We think of a great leader
as the unwavering captain who guides us forward
through challenge and complexity.
Confident, unwavering leaders,
armed with data and past experience
have long been celebrated in business and politics alike.
But sometimes and certainly now,
a crisis comes along that is so new and so urgent
that it upends everything we thought we knew.
(Music)
[The Way We Work]
One thing we know for sure
is that more upheavals are coming.
In a completely interconnected world
a single political uprising,
a viral video, a distant tsunami,
or a tiny virus can send shock waves around the world.
Upheaval creates fear,
and in the midst of it people crave security
which can incline leaders
toward the usual tropes of strength, confidence, constancy,
but it won't work.
We have to flip the leadership playbook.
First, this type of leadership requires
communicating with transparency, communicating often.
So how can leaders lead when there is so little certainty,
so little clarity?
Whether you are a CEO, a prime minister, a middle manager,
or even a head of school,
upheaval means you have to ramp up the humility.
When what you know is limited,
pretending that you have the answers isn't helpful.
Amidst upheaval, leaders must share what they know
and admit what they don't know.
Paradoxically, that honesty creates more psychological safety for people,
not less.
For example when the pandemic devastated the airline industry
virtually overnight,
CEO of Delta Airlines Ed Bastian
ramped up employee communication
despite having so little clarity
about the path ahead, facing truly dire results.
At one point in 2020,
losing over a hundred million dollars a day,
it would have been far easier for Bastian
to wait for more information before taking action,
but effective leaders during upheaval
don't hide in the shadows.
In fact as Bastian put it,
it is far more important to communicate
when you don't have the answers than when you do.
Second, act with urgency despite incomplete information.
Admitting you don't have the answers
does not mean avoiding action.
While it's natural to want more information,
fast action is often the only way to get more information.
Worse, inaction leaves people feeling lost and unstable.
When New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
laid out a four level alert system very early
in the COVID-19 crisis,
she lacked information with which to set the level.
Despite lacking answers, she did not wait to communicate
about the threat with the nation.
At first she set the level at two,
only to change it to four two days later as cases rose.
That triggered a national lockdown
which no doubt saved countless lives.
Later, when cases began to dissipate,
she made subsequent decisions
reflecting that new information.
Third, leaders must hold purpose and values steady,
even as goals and situations change.
Values can be your guiding light
when everything else is up in the air.
If you care about customer experience,
don't let go of that in times of upheaval.
If a core value is health and safety,
put that at the center of every decision you make.
Now doing this requires being very transparent
about what your values are,
and in this way, your steadfastness shows
not in your plans, but in your values.
Prime Minister Ardern's clear purpose all along
was protecting human life.
Even as the immediate goal shifted from preventing illness
to preparing health systems
and ultimately to bolstering the economy.
And finally, give power away.
Our instincts are to hold even more tightly
to control in times of upheaval, but it backfires.
One of the most effective ways to show leadership,
if counterintuitive,
is to share power with those around you.
Doing this requires asking for help,
being clear that you can't do it alone.
This also provokes innovation
while giving people a sense of meaning.
Nothing is worse in a crisis
than feeling like there's nothing you can do to help.
We follow this new kind of leader through upheaval,
because we have confidence
not in their map, but in their compass.
We believe they've chosen the right direction
given the current information,
and that they will keep updating.
Most of all, we trust them
and we want to help them in finding and refinding
the path forward.