Those who persist will lose

Leading in crisis 

This article appeared in an abridged version on forbes.com.

In Chinese, the character for crisis is made up of two parts. The first can be translated as danger, the other as opportunity. We find both qualities in crises. Not all crises are opportunities, but more than we think. 

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”

Viktor Frankl

When we recognize that in all of life’s struggles we are empowered and not helplessly at the mercy of fate, valuable perspectives and options for action can emerge. 

Why it is more important than ever for leaders to engage in crisis management

Leaders have a responsibility to ensure the well-being and continuity of the systems they lead. This duty weighs heavily, but you can prepare accordingly in advance. Believe me when I tell you that you already have everything you need for this within you today. For sure, you are much more crisis-proof than you suspect.

Make a list

  • Which life crises have you already overcome?
  • How did you overcome them?
  • What have you learned?
  • How do you transfer what you learned to the here and now? 

The World Economic Forum (WEF) conducted a survey[1] in 2022 to survey global risks. Respondents included academics, leaders, government officials, civil society individuals, and thought leaders. The WEF report covers human suffering, societal disruption, economic shocks, environmental degradation, and political instability. The climate crisis and its ecological consequences dominate the WEF’s list. Even more, nearly half of all respondents (41.8%) said they see the outlook for the next three years as constantly fluctuating with many shocks.

It is important to know the difference between crisis and risk management. In corporate practice, the two portfolios overlap. While risk management focuses on how to prevent threats, crisis management focuses on developing action plans for responding to emergencies and executing those plans. 


[1] https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2022.pdf

The 5 essential elements of crisis management can be summarized as follows

Prevent
Identify, avoid, and/or minimize risks and threats

Plan
Developing contingency plans

Inform
A wide range of current information and news must be used. Networks can carry and give good impetus. 

Practice
Testing the contingency plans

Execute
Effective execution when needed

Crises put leaders to the test

Crises separate the wheat from the chaff. They test leaders on their leadership skills, creativity and resilience. These skills cannot be learned from a guide or manual. In many ways, successful crisis management for leaders is an intense examination of themselves and the challenging acquisition of necessary skills.

Leaders need confidence in themselves and others 

Leaders must be role models within a group, be the rock of the group and make their decisions based on facts. Above all, this requires self-confidence. At the same time, they must be less likely to overestimate or underestimate themselves, they must know where their limits are, what they can take on themselves and when they need to hand over tasks. They must be able to take over, but also to let go. To be able to do this, they need to have a stable personality that can trust in themselves and others. 

2 Leaders must be empathetic

Good leaders must have a good sense of their team and recognize what team members need, especially in times of crisis that trigger uncertainty and powerlessness. Empathy is not a nice-to-have, it is a strategic imperative that must be an indispensable leadership quality even away from crises. Empathy is a key driver of innovation, engagement and inclusion. Recent research[1] shows that cultivating empathic leadership is one of the most important strategies for responding to crises. An empathic leader shows (caring) concern and understanding for the circumstances of his or her employees. 


[1]  https://www.catalyst.org/reports/empathy-work-strategy-crisis/

Leaders must foster creativity

Creativity is the key to getting through a crisis and reorganizing after a crisis. In order to be successful through severe crises Leaders need to discover and use the creativity of their employees. Leaders need to rethink their ideas of what creativity means in order to foster it. Creativity is universal. It is part of being human. Creativity involves the use of our individual imaginations, the ability to share ideas and interpret the world around us. Promote a culture that reinforces diversity. People want to hear others’ ideas so they can inspire or sharpen their own. But above all, encourage your own creativity. Paint, tinker with a model train, do a puzzle and let your thoughts run wild. Creativity expands the scope of action and allows ideas to mature like an incubator, promotes associative thinking and relaxes.

Leaders must (be able to) communicate

Especially in times of crisis, it is of particular importance for leaders to communicate with everyone at all levels. Clearly, calmly, factually. It is also possible to communicate what is still uncertain or in the decision-making process. Especially in uncertain times, your employees want to know what is coming up and it is reassuring to know that you are actively dealing with these problems. A “I don’t have an answer yet, but I’ll give you feedback as soon as I do” is more confidence-building than beating around the bush or not talking about it at all. Also address your concerns and fears: What is negative, what is interesting, what is a positive benefit from the situation? 

Leaders must remain calm

Crises narrow our field of vision, be reinforce prejudices and selective perception of the world. To deal with crises emotionally, our brain tries to simplify as much as possible. The catch? Our room for maneuver becomes narrower. Neuroscientists call this effect “predatory fear”: the less threatened we feel, the more room we have to think through scenarios and act strategically; the more threatened we feel, the less room for action our brain allows. Without our active intervention, we react reflexively, are less creative in finding solutions to problems than under normal circumstances, and explain the world to ourselves more simply and as we like it, but not more truthfully. Therefore, it is important for leaders in threat scenarios to inform themselves more broadly than usual, to be open to facts and other perspectives. And: Leaders should focus on meditation and mindfulness exercises especially when everyone around them is acting in panic. Meditation sharpens skills such as attention, memory, emotional intelligence, social awareness and, most importantly, the inner calm that leaders need to manage crises.  

These skills cannot be acquired in a weekend workshop. They require intensive work with oneself, time, patience and, above all, lots of practice. They are not skills that leaders should only pull out of their first aid kit when an emergency occurs. They are the basic skills of great leaders that should be used even in the calmest of winds.


[1] https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Global_Risks_Report_2022.pdf

YES, BUT

The unholy power of two words and how they drive the world and us into stagnation

by Sabine Gromer and Daniela Luschin

shortened version

The world turns and we turn with it. Our everyday life is anything but standstill: we always have a lot to do, endlessly long task lists, and a feeling of constant rotation. And yet so many things remain untouched, unnoticed, and in stagnation. One of the reasons for this: YES, BUT.

YES, BUT accelerates climate change

We all know about the risks of climate change. Change is necessary. Not tomorrow, certainly not the day after tomorrow, but now. We are gradually destroying our environment and ultimately ourselves as well. The list of climate sins is long, they need to be tackled, time is pressing, action is needed. Actions that are repeatedly blocked by the disastrous power of YES, BUT.

We are putting the YES, BUT brake on because we do not want to move. Because otherwise we would have to leave our comfort zone. We point our fingers at the others, let them move first. The problem: that others do exactly the same. And there is no advancement.

YES, BUT becomes a saboteur, cancels out everything that was said before, acts as blotting paper and will have fatal consequences if we do not stop using it in problem-solving processes. Yes, but may erase the discussion, making the correction of serious problems impossible.


YES, AND is the antidote of YES, BUT…

Objections are good and right; they sharpen our view with a change of perspective and ideally even advance our understanding. However, it is necessary to remain factual. Especially as leaders we must not stop discussions, sabotage them, or hinder any progress. Because leading is motion, not stagnation. Karen Hough, CEO of ImprovEdge, calls YES, BUT the evil twin of YES, AND. She argues for YES, BUT to be replaced by YES, AND, so that it might be used as a powerful tool for collaboration, negotiation and effective communication. When the YES, BUT is eliminated from discussions and negotiations and instead YES, AND is used, positive engagement, appreciation, and support are conveyed. This simple tool creates effective cooperation in times of conflict and lifts the spirits in difficult times. It is precisely this YES, AND mentality that we need not only in companies, but also on a global, political, and social level. Only then will we find the way out of stagnation and towards move solution-oriented attitudes.


YES, AND connects. Traditional with new, the opposing side with its own, the separated with the whole. In a globally networked world like ours, linking these common denominators are absolutely necessary for positive progress. Anything else is completely counterproductive.

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Separate the wheat from the chaff

A wise guide to effective leadership in uncertain times

by Sabine Gromer

shortened version

The pandemic took us all by surprise. Worldwide, governments have responded to COVID-19 with various forms of defensive strategies such as isolation and withdrawal. In doing so, politicians rely on the cooperation of their citizens, the adaptability of the economy, and the pharmaceutical industry to quickly develop a vaccination.

For entrepreneurs and leaders defence and withdrawal are an ill-advised answer. Simply put, we must act with the exact opposite approach: utilise offense and proactively face new challenges with high impact countermeasures. Now is the time to separate the wheat from the chaff in our companies and in our leadership. Like a magnifying glass, this crisis allows us to see a layer more clearly of that was not easily visible before. We can now see more clearly what is wheat and what is chaff. This article can help you achieve this in a practical and effective way.


5 Guideposts to effectively lead your company through crises


1. When stressed, our brain only functions to a limited extent. Stay informed, creative and alert!

Crises narrow our fields of vision. They reinforce our prejudices and selective perceptions of the world. In order to be able to emotionally deal with the crisis, our brain tries to simplify as much as possible, while our scope for action becomes smaller. Neuroscientist Dean Mobbs calls this effect “predator anxiety”: the less we feel threatened, the more space we have to weigh out scenarios and act strategically. The more threatened we feel, the more restricted our cognitive abilities become. Without our active involvement, we react reflexively and are less creative in finding solutions to problems than under normal circumstances. We construct explanations of the world, which, while they may be less truthful, are simpler and reflect what we want to see.


2. The outcome is in your hands!

All players within the same industry sectors have been similarly affected by the pandemic, but the degree of impact among individual competitors is already visibly very different. Viktor Frankl aptly gave a reason for this discrepancy:

Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response.


3. Become more selective!

There are factors you can simply not change, nor impact. Don’t waste your energy on fighting windmills. Focus your attention on things that you can influence instead. Use this serenity verse as a guide and decision-making basis for your actions and perspective.

Remember the 20%:80% rule of Pareto. The law of Pareto posits that 20% of your customers will make up 80% of your profit. Likewise, 20% of your actions make up 80% of your success. So be selective in the choice of your actions, but consistent in their implementation.


4. Avoid Management Mistakes in the virtual work environment

Click to enlarge image

That leads us to the last guidepost.


5. TRANSPARENT AND VISIBLE COMMUNICATION IS THE GOLDEN KEY

Stay visible and approachable in the virtual work environment and above all: COMMUNICATE! Verbally and non-verbally!

Feel free to share if something is uncertain or still in the decision-making process. Your employees want to know what to expect and it is reassuring to know that you are actively dealing with problems. An “I don’t have an answer yet, but I’ll give you feedback as soon as I have it” builds more confidence than beating around the bush. Also address your concerns and fears: what is negative, what is interesting, what are the situational benefits?

In order to keep your team together and motivated use the full range of virtual tools. You can find an excellent and comprehensive overview of virtual tools here.


The coronavirus has infected many entrepreneurs from a wide range of industries. The symptoms vary from absolute lethargy and severe depressions to new powers and visions, concentrated energy and an unbreakable optimism. It is not the virus that controls the symptoms, you decide where this rocky path leads you, whether you stumble over every stone or combine your strengths and jump over big obstacles. It’s up to you. You have the antidote in your hands.


Special thanks to Daniela Luschin for editing this article and her excellent support.

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