The Information: A 7-Point Playbook from Atlassian CEO for Every Leader to Follow Right Now

In these uncertain times, as leaders we are operating without a map. Now more than ever, what you say and do will be remembered by your people and beyond for years to come.  

That’s why when I saw this from The Information, I had to share it. In case you’re not familiar, The Information provides some of the best in-depth journalistic reporting on the tech industry. It’s a paid subscription, and it’s worth every cent. It’s one of the few news digests I read everyday. 

Here’s a gem re-published from last week’s editions:

During a discussion at Morgan Stanley’s NextGen Software CEO Summit, Atlassian co-CEO Scott Farquhar outlined a 7-point playbook that all CEOs should be following right now. 

Atlassian has always been a culture-first company. Which is probably why these 7 points resonated so deeply for us. It echoes some of the similar guidance we’ve been giving to clients. 

1. Employee Health & Productivity

Recognize you have asymmetric information vs. your team / employees; be intentional about informal communication within the organization (social calls, pre-recorded videos, coffee chats, regular virtual happy hours); lead from the front with empathy; proactively address new employee challenges around less productivity from home, mental health, job safety concerns, family/social/visa/home dynamics; weekly employee surveys

2. Business Continuity

Have a Plan B to ensure all operations can continue across all levels (CEO on down, key employees, operations teams, IT issues, virtual recruiting, hardware supplies)

3. Financial Planning

Run scenario planning (halving your growth rate as upside, down 30% for downside); reduce discretionary spending; assess liquidity / cash needs; pivot from sales mode to investment mode as R&D dollars may have higher ROI than sales dollars. Build budget certainty by setting a date to re-evaluate status quo

4. Investor Guidance

For public companies, re-assess guidance and engage proactively with investors on your new story arc; some companies are proactively hosting investor days to provide real-time updates (e.g. Uber, Square); quantify Covid impact if possible (e.g MongoDB)

5. Customers

Ramp up customer dialogue to understand new challenges and how you can be part of the solution; run analysis for affected industries to identify high churn and high risk customers

6. Communications

Focus on communications across internal and external audiences (government, community); identify opportunities to help others in the industry / local communities / partner with the government; hiring employees from more affected industries

7. Strategic Opportunities

Prepare for opportunities (acquisitions, talent); activists/sponsors are ramping on public situations; alternative capital now available to private companies (pre-IPO converts, etc); potential for more mergers of equals as well for scale; prep your Boards for strategic opportunities

Again, huge shout out to The Information, where this was originally posted. 

How are you navigating this moment? Let us know in the comments.