- A chat with Dr. Maheshika Halbeisen on Queen Elizabeth II’s luminary leadership
The death of Queen Elizabeth II, despite the complex legacy of the British Empire and the concept of monarchy in 2022, was in every sense an event of global significance. Aged 96 at the time of her death, Elizabeth II had sat on the throne of the United Kingdom and all its associated territories for over 70 years, serving as one of the longest-reigning monarchs in the world (in this regard, she is only outranked by French King Louis XIV (a reign of 72 years starting at age four), Thai monarch Bhumibol Adulyadej (Rama IX), and Liechtenstein monarch Johann II, both of whom also reigned for 70 years respectively).
Famously, Elizabeth II came to the throne at age 26 in 1952 on the death of her father George VI. The start of her reign, not long after the end of World War II, was seen as a hopeful time by many. The 70 intervening years have seen significant change on many levels – politically, socially, economically, and culturally – and through it all Elizabeth II remained a constant in global politics and culture.
With anyone’s passing comes reflection on their life and times, and with Elizabeth II, there was so much to reflect on. Dr. Maheshika Halbeisen, a Sri Lankan-born business leader in the British pharmaceutical industry, found herself reflecting most on Elizabeth II as a leader, seeing in the late Queen the hallmarks of outstanding leadership that stood tall and quietly proud over seven decades. This reflection inspired Maheshika to pen a book, ‘The Job Well Done: The Queen’s Way to Successful Leadership,’ exploring Elizabeth II as a leader, her leadership skills, and the positive impact she created as a leader.
The Sunday Morning Brunch sat down with Maheshika for a chat on just what made Elizabeth II a unique leader, and how, by examining her, we can all learn lessons on how to become stronger leaders ourselves.
The Queen’s leadership across boundaries
One example Maheshika shared of the impact of the Queen’s leadership was the response to her death. “When she passed away, one thing I noticed was just how much people admired her,” Maheshika shared.
“People queued in London for 24 hours or more to see her lying in state – and they couldn’t see her, just a closed casket covered with a flag – but it didn’t matter, they wanted to pay their respects. Over one million people wanted to pay their respects after her death. To have that much respect, she must have done something right. Yes, she was the Queen, but there are a lot of monarchs in the world and we don’t see that kind of respect.”
It was that respect that first sparked ‘The Job Well Done’ in Maheshika’s mind, for as she pointed out, any monarch could have the most fantastic of funerals planned to the nth degree, but the people’s respect in such a form was something only a true leader could receive.
“I realised she was an incredibly amazing woman and I felt that I needed to write about what I could learn from her and analyse it from a business point of view – my background is in business and leadership and my personal brand mission is to inspire and guide leaders at all levels to embrace a traditional yet modern approach to leadership – and there is no book outlining this aspect of Her Majesty from such a lens. If we can learn even one-tenth of what she did, we could all be great leaders.”
The hallmarks of a leader laid bare
‘The Job Well Done’ examines the leadership capacity of Elizabeth II, or rather, maps it into nine core principles: staying on course and maintaining a sense of duty; relentless work ethic and consistency; balancing the personal and professional; the pursuit of perfection and the importance of staying organised; staying resilient in the face of adversity and managing the unexpected; embracing change while valuing the significance of tradition; being empathetic and respectful; being discreet, poised, and tactful; and building a stronger, more inclusive community around you.
Speaking on how Elizabeth II had modelled some of these attributes in real life, Maheshika touched on the power of humility, noting that through her 70-year reign, and even in her Platinum Jubilee message to the people of the UK and the Commonwealth, she had signed off as ‘Your servant, Elizabeth R’. This, Maheshika said, was the kind of humility that great leaders showed and all leaders should aspire to – to maintain a sense of duty and a sense of service.
Right until the end of her life, Elizabeth II worked tirelessly with a full schedule and through it all, she was respectful and reliable, tying into a relentless work ethic, staying consistent, and above all, keeping her word. “She didn’t talk about things, she walked the walk,” Maheshika said. “If she said she would deliver something, it would be there. The Red Box [a box containing important papers from government ministers in the United Kingdom and all its associated territories for her review and royal assent] was always ready by 8 a.m. every day, even on the weekends.”
Elizabeth II’s commitment to perfection was also modelled in the meticulous planning that went into anything she worked on. One stirring example Maheshika shared was that of the Queen’s own funeral, an event she had planned down to the smallest detail. Ahead of her coronation, she practised wearing the crowns she would wear at the ceremony to ensure that she could do the job properly and present herself perfectly when the time came.
When it came to respect and dignity, an important leadership lesson to be learned from Elizabeth II was that of using her own position of power to make those around her more comfortable.
To illustrate this, Maheshika shared an example of an awards ceremony held in the 1970s where the Queen had been giving out medals, and one of the recipients (not a British citizen and unsure of protocol) had committed a faux pas by curtseying to her in the manner a lady would, as opposed to bowing his head the way a man would in such a setting. However, the Queen had acted graciously and offered him her hand to help him out of his curtsey, as if it was the most natural thing and not at all out of the ordinary.
“If she had smiled or laughed or frowned, that gentleman would have felt so bad. His respect and dignity in the eyes of the world would have been lost. There are so many instances like that where people have fainted, spoken out of turn, or stammered, where she made them feel at ease in her presence.
“This power of compassion, knowing that she is the Queen (or the leader) in that situation, and that these people are coming to see the Queen and not her as a person is an important quality of leadership to make note of,” Maheshika said, adding that as leaders, it was important to understand that they were in a position of leadership, which meant that they needed to treat all people with respect and dignity.
Another defining characteristic of Elizabeth II that is also a defining leadership quality was her willingness to embrace change. Born in 1926, she saw a huge amount of change in her life, not least in the field of technology, and she made sure to embrace technology. She was one of the first people to make a phone call. During the pandemic, she made the switch to Zoom calls. “She encouraged change and new technologies and pushed it forward. That’s the kind of leader we want to see in our lives – to see the potential of change and encourage it.”
Taking leadership into the future
To Maheshika, one of Elizabeth II’s most powerful leadership qualities is also one that all modern future-driven leaders absolutely need to have; the ability to build strong and inclusive communities. She broke gender barriers by coming into power at 25 and keeping it until 96. She did this through building strong and inclusive communities, through harnessing the power of compassion, the power of pursuing perfection, and inspiring those around her to do and be better.
“‘The Job Well Done’ is a tribute to Her Majesty’s truly incredible leadership style and qualities and is an inspirational book for anybody who is interested in leadership and especially for those who want to become leaders themselves,” Maheshika said, adding that even casual readers had many lessons to learn from Elizabeth II. “We’re entering a world where AI can do most of the work. Ten years down the line, many of our jobs are going to be taken over, and what will make the cut to keeping our jobs and growing will be these social skills and creativity – human connection, making a person feel good, humility, and commitment to excellence.”
‘The Job Well Done,’ while not physically available in Sri Lanka, is available on Amazon Books and is available abroad through the Ingram distribution networks. However, Maheshika shared that she hoped to make the book available in Sri Lanka soon and also hoped to explore translating the book into Sinhala and Tamil. “As a country, we all liked the Queen, and I feel there are a lot of lessons we can learn from her, especially in a time when we are speaking a lot about leadership and what it means to be a good leader.”