Keeping the Sky from Falling: Rules of Leadership

By Michael Willard

The current economic crisis, as it relates to Ukraine, is as deep, as wide and as long as the prognosis of the loudest voice at your local watering hole.  In other words, most of us don't have a clue as to when it will end, or even its severity.

We only know that we have to ride it out, and that those who survive will have to be the smartest and best-heeled on the block.  In business, particularly medium and small businesses, cash is everything.  In a recession, that goes double.

Local ad and PR agencies generally don't have deep pockets - if they have pockets at all.  This is especially true of the independents, though we generally see that the network agencies are first in the pell-mell rush to send out pink slips in a downturn.

Sir Martin Sorrell, overseer of WPP, suggests that the recession will be "L- shaped", as opposed to what he dubbed a "bathtub-shaped" recession a few years back. He says that L-shaped means that things will never again be like they were.  If true, this is disheartening.  Actually though, Sir Martin, they weren't that great to begin with.

I look at an economic crisis as I would any crisis, because most of the same steps in managing an economic crisis are present in any crisis.  It also calls for a certain kind of leadership, one that can distinguish bird droppings from a falling sky.

Dusting off the old crisis notebook, I came up with six points for consideration when it comes to leadership in a crisis:

1. Envision a worst-case scenario, whether you are managing a company or an agency.  In all cases, be realistic.  If you know the score, you can plan for contingencies.  Plan for the worst, while hoping and working for the best.

2. Don't pay a lot of attention to the coffee shop crowd.  Seek prognoses from real experts.  They might not be on target - but at least they will have facts and figures to back up their guesses.

3. Don't panic.  Don't let the troops see you sweat.  In our crisis training simulations, we find the real leadership emerges as crisis "prompts" are tossed their way fast and furious - and they react calmly and clearly.

4. Lead by example.  If salary reductions are necessary, don't forget your own paycheck.  Reduce it first and, percentage-wise, as much as or more than your employees'.  You'll also find that economy class in airplanes is not that bad.

 5. Look for opportunities.  A crisis is a good time to get rid of dead weight without causing an aching conscience.  It's for the good of the entire organization.  Go ahead.  Take on that restructuring you had been considering.

6. Be aggressive.  In American football, we call it tossing a Hail Mary pass.  Calculated risks are infectious.  Your employees will enjoy the ride, and you will be energized.  The time to score is when the other teams are off the field - as in a recession.

When all is said and done, Sir Martin is probably right.  The agency landscape might never return to previous levels and they will be referred to in online chatter as "the good old days."

But, then again, things might get even better.  You want to be in the position not merely to have weathered the crisis, but to have established the groundwork for your agency to thrive in the future.