What’s Needed for Good Leadership in Critical Times

“These times are testing leaders from the schoolhouse to the White House, from city halls to corporate suites.” ~ Thomas L. Friedman

So begins the New York Times opinion article by the Pulitzer-prize winning foreign affairs commentator Thomas L. Friedman.  We know that in times of crisis good leadership is critical, and it’s becoming clear that we are now facing a leadership test bigger than anything else we’ve experienced in our lifetimes.  Friedman helps us rise to the occasion:

“Because this is such a critical leadership test at all levels, and because it is so not over, I called my teacher and friend Dov Seidman — who is the founder and chairman of both the ethics and compliance company LRN and the How Institute for Society, which promotes values-based leadership — to explore this issue.”

Friedman first poses the question, “It’s not easy leading anything today, but what do the best leaders have in common?”  And Seidman’s answer speaks to the foundation of my years of work as a conflict advisor/ombuds:  Trust.

I couldn’t describe it better myself:  “The leaders we will remember from this crisis are those who put more shared truth into our world, not muddied it. And those who put more trust into our world and not eroded it.  In my view, trust is the only legal performance-enhancing drug. Whenever there is more trust in a company, country or community, good things happen.”

Trust and truth go hand in hand, especially when a crisis brings out vulnerabilities and fear in people. They want, and need, the truth and as Seidman says, “great leaders trust people with the truth.”  As a business or team leader, this awareness is key to guiding your people effectively through the uncertainties of any major change or crisis situation. 

It’s true that people want to hear only good news, and can get uncomfortable with hearing information that isn’t very positive.  However, “the true antidote to fear is hope, not optimism. Hope comes from seeing your leader lead in a way that brings out the best in people by inspiring collaboration, common purpose and future possibilities. It takes hope to overcome great fear and meet great challenges. People do, of course, appreciate good news and optimism from their leaders, but only if it’s grounded in reality, facts and data.”

Learnings

1) Trust your people to handle the truth (A Few Good Men quote aside…).

They are looking to you for guidance based on the facts, your expertise, and your principles.  In many cases, they are willing to “put their livelihoods and even their lives in their leaders’ hands, and make sacrifices asked of them...they expect the truth and nothing but the truth in return.”  Our experience and research show that trust is a two-way street — the more you are trustworthy, the more your people will trust you.  

2) Allow yourself to be humble. Seidman:  “In addition to truth and hope, what people actually want in a leader, even a charismatic one, is humility. I feel more certain in the face of uncertainty when a leader says to me, “I don’t know, but here are the wise experts I am going to turn to for answers, and here is how we are going to hunt for the answers together.”   When you are clear about your plans and expectations, honest about the risks, and strong in your convictions, you will not be seen as weak or incapable; instead, you’ll “create the space for others to join [you] and to rise to do big things — together.”

3) Use the power of trust to succeed during and after the crisis.  Seidman says that good leaders are able to pivot, meaning that they take “a very deliberate action where I put one foot solidly in place and I then move the other foot in a better direction [emphasis added].”  On a basketball team, the player doesn’t pivot to make a play alone, they have the whole team to trust and work together to score. This is the power of trust — that you know your team will move with you as you make often-difficult decisions. And the team trusts that you are acting in the best interest of everyone involved.  

“Now we need to save people, but in what you call the A.C. era — After Corona — it will be about how we serve people differently — with a tighter connection between human needs and economic progress and between our environmental needs and economic prosperity.

“Leaders who in this pause hear that call — leaders who bring that ethos of saving people today but serving people and society differently tomorrow — will be the ones that will earn our most enduring respect and support.”

I encourage you to take time “in this pause” to learn, understand and practice building your teams and your organizational culture around trust, so your people can be served at the highest level possible now and in whatever the future will bring.