{"id":7077341,"date":"2026-10-05T21:10:25","date_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:10:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077341"},"modified":"2026-10-05T21:10:25","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T21:10:25","slug":"why-caring-leadership-isnt-soft-its-a-competitive-edge-graeme-cowan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=7077341","title":{"rendered":"Why caring leadership isn\u2019t soft, it\u2019s a competitive edge | Graeme Cowan"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The organisation Todd spent years building was at genuine risk of sliding backwards. What he did next is one of the most informative leadership stories of the pandemic era.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This article first appeared in HR Leader<\/strong><\/a> on 2 April, 2026<\/p>\n

In March 2020, Todd Harper AM, CEO of Cancer Council Victoria (CCV), was facing every leader\u2019s nightmare. Melbourne had entered what would become the world\u2019s longest COVID-19 lockdown. Overnight, CCV\u2019s fundraising events were cancelled, research labs closed, and fundraising collapsed. Employees were fearful. Cancer patients \u2013 already among the most vulnerable \u2013 were facing deeper isolation than ever. Todd himself felt \u201cvery isolated\u201d and uncertain how to lead when face-to-face connection had simply vanished. The organisation he\u2019d spent years building was at genuine risk of sliding backwards. What he did next is one of the most informative leadership stories of the pandemic era.<\/p>\n

A question that changed a culture<\/strong><\/p>\n

During this volatile and uncertain time, Todd discovered my Caring CEO <\/em>podcast and the ideas he encountered there sparked a question he brought back to his leadership team: How do we help people feel empowered when so much is outside our control? From that question emerged three deceptively simple anchors: kindness, connection, and gratitude.<\/p>\n

These weren\u2019t posters on a wall. As Todd explained: \u201cWe could exhibit gratitude how we wanted. It was up to us to connect in a way that felt authentic for each of us.\u201d Every leader was trusted to embody these values in the way that best suited their team \u2013 no script, no mandate, just an invitation and genuine ownership.<\/p>\n

Kindness sat at the centre for a specific reason. \u201cKindness is so powerful as a way of giving people back control,\u201d Todd said. \u201cWe all have it in ourselves to exhibit kindness to others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Addressing the objection<\/strong><\/p>\n

Many leaders still equate care with weakness \u2013 worrying it undermines accountability, blurs boundaries, or signals that performance doesn\u2019t matter. It\u2019s an understandable concern, but the evidence doesn\u2019t support it at all.<\/p>\n

The leaders who struggle are rarely those who care too much. They\u2019re the ones who confuse care with conflict-avoidance or believe that pushing people hard and supporting them well are mutually exclusive. They\u2019re not. People perform better, stay longer, and take greater ownership when they feel genuinely valued \u2013 not despite being held to high standards, but alongside them.<\/p>\n

The results were remarkable<\/strong><\/p>\n

Within six months, 98 per cent of CCV employees said they were proud to work there and would recommend it as an employer. Productivity increased despite the chaos. Most strikingly, voluntary turnover dropped to nearly zero \u2013 at a time when many organisations were losing talent.<\/p>\n

This wasn\u2019t luck. It was the compounding effect of a culture-built conversation by conversation, act of kindness by act of kindness.<\/p>\n

Culture doesn\u2019t live in strategy documents. It lives in the micro-conversations happening every day across your teams. Most leaders underestimate how far a good question can travel when people feel genuine ownership over the answer.<\/p>\n

The science backs it up<\/strong><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t just one organisation\u2019s experience. Gallup\u2019s Q12 research \u2013 drawn from over 2 million assessments across 100-plus countries \u2013 identifies a single statement that consistently predicts productivity, profitability, customer satisfaction, and retention: \u201cMy supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.\u201d<\/p>\n

When people feel cared for, psychological safety increases. They raise problems earlier, collaborate more freely, and bring discretionary effort \u2013 the difference between doing the job and doing it brilliantly. Care isn\u2019t a mood; it\u2019s the conditions under which people do their best work.<\/p>\n

In presentations, I often ask leaders and teams to recall the best team they\u2019ve ever been part of \u2013 at work, in sport, or in community \u2013 and ask (via an anonymous poll) what made it different from other teams. The same three qualities surface nearly every time:<\/p>\n