What does the crisis reveal about leadership?

Clearly, the topic generates interest. Having challenged us to reflect upon the world we will live in after it is over, the crisis is now prompting us to consider how leadership – which has been put to the test by the pandemic – is changing. Will leaders in the post-COVID era differ fundamentally from the leaders of yesterday?

For more than a year now, executives around the world have been facing the same challenge: how to manage extreme uncertainty. Strategic plans and forecasts are colliding with the instability and even hostility of circumstances that are out of control. Even beyond the crisis, however, complexity has obviously become the norm; this is something I assess on a daily basis from the privileged vantage point that is Sodexo. From climate change to the weakening of the social fabric to the accelerating pace of new technology, our traditional models are continually being tested by a turbulent world. Businesses – and consequently their leaders – have a growing obligation to help find solutions to our collective issues.

Within businesses themselves, the painful experience that we have recently gone through raises the question of whether teams’ expectations of leaders have changed significantly.

The considerate leader

I was struck by the finding in a recent BCG survey that the number one sought-after quality in an ideal leader is not benevolence – which has, together with resilience, become one of the buzzwords of our era – but rather the ability to be considerate, a concept which is particularly dear to me, for it is what I believe to be the cornerstone of leadership. Firstly, because it implies respect, a prerequisite to making demands of people. Indeed, being considerate is an essential component of empowerment, and in a business such as ours, with 420,000 employees who represent the face of Sodexo for our customers on a daily basis, it is not just a catchphrase. That said, being considerate implies straight talking from leaders, including in turbulent times. It lays the foundations for trust, and therefore for individual commitment and collective success.

Unprecedented and unforeseeable, the pandemic has forced us to show a great deal of humility, a quality which will continue to be vital in an era of management under volatile circumstances. The crisis has served as a reminder of what lies at the heart of leadership: the need to constantly challenge others and, in return, to accept, and even invite, being challenged ourselves. This requires doing everything possible to ensure that you are surrounded by the best, for leaders certainly do not have all the answers. A leader’s strength also comes from his – or her – ability to rely on others who outperform the leader in their own fields. Next, challenging teams implies encouraging initiative, and giving people the necessary leeway to act. This goes hand in hand with a principle which is central to our company’s DNA: the right to make a mistake, a natural companion to the spirit of progress, which is one of our founding values.

The crisis as an accelerator

Finally, in this uncertain age, it is vital to strike a balance between managing the short term while continuing to take a long view so that you can maintain your strategic course. Getting this right will ensure that the business remains stable and give meaning to what it does. This was already the fundamental role of a leader before the pandemic, and it will likely become more important as we emerge from it.

I believe that, ultimately, in leadership as in many other areas, the crisis has been not so much a transformative factor but instead, an accelerator. It has enabled some leaders to come to the fore and assert their style. That said, I do not think that the crisis will produce a single model of leadership, any more than we had one before. Nor do I believe in a style of leadership that appears to be linked to gender or age: for each and every one of us, leadership is something that we develop and learn on a daily basis. After all, if there is one thing that leadership is not, it is a role-playing game. There is no substitute for authenticity and being true to yourself.

This article was first published on June 8, 2021, in French national daily newspaper Les Echos.

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