Whenever we see an image in the media, we are right to suspect that the picture may be meant to sway us one way or another, to color our perception of reality. The media is so powerful at times, for good and for bad, precisely because it can manipulate our perceptions of events.
With that said, I wanted to share and comment upon two pictures which are very telling regarding the leaders of the war which has shook the world, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Those two leaders are Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Each of the pictures was taken very early in the conflict and each was taken for the purpose of influencing the world’s perception of the two men. These are not snapshots taken in secret, with either man unawares or unprepared. Each image conveys the image the two leaders wanted to send out to the World of themselves. And what do the images tell us?
First, the image of the president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The image was taken, I believe, by Zelensky himself the night after Russia invaded.
In this image, Zelensky is portraying himself as one amongst equals. With his back to the men with him, and dressed in the same green fatigues and jackets, he is demonstrating he is not afraid of those men and is in the fight together with them. He has their back and they have his. They are united. He is out in the open at night, unarmed, without a helmet, as the threat of bombs and missiles dropping on his head is all too real. He is not afraid. He is not hiding.
The second image is of the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, a few days after the start of the war sitting at his infamous long table.
Putin is portraying himself as the strong man he wants everyone to believe he is. Tellingly, at this meeting Putin ordered his military leaders to put their nuclear weapons on high alert because of “aggressive” words and sanctions by Western governments after ordering the invasion of Ukraine. He is not one among equals while he sits at the head of his very long table, undoubtedly in a very expensive business suit. In his own mind, he is essential and everyone else expendable. And his military leaders are not behind him or anywhere near him. His generals are at the very end of his very long table. He knows not to trust them and they know not to trust him. They don’t have his back and he doesn’t have theirs. They are not united. Putin is afraid even as he scorns the West for being decadent and impotent, even with the knowledge that Ukraine has no possible military means of striking out at him in Moscow.
(Personally, I’m fascinated by the little box on the table at the bottom left of the picture that looks like an electronic control devise from the 1970’s.)
Remembering and studying these two pictures can tell us a lot about why the war has progressed as it has. Why has Russia underperformed miserably and Ukraine exceeded everyone’s expectations? These two pictures can help us all to learn a lot about true leadership, if we are willing to learn.