the European Union through troubled times and defending the values of human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, rule of law, and human rights.
How did a politician with rhetoric as plain as her appearance gain such power and longevity in this digital age, with our ever-shrinking attention span?
What constitutes her extraordinary success?
How did she wield power for so long?
What we all can learn from her journey?
My research on Angela Merkel has helped me realize a few broad patterns which are my personal takeaways from her rise to success.
- Survival — Her greatest skill
A small, silver-framed portrait of Catherine the Great, sits on Merkel’s desk. Katherine, who began her life as German Princess Sofie followed by her arranged marriage to the future Russian emperor Peter III, grandson of Czar Peter the Great, Sophie (who Russified her German name to Ekaterina, or Catherine), became Russian czarina in 1762. Shrewd and determined, she toppled many men who underestimated her, Catherine triumphed and ruled for thirty-four years.
Much like Katherine the great, it took extraordinary resilience on her part while growing up in the closed society of Communist East Germany. As a child, according to her, she was “clumsy in her movements” so she had to avoid unnecessary walks and plan her every move. That’s how she remained always understanding the entire landscape and planning her every move, giving structure, avoiding chaos.
To broaden her horizons, she knew had to work harder than others. She retained her protestant work ethic and modelled herself to be industrious and hard-working, always improving herself and getting better which never left her. Even after entering politics, she worked hard and with her sheer political vision and astuteness, she quickly climbed the ranks of her party and became the party leader in the year 2000 and Chancellor of Germany in 2005.
2. Private Chancellor: Keeping her cards to her chest
Even the global pandemic could not force Merkel to allow the world to get a peek into her home. The cameras never revealed anything from her books to furniture. She ran the country chairing cabinet meetings and phone calls from her small Berlin Apartment which no one has ever visited.
She keeps no journal, she is not on social media, she texts only if necessary. With her absolute need to control information and messaging she has kept the world at bay and avoided unnecessary misinformation and controversies.
Merkel once said: “I have made very sure that there are boundaries, so certain areas of my life are not open to the public.” Drawing boundaries and guarding her right to private life has enabled Merkel the politician to be difficult to read her mind, to keep her opponents guessing and intimidated. It has also helped her to withdraw within herself, retain her calm exteriroir to sustain the crushing demands of her job.
3. Relentless Learner — Always getting better
The key to Merkel’s longevity is her relentless curiosity.
During her growing up years, she was exposed to wide-ranging books which became an escape for her in a closed-off country. She devoured Russian Classics and biographies of great European Statesmen and scholars and found her role model in Marie Curie the first woman to win not just one but two Nobel Prizes. From Curie’s life, she drew the life lesson that if one has a good idea and is willing to survive the ups and downs with determination and they will eventually triumph if the idea was right.
She retained her quest for knowledge as the Chancellor and thrived on new and interesting books, people, facts, problems to solve and new perspectives and discoveries. During her fiftieth birthday party, she treated herself with (which, in typical Merkel fashion, featured as “entertainment”) a long lecture by a scientist entitled “The Brain: Complex System Without Conductor, Consequences for our Self Image.”
Even when she had broken her pelvis while cross-country skiing, she spent part of her recovery reading Osterhammel’s 1,600-page tome and later invited him to deliver a lecture on how Europe and Asia perceived each other during the nineteenth century.
Even while serving in the busiest position, she always made time for learning, periodically jotting her reflections in a small notebook and by reading between the meetings and keeping herself informed.
Her quest for discovering worlds, self-improvisation has helped retain the mind of the lively and dynamic world leader that she is.
4. Work Ethic — A ravenous appetite for work
As a school students Merkel was someone who took comfort in being prepared and always ahead of her class.
Order, structure, her ability to plan way ahead and her tremendous appreitite for work are the qualities Merkel brought to the Chancellory.
She values time and sets very high standard for herself and everyone in her team. She reads every briefing book and absorbs the technical and legal details well. While in a negotiation, others might use charms and threats but she uses logic and facts. And when people are left fumbling, she suggests to do their homework.
Before visiting other countries she is keen on understanding the inner structures of the country and the character of the leader to strike a perfect deal.
Her sheer will power to better herself and rigorous preparation fuels her unshakable confidence that often unnerves other heads of state and has led to her longevity as the Chancellor.
5. Cultivating a rich inner life
While she travels travels extensively, rubbing shoulders with world leaders, marches her way as the leader of the free world. At home she remained a symbol of political continuity in an ever-changing world for Germans managing domestic affairs skillfully. She has played many roles yet she never lost touch of herself.
She has remained the same person — faithful and committed to her political calling. In the Bible she found her life-long companion and a source of strength.
In an interview, Angela expressed, “I believe that this world is limited and final, but there is something beyond it, which makes the world endurable. You might call it god or something else . . . but I find it comforting that there is such a thing as the church. The fact that we are allowed to sin and be forgiven is some relief for me. Otherwise you would go crazy.”
On her desk, a Plexiglas cube is engraved with “In der Ruhe liegt die Kraft” (“There is strength in calm”). With a rich inner life grounded in her faith she created a private space
she has been able to endure and spring back victorious. Her inner life is a private space to detch herself and open her mind and heart for reflection, imagination and fulfillment which nourishes her soul.
Unlike conventional politicians, rousing people to action has never been Merkel’s strength. In fact, she been an unlikely leader but she led with an iron will and with her single minded focus and deep seated conviction to use her power to do the right things.
As on 8th December, 2021 Olaf Scholz became Germany’s chancellor marking the end of Angela Merkel’s 16 long years as the country’s leader.
Merkel’s father migrated to East Germany as a Pastor with a duty to spread the word of God, she too like her Father exits the world stage with the satisfaction of duty done with tremendous self-conrtol, strategic thinking, moral courage and with the satisfaction of serving to her fullest remaining an icon for generations.
Sources:
- Angela Merkel: The Chancellor and her World by Stefan Kornelius
- The Chancellor: The Remarkable Odyssey of Angela Merkel by Kati Marton