Reflecting on 2020 – Lessons for Leaders

It was Monday, June 1st, 2020, after a weekend of protests over the murder of George Floyd. I was on a call with our communications team discussing COVID-related communication plans, and the discussion went something like this:

Team: How are you feeling?

Me: Feeling?

Team: You know, with everything that is happening…

Me: Oh, it is beyond frustrating….

Team: Don’t you think employees need to know that?

Realizing that there was consensus that something had to be said, I recall telling them, “If I am going to say something, it will be my voice. And there is no going back.” That led to this post on June 2nd. Straight from my heart. When I woke up the next day, I was completely overwhelmed by the response from our employees, and so many others in our community, who posted comments or sent me direct messages. 

In that moment, I realized what leadership meant in the context of 2020, which was a uniquely challenging year for corporate leaders.

1.     Speak up. As corporate leaders, we are trained to avoid certain topics. However, our silence has consequences. At worst, silence means complicity, and at best it implies this is a topic that you, and by association, your team, are not allowed to talk about. Speaking up led to an outpouring of emotions from everyone, thus established a safe environment for everyone to share their opinions on this extremely difficult topic. 

2.     Show up as yourself. This is certainly a modern concept for leadership. Historically, vulnerability from leaders has been seen as a sign of weakness. I call BS on that. If you get too nuanced, you might as well not speak up. Be yourself, be authentic. 

3.     Listen and guide. While it is good to speak your mind, you also have to allow for others to express themselves. As a leader, it is your job to listen to everyone. That doesn’t mean you have to agree, but you must listen with empathy. Open yourself to the option of being convinced of a different opinion, and don’t ever force your beliefs on others.  

While the racial and inequity uprising in the wake of George Floyd’s murder was the biggest test for leadership in 2020, it was, unfortunately, not the only one. Dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic pushed leaders like never before. Suddenly, they found themselves managing employees’ health and safety in a way that they never had to before, many at times at odds with their business obligations (e.g., profitability, shareholder value). The situation was made worse as government and health leadership across the world struggled to provide common vocabulary and framework for decision-making. That led to a few more lessons in leadership:

4.     Establish clear guiding principles as a framework for decision-making. It is never easy to make decisions when you are faced with conflicting requirements. At times like this, having clarity on how you plan to make decisions is ultra-important. I call these guiding principles, and they represent the most important factors involved and impacted by decisions. Sure, it is okay to morph them over time as conditions change, but without these principles you are a lost soul yourself, and others around you will be lost as well. 

5.     Transparency. I held my first post-lockdown Town Hall with our employees on March 27th, just two weeks into the lockdown. During that Town Hall I made an ongoing commitment to transparency about our actions in response to the global health crisis. This included my guiding principles, how our business was being impacted, and sacrifices we might all need to make. When a leader is transparent, people will give you a lot of latitude because they understand the why behind decisions. 

6.     React, don’t just predict. We all want to believe that we have 2020 vision (pun intended), but too often we vigorously cling to our desired vision of the future, and forget to see what is right in front of our eyes. While guiding principles establish a framework for decision-making, it is equally important that as a leader, you react to changing conditions and are not stuck on your own vision of the future. The ability to react quickly requires self-awareness and pragmatism – two critical qualities of leadership.

All that said, I do want to end with one prediction that I shared with our employees during our 2021 kickoff meeting. I believe that 2020 forged a pipeline of leaders. They lived and learned some version of my points above, matured at a very rapid pace, and are now set to lead rest of us into a bright future. For that, I am thankful for 2020!