The tireless Evzones during the pandemic.
‘Marvellous Seven’ for Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Lab, ADandPRLab.
During our last semester, most students have, as it is famously said,
burned out. By now, most of us have realized that student life is almost
over and career decisions as well as job search are around the corner. As
a matter of fact, many students have already managed to find their first job,
climbing step by step the ladder to their dream job. Overthinking and
stressing over your future do not help with your last (but not least)
university projects… Or do they? Well, our team was astonished to see that
our creativity picked during these very exhausting times! The reason
behind this inspiration phase was believing in the same idea.
At first, we needed a trigger. And that trigger did not fail to show its face
during our Leadership and Emotional Intelligence Lab, part of the Ad &
PRLab of Panteion University. Our professor, Ms Dimitra Iordanoglou,
handed us a significant assignment. To find and display those leadership
qualities that stood out during the COVID- 19 outbreak. This crisis, besides
afflicting health globally, struck powerful countries, prosperous businesses
and destabilized economies around the world. Capable leaders and
successful leadership were necessary more than ever.
The idea
Our neighboring Italy’s situation was beyond out of hand. Hope was lost
among thousands of human lives and the situation was worse than anyone
could imagine. Italians tried to hold onto good memories and derive
courage from their national unity. They started listening to their National
Anthem through the radio and singing on balconies and terraces. So this is
the point when our idea was born. We, as well, knew of a symbol that,
within these dark times, stood strong and unshaken. The Presidential
Guard. We began to wonder if there had been a moment that taking the
Evzones away from their duty had been an option. Although they had never stopped paying tribute to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier around the
clock, under any weather conditions, for the last 150 years.
What is more, since this absence never occurred, we asked ourselves how
was it possible to secure the health of the Presidential Guard, the militaries
as well as the civilians working there?
Therefore we proceeded with a thorough investigation into the history and
symbolism behind the incessant presence of the Presidential Guard. Then
we looked at the detailed content of our professor’s lectures on leadership.
So, we managed to make a question plan for the interviews we wanted to
include in our documentary.
Bringing the idea to life
After obtaining the necessary permission from the Military Office of the Presidency of the Hellenic Republic, we managed to access the military camp of the Presidential Guard. Afterwards, the Commander of the Presidential Guard, colonel Rodolphos Dimitroglou, honored us with an in-depth interview, which he gave to our classmate, Sophia Pavlidou.
Within this documentary, we intended to highlight those features that led to
the Presidential Guard’s successful leadership. Our main concern was to
cover every different aspect of this effective management. We
accomplished that by getting two more interviews, from captain Nikolaos
Kalantzis, Commander of the Evzones’ company, and the Evzonas
Dimitrios Troussas.
The documentary could not miss the presence of the citizens, who gladly
wanted to tell us a few words about their thoughts and feelings regarding
the image of the Evzones standing still in the empty Syntagma Square, due
to the quarantine as it is presented in the spot of Civil Protection
The documentary
So, let’s have a moment of truth right now. None of us had made a
documentary before. We didn’t have the necessary equipment. We did not even have the liberty to accumulate the footage needed whenever or
wherever, due to the quarantine restrictions.
It seems that feeling confident over our idea gave us the strength to
overcome the obstacles. Our idea came to life in the form of a 22- minute
video, a detailed article and two infographics that include the leadership
features that emerged through the documentary.
One of us once said that, despite the difficulties, there would come a
moment of incredible pride regarding this project. And it did.
Marvellous Seven: vlahou eleni Maria Kakoliri Rebecca Bacharnikou Rafaela Panayiotou Sofia Pavlidou Ελένη Πούλιου Dimitris Troupos
Lecturer: Dimitra Iordanoglou
