Leadership in the Time of Crisis

A Message from the Queen

 On April 5, 2020, Queen Elizabeth, sequestered in Windsor Castle, addressed her nation in a rare televised speech. 

“I am speaking to you at what I know is an increasingly challenging time,” the Queen said with her trademark steady yet compassionate voice. “A disruption that has brought grief to some, financial difficulties to many, and enormous changes to the daily lives of us all.” With the virus having infected over 40,000 people in Britain as of that moment, including her 71 year old son, Prince Charles, she captivated the British people and millions around the world with a speech that hearkened back to the gravest days of the World War II. 

This was only the fourth televised address in her 68-year reign, apart from her annual televised Christmas speeches, which began in 1957. She delivered a powerful leadership moment, coinciding with the day that Prime Minister Boris Johnson, infected with the coronavirus, checked into the hospital and soon thereafter into intensive care. As a result, the audience listened intently to the Queen’s urging to bring extra resolve to the hardships to come and a dedication to fighting the crisis. 

Talking in terms both deeply personal and historic, the Queen recalled the sacrifices families made during World War II, when parents were forced to send their children out of London to protect them during the Luftwaffe bombings. She acknowledged the financial pain and hardships that Britons have been enduring and thanked the National Health Service for their dedication.  She urged a population that takes pride in its “Keep Calm and Carry On” attitude to stay home and remain safely socially distant. And she rightly said that the self-discipline and resiliency that people exercise now will create a future in which everyone will “be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge.”

“Today, once again, many will feel a painful sense of separation from their loved ones,” she said. “But now, as then, we know, deep down, that it is the right thing to do.” And she concluded with the uplifting message, “We will be with our friends again, we will be with our families again, we will meet again,” which was especially poignant for the beloved 93-year old Queen.

With the help of the Royal Family’s social media-savvy team, she also was able to capitalize on the latest tools to amplify her message. Just as her original televised Christmas speech was the first to be broadcast live 63 years ago, her address generated over 3 million likes on Instagram within 16 hours of the broadcast (@theroyalfamily has 7.7 million Instagram followers).

The Queen’s speech, which commentators said “struck not a single false note,” is an example of one of the key principles of leadership in a time of crisis. To confront a challenge realistically, give voice to how people are feeling, put it in a proper context, and provide clear communications about what it means for you and me.  

Leadership by Example

 Whether as a parent, an entry-level manager, or a CEO, one of the enduring principles of effective leadership is to model the behavior and attitudes you want to instill. But in a time of crisis, leadership by example is more important and impactful than ever. People rally around their leaders in times of crisis. That’s why approval ratings of political leaders soar in a crisis. Across companies and organizations employees and other stakeholders look to their leaders for signs of hope and direction. And as a leader there is no better way to influence the actions and mindsets of others than to embody the behaviors and attitudes you’d like to propagate.

Barry Sternlicht, one of the legends of the global hospitality and real estate industry, founder of Starwood Capital, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, and SH Hotels & Resorts, which includes the 1 Hotels, Baccarat Hotels and Treehouse Hotels brands, did just this at the height of the Covid-19 crisis. He issued a heartfelt appeal to the loyal guests and visitors of his hotels, asking for financial support for furloughed employees. “As we navigate these previously unnavigated roads,” he wrote in a personal email to all guests who had visited one of the hotels, “it’s important to remember that we must be able to lean on one another during these tough times.” Then he put his employees first. “To say that our award-winning teams are at the heart of our success is an understatement. Unfortunately, like the millions of hospitality professionals across the world, so many of our team are hurting financially due to suspended services and closures required to comply with health guidelines.”  

To address this, he created Starwood Cares Employee Relief Fund and he and the company’s leadership team donated a significant amount of money to seed the fund. But beyond doing that, Barry pledged the following: “Because you, our guests and loyal fans, are what drive us all to deliver exceptional experiences, I want to encourage you to join us in our support.” And he personally pledged to match the contributions of everyone from outside the company.

Barry is not the only corporate leader who has pledged financial support to help respond to the pandemic. Others have done so and often in staggering amounts. Jack Dorsey, founder and CEO of both Square and Twitter, announced plans to donate $1 billion, fully one-third of his net worth, to coronavirus relief programs. Jeff Bezos, Michael Dell, and Bill Gates have each pledged $100 million to vaccine development efforts and food banks, as have many others from Silicon Valley and Wall Street.  

There is a difference with Barry’s efforts, however. While some of the other leaders were leading by example at a macro level, donating massive resources to find a cure for the dreaded virus, for example, Barry’s actions were designed to attack the problems at a more micro level. He demonstrated to his employees that he cared about them and then turned that care into action, at an architectural level, by designing and launching the fund, and at a personal level by giving a meaningful amount of money.  In addition, he recognized that the guests and visitors who have had joyous experiences at the hotels would be motivated to follow Barry’s example and show their support. In so doing Barry was able to create more intimate customer bonds. After all, if you can’t go to one of the hotels or resorts during the crisis, at least you can still feel a connection to the brand and the satisfaction of making a financial contribution, all beautifully tech enabled, to make it as simple as a few taps on your smartphone.

Other Dimensions of Leadership in a Time of Crisis

There are other important ways to lead in a time of crisis. Many are familiar with the notion to “never let a crisis go to waste.” That is to use it as a catalyst to make the bold moves that may have been impossible in more robust times. A proverbial burning platform due to external events may give leaders the fortitude and air cover to take difficult and bold decisions. In fact, when reviewing the winners coming out of the financial crisis in 2008, a study published in Harvard Business Review[1] found that the companies that mastered the delicate balance between cutting costs in order to survive today and investing to grow tomorrow did the best after the recession. More specifically, the companies that executed a particular combination of reducing costs selectively, to focus on operational efficiency rather than across-the-board cuts, while simultaneously investing boldly in the future, by spending on marketing, R&D, and new assets, had the highest probability of outpacing their peers coming out of the recession. Today’s best leaders, managing through the current pandemic and economic fallout, will also strive to find the right blend of defensive and offensive moves.

On a related note, the most effective leaders during times of crisis are spurring innovation. As countless people around the world have now personally experienced, many companies, schools, and families have adapted long-held practices by operating remotely, keeping their activities running, making smart decisions, learning, and building camaraderie through Zoom and BlueJeans. Some companies have also turned their design and manufacturing expertise from hairdryers or automobiles to making ventilators or from fashion and apparel to making face masks. The old trope that necessity is the mother of invention, is never more true than for leaders during a time of crisis.

Leadership in a time of crisis is difficult. As a leader, you are constantly under pressure and will have very little downtime. You literally don’t know for yourself how bad things are going to get and how long the crisis is going to endure. And you don’t have a crystal ball to tell you whether your actions are going work and enable you to thrive … or perhaps even survive. 

All the same, a crisis creates a unique moment in time when people are receptive and more likely to embrace your leadership. They want you to step up and fill the void. You have their permission to be bold and courageous, especially if you acknowledge their pain and fears in a way that is genuine, authentic and caring. 

If you do, you can inspire others and lead them to feel connected, purposeful, and motivated to do what is necessary for the greater good. Leading by example, communicating in clear and grounded, yet appropriately hopeful ways, and making the smart decisions that will maximize the probability of setting you up for success on the other side, will allow you in the future to look back with the satisfaction of knowing that you did your job as a leader.

[1] Roaring Out of Recession, Ranjay Gulati , Nitin Nohria and Franz Wohlgezogen, March 2010, https://hbr.org/2010/03/roaring-out-of-recessionip