Introduction

The business world is in the midst of a period of turbulence not seen for a generation. Some commentators liken it to the Great Depression of the 1930s. Hopefully, that may be overstating the crisis, but there is no doubt that the credit crunch sent shock waves through the financial world. Venerable Wall Street institutions such as Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch have bitten the dust. And, what started as a crunch has become a more wide-ranging crisis, a series of shock waves hitting the world economy. The volatility of commodity prices, especially oil, and fluctuations in currencies are all part of a broader weather system affecting business everywhere.

In part, this reflects fundamental changes in the economic world order – as America’s economic hegemony is eroded. In part, too, it is the hangover from a decade-long credit binge in the United States and other parts of the developed world. But whatever the underlying causes, many business leaders have little or no experience of trying to stay on course in these sorts of once-in-a-career turbulent conditions.

What a growing number of leaders are grappling with is a challenge that is central to economic survival and social progress in the twentieth century: How do you pick up signals on your leadership radar that allow your people to navigate through the sorts of headwinds that are buffeting organisations all around the world? How do you inspire and reassure your people that they can come through these difficult times? Most of all, how can you as a leader turn these headwinds to the advantage of the organisation to ride them to success? In short: How do you lead in turbulent times?

The turbulent pattern

While turbulence has attracted headlines and dominated the agenda over the last years of this century’s first decade it is nothing new. Indeed, in our work with corporate leaders over the last 20 years, we have been struck by a recurring pattern. Time and time again we are asked to help new leaders cope with the increasing volatility of their marketplaces.

It isn’t simply that these leaders are uncomfortable with ambiguity or change – indeed many of them are promoted precisely because of their ability to manage complexity. Rather, it is the uncertainty caused by the accelerating rate of change that these new leaders find hard to adapt to. Many simply find they are overwhelmed by the sheer unpredictability of the economic weather patterns moving through their industries. Over time, we have come to see these powerful forces for change as the corporate equivalent of headwinds, something which must be faced and navigated by leaders and those they lead.

A headwind is defined as: ‘A wind blowing directly against the course of a moving object, especially an aircraft or ship.’ The reality is simple: the headwinds are here to stay. And the headwinds are unrelenting. The leadership challenge of the next few years is learning to fly with such all-embracing turbulence.

It’s a bit like trying to fly through a hurricane. It doesn’t matter whether you are in a light aircraft or a Boeing 787 Dreamliner, staying on course in a headwind is tough. What the best pilots realise is that you need to know how to read your leadership instruments and change course sometimes to make headway. Sometimes, too, you need to know when to put the plane down on the nearest piece of flat land and sit out the storm.

In 2009, our fascination with the issues facing frontline leaders in turbulent times across a wide range of sectors – from banking to retailing – led us to embark on a series of interviews with CEOs and business leaders worldwide. Leading in Turbulent Times is based on insights from those revealing and candid interviews.¹

What did we discover? Three really strong messages emerged from our conversations:

Passion rules. Leaders are frequently and usually unfairly pilloried for taking the money and running. True, the financial benefits of running large organisations have never been greater, but the leaders we encountered aren’t turned on by money. It is important, of course, but they are driven by a real passion for their business, their organisation and the people they work with. Turbulent times simply highlight this passion under an even brighter light. ‘For a business leader, the more the environment changes, the more passion he or she should possess’, is how Wang Jianzhou of China Mobile put it. Money is one-dimensional; with passion you can turn everyone on.

Take Kris Gopalakrishnan, one of the founders of Infosys. ‘I am passionate about the company. This is half my life. All we have achieved, that we have today, is because of Infosys. There is a lot of ownership and pride’, he told us. ‘We see Infosys as a mechanism for bringing about change. This means bringing about change in the industry through new models. We are seen as a leader. We are able to bring change to countries because of the position Infosys has in India. There are 103,000 employees meaning good jobs are being created. There are a lot of ways we can bring about change. People listen to you. You can influence government and society. We see Infosys as an instrument for change.’

Hard times call for mastery of the soft side. The so-called ‘soft’ skills of leadership – communication (which includes both informing people and listening to them and their concerns); empathy, which is not to be confused with sympathy but rather is a rigorous attempt to understand one’s employee’s views and efforts; and mentoring and coaching so that they feel that even in, or especially in turbulent times they are continuing to learn and develop – are vitally important in negotiating any protracted period of turbulence.

The hard stuff of keeping costs under control and slashing numbers tends to grab the headlines, but the leaders we spoke to were focused on guiding, helping and maximising the human potential of those in their teams rather than employing twenty-first century slash and burn tactics. This is a timely reminder that cost control is a business basic, but extracting great performance from people is always based on more complex and subtle motivational tools than pure fear.

Communication filled many pages of our notes and hours of our conversations with leaders. Communication is what leaders do. Day in, day out, they communicate. During difficult times all put a premium on the transparency and frequency of their communication internally and externally. Keeping the troops informed helps to decrease rumours and needless worries, while listening to their concerns and ideas keeps them engaged and committed.

‘I create more opportunities than before to communicate with new guys directly – having lunch, breakfast, even dinner with them. I’m very close to them. They haven’t had any experience of this kind of crisis or hard times before. So that’s why I have to talk with them. I’m always there with them’, says Takeshi Niinami of the Japanese company, Lawson.

Think long term. The moment can appear all-embracing as one wave of misfortune after another crashes down. Leaders refuse to bow under immediate pressure. Instead, they use short-term pressures to harden their focus on long-term objectives. While the present can appear confused and chaotic, for most inspiring leaders the future remains crystal clear.

‘Clarity of vision, purpose and values make a CEO’s job a lot easier because you never lose sight of what that long-term vision is and nor do your people – especially because you’re always reminding them of what it is’, says Linda Wolf, retired Leo Burnett Chairman and CEO. ‘Having a long-term vision doesn’t mean that you’re complacent; in fact, it challenges you because you can always do better against it. At the same time, it gives you the clarity of purpose that is critical.’

Leading in Turbulent Times explains how some of the world’s best leaders navigate through the eye of the storm. We hope this book will help arm all who read it with new perspectives on the challenges set to dominate corporate and leadership agendas for the years to come.

Kevin Kelly and Gary E. Hayes
July 2009