Leading with Purpose in Turbulent Times

In the new world of almost continuous change, disruption, crisis, innovation and transformation, business leaders are under pressure and operating in unfamiliar territory.

A perfect storm of economic and geopolitical uncertainty, low growth, the urgent need to shrink stubborn environmental footprints, as well as how best to navigate and integrate AI, is the backdrop for the near future. How can good bosses lead to inspire their teams while having to make difficult decisions? Have recent world events and the COVID-19 pandemic created new leadership templates and manuals for senior company executives to navigate the rocky road ahead?

In the latest Think Ahead series – Leading with Purpose in Turbulent Times – Professor Randall S. Peterson, Professor of Organisational Behaviour at London Business School and Academic Director of the Leadership Institute hosted a lively discussion with David Faro, Associate Professor of Marketing at London Business School; Priya Mande, EMBA 2002, who is a CEO of a Stealth Biotech with 30 years of experience across Pharma and Biotech; and Chris Averill, Leadership and Business Coach.

During a fascinating discussion, the Think Ahead audience heard recommendations and suggestions on how best to manage teams through instability, volatility and stress. Discovering the best way forward is as fundamental to understanding what actions and reactions to avoid as leaders strive to keep employees engaged and motivated during turbulent times.

Leadership

The discussion opened with an audience poll which asked the question, ‘What is the key to successful leadership during turbulent times?’ ‘Stick to a clear plan’ drew the least favourable response, with four per cent of the audience believing that this was the correct course of action. ‘Acting consistent with one’s values’ appealed to 26 per cent of the audience, while ‘Having an ethos of ‘taking care of other attracted just 14 per cent of the audience. The clear winner, ‘Being reactive and adaptable’ had the greatest appeal, with 56 per cent believing that this was the best of course action.

Commenting on these results, Priya Mande, an LBS alumna (EMBA 2002), spoke up for the poll’s rather overlooked ‘business plan’, underscoring its importance, but nonetheless acknowledging that adaptability was essential. Building organisational resilience is key, observed Priya, coupled with a conscious acceptance that “change is constant”.

Priya, a Taskforce Deputy Director with HMG’s Vaccine Taskforce during the Covid pandemic, also led a clinical-stage oncology company that developed groundbreaking tumor gene therapy platform throughout the period of global pandemic. The need for contingency planning for the company during this time proved very key, particularly so when her leadership team became aware of the potential for the UK’s emergency services and the armed forces to appropriate technical equipment, such as laboratory analytical instruments. This never came to pass, but it was a potential outcome that had to be planned for.

The power of innovation

As an experienced entrepreneur, Chris Averill, offered a very different perspective on periods of turbulence and crisis, noting the power and importance of innovation. Dr Faro added that during “normal times” we can often fail to innovate because employees can feel that they are judged solely by outcomes and may therefore become risk averse.

Priya observed that one tends to speak about crises in negative terms, and that what should be acknowledged is that periods of instability provide a spur for necessary change, commenting that innovation often comes from the “margins of chaos”.

Evoking Apollo’s Mission Control

Introducing almost a salute to the power of flux and change, so characteristic of the entrepreneurial journey, Chris spoke enthusiastically about the need to draw on younger employees who had “never known risk”. NASA’s Mission Control had an average age of 26. This youthful contingent, said Chris, proved to be an important quality which balanced well with the older, more experienced senior managers. The Mission Control mindset was also useful in bonding people, connecting them to a common cause with a simple message of “landing a man on the moon”.

Analysis paralysis

Commenting on how companies frequently default to data analysis during times such as the COVID pandemic, Priya said that this was entirely appropriate, especially for companies operating in the science, technology and biomedical fields. However, there needs to be a “cut off”, a point where action needs to be taken.

Tone of leadership

Priya said that in times of crisis it was often the case that employees expected leaders to “have all the answers”. Qualities that were vitally important in terms of setting the tone and sense of purposeful capability were authenticity and the ability to convey stories – compelling narratives; these qualities help instate a sense of stability.

Professor Peterson cited a well-known case study that he had written about a leading Egyptian bank that, during the global financial crisis (GFC) had chosen to remain calm, keep the doors open to customers, and continue to allow withdrawals. When the GFC began to subside, the benefit reaped by the bank was a deposit level substantially higher than before the crisis set in.

Dr Faro felt crises could also offer an allowable circuit-breaker, affording people the permission to take a break and determine what they wanted to do and achieve. Agreeing with this, Priya added that crises can offer an opportunity for businesses to pivot their operations.

Moving the needle – the results of another poll

As the discussion ended, another poll was held, this time asking the question, ‘What are the most desirable qualities in a leader?’ Mindful that the earlier poll had drawn only very modest support for the idea of ‘Having an ethos of ‘taking care’ of others’, the later poll found that ‘Empathy’ won hands down over ‘Confidence’, ‘Creativity’ and ‘Accountability’, scoring a very notable 47 per cent.

Noting the shift in thinking from the audience, Professor Peterson observed that crises can stir new ways of working and innovation, while acknowledging that people don’t do their best work when stressed, commenting, “The needle has clearly moved during this discussion.”

Professor Peterson closed by drawing together two important elements of the discussion, covering both the need to treat employees well and with respect, and also the need to cultivate innovation. When people are stressed, he observed, they become more rigid, making it hard to innovate at just the point in time when innovation may be needed. “If you take care of people, it helps them innovate,” he said.

The full Think Ahead discussion can be viewed here. A stimulating perspective on leading during turbulent times can be found in a new Forbes article by Professor Peterson, Leading With Purpose In Turbulent Times.