Business Leadership in Turbulent Times

Estimated reading time - 2 minutes.

Its convenient to be a leader when the times are good and the sea is smooth. How strong are the roots of leadership in an establishment, is often times tested during a crisis and its aftermath. How a leader responds during a crisis establishes their credentials as a good leader or an average one. 

As our world rapidly evolves and grows more chaotic and upredictable, Leaders must respond to novel crisis, asses it and contain it without prior training or a manual, to guide them through it. As each new crisis is unique in its own way, with a different history and footprint as compared to the last one. 

"The measure of a leader is often tested during a crisis."

During a crisis, it is a real challenge to arrive at a collective understanding of the characteristics, consequences, and potential scope of an evolving threat. This SenseMaking task is crucial if a leader is to make informed decisions.

Leaders are not necessarily your go to 'Answer-givers' but rather they evaluate and orchestrate a process of adaptation with the betterment of the current situtation in mind. 

Take the case of Ford for an example - Ford’s dramatic turnaround following the financial crisis of 2007-2008 establishes how a good leader can make or break a company. Following the financial crisis, Ford was close to declaring bankruptcy. It was what the industry insiders expected the automotive giant would do. But, what made the difference was a change in leadership. After Alan Mullally came on board in 2006, he led Ford through some of its most tumultuous years, he took bold steps to stabilize the situation, and buy time. He then concentrated in tackling the underlying causes of the crisis and built a capacity to thrive in the new reality. Eventually turning around the company and helping the automotive giant post profits, instead of staggering losses.

"Each new crisis is unique, in its own way."

Crisis management has often been analyzed in terms of decision making. When trouble strikes, people want it to be over right now — but seldom is this kind of quick resolution possible. Leaders who take action, are decisive and who are open to adapting their decisions to suit the needs of a situation, are going to have more success weathering a crisis, than a leader who chooses to wait, and wait and not take any action at all.

The measure of a leader is often tested during a crisis. And those leaders who can engage directly, but still maintain their sense of perspective, are the ones that will help the organization survive and thrive.

Do you think leaders are currently bearing the weight of global disruption?

Feel free to add your perspective on the subject and share your thoughts.

Join the Discussion

What are the challenges that you, or someone you know have faced as decision makers in your organization and how did you overcome it. Help the readers learn from your experience.

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References :

Barnard, Chester I. 1938. The Functions of the Executive. Cambridge, MA: HarvardUniversity Press

Boin, Arjen and Paul ’t Hart. 2012. Aligning Executive Action in Times of Adversity:The Politics of Crisis Coordination. In Executive Politics in Times of Crisis.  

Sanneke Kuipers, Arjen Boin and Werner Overdijk. 2013. Leadership in times of crisis: a framework for assessmenet.