Our five selected stories today cover U.S. leadership in an election year, the paths to economic recovery, the return of minister-sharing, a visual history lesson on universal health care, and how nature collaborates to protect black rhinos. 

In the heat of the battle against COVID-19, we’re seeing leadership forged.

A compelling case can be made that women have had the most success, so far, in guiding their nations through this pandemic. Consider Germany, Taiwan, Iceland, Denmark, New Zealand, Finland, and Norway – seven nations with relatively low numbers of cases and deaths. We’ve published stories about German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s calm honesty, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s tech-savvy approach, and Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s deft handling of the crisis. 

Consultant Avivah Wittenberg-Cox writes in Forbes that the success of these seven leaders lies in employing honesty, decisiveness, wise use of technology, and empathy. Norway’s prime minister, Erna Solberg, for example, held a televised press conference to address the fears of children. No adults allowed. Brilliant. 

The “empathy and care which all of these female leaders have communicated seems to come from an alternate universe,” a far cry from the self-serving autocratic moves by some male heads of state, writes Ms. Wittenberg-Cox.

Indeed, “Don’t command, empathize” is one of the seven leadership lessons that men can learn from women, according to a recent article in Harvard Business Review. 

Of course, some nations led by men – Singapore and South Korea – have managed this crisis well. But the HBR authors write that research – and now this pandemic – shows that instead of encouraging women to act like male leaders, men should be adopting some of the more effective leadership qualities commonly found in women. 

Hey guys, let’s watch and learn.