“If you want to learn to sail, you need to go into high winds,” says John Replogle, a partner at One Better Ventures. “Equally, If you want to lead, go into a crisis.” Replogle has learned much about leadership from the current crisis. Here, he shares some of the critical qualities a leader must consider.

During the Vietnam War, Air Force researchers sought to determine what separated outstanding pilots from the field. Through eye motion tracking, they concluded that the top guns moved through the decision-making cycle, what they coined the OODA loop (Observe, Orient, Decide, Act) with alacrity.

In early March, the world changed so abruptly; it challenged leaders’ ability to demonstrate their OODA loop skills. The crisis delivered a decision point that few were prepared for. Leaders across the spectrum were forced to assess their business model and redefine their approach to leadership rapidly. The old playbook was not going to work, and a new playbook needed to be rewritten quickly. 

Fortunately, for leaders of purpose-driven companies, this was a much smoother transition. During the “great recession,” purpose-led companies, or B Corps, accelerated through the challenge and were 65% more successful than non-purpose led companies. How did they do it? My partners at One Better Ventures believe that the essential ingredients centered around four P’s: People; Purpose; Pivot; Profit. These tenets are even more applicable today, and, like the OODA loop, they should be pursued in this order.

People

With the pandemic, employees became highly concerned as both their home and business environment was disrupted. Challenging new questions arose — Would I still have a job? How will I work remotely? How will I home school my children? Am I safe? CEOs who recognized this need from their employees, who tuned in, and who provided trust and reassurance during these first weeks, excelled. Listening, flexing to meet the needs of the individual, understanding the unique demands on working parents, forging strong personal connections, and building a new routine were a few of the employee-first responses that trusted leaders embraced.

Lean-in leaders think of people as valuable assets on the balance sheet rather than a cost on the P&L. They seek not to cut, furlough, or minimize cost; instead, they lead by protecting, engaging, and embracing their most valued asset – their people. The corresponding response is trust, engagement, commitment, and loyalty. Besides, the strongest leaders realize that they, too, are an essential part of the workforce and practice self-care through sleep, diet, exercise, faith, and love. Leaders must put on their oxygen mask first, and be fit and ready to lead for the long-haul.

Purpose

After caring for their people, a leader needs to care for the company by creating a powerful alignment in a tumultuous market. Purpose is the most powerful force within any business and provides a north star in times of uncertainty. Purpose guides all decision-making and aligns and connects all employees in a time when connection is challenged. One CEO described purpose as “the invisible force that guides our business 24/7”. Purpose-driven leaders embrace this power to summons the better spirits in their company, creating a collective ethos that overrides challenges and keeps the company steady in heavy winds. They lean heavily on the mission, vision, and values of their company to create an esprit de corps and an owners’ mindset.

Pivot

With people cared for and the purpose flag hoisted, the organization is now effectively more resilient and agile to weather a crisis. It’s now ready to pivot. 

The root word in Greek for crisis is decision point; strong leaders embrace decision points to pivot their organization to the new context. Visionary leaders ask: “what is the unmet need” and move their organization to leverage their unique capabilities to meet that need. 

In this pandemic, numerous companies have done just that, viewing necessity as the mother of invention. Murphy’s Naturals, a maker of bug repellent, realized it faced a crisis with 80% of its retail business closed going into peak season. The CEO, Philip Freeman, understood that his team was uniquely qualified to make natural personal care products and easily converted his mosquito repellent manufacturing to the production of hand sanitizer. The company delivered the first 5,000 cases to the Navy and had more demand than it could supply. The company is thriving.  

Leesa Sleep, a mattress company where I am CEO, and in which One Better Ventures owns a significant stake, similarly suffered the loss of retail sales. However, their President identified that there was a need for over 250,000 emergency hospital beds. Within ten days, the team had designed a turnkey hospital bed kit and delivered over 4,000 beds to hospitals in need. In every great challenge, there is an equally great opportunity. Wise leaders guided by purpose, lean into the challenge with courage, and view it as a chance to learn, innovate, and recreate. In the process, they develop new competencies and grow as a learning organization.  

Profit

Once a leader has navigated through the response to the crisis, focusing on people, purpose, and pivot, they can begin plotting a course to a longer-term vision. They must continue to embrace the duality of conserving cash while investing for the future. This gentle balance between investment and securing the bottom line while building a stronger future is the final hallmark of a crisis leader. Too many leaders focus too early and with too much energy on protecting profitability.

When profits are put first, as a Harvard Business School study shows, organizations are more likely to perish. One must first secure the team, reassert the purpose, and pivot the organization before focusing on sustainable profitability. The great leaders through this crisis care for their team, communicate openly and transparently, call on higher spirit and purpose, shift the framing to meet unmet needs, and reinforce that this is a journey and not just an event. In short, they master the new OODA loop focused on the 4Ps.

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This is the third in a series of articles about developing strategy in a post-coronavirus world. The four scenarios for a post-coronavirus and an open-source strategy toolkit can be downloaded here.

What do courageous leaders do in times of jaw-dropping uncertainty? They set a vision, make strategic decisions, align teams, and communicate. Our responsibilities didn’t change when the global pandemic hit — when we began to realize just how unpredictable the world is.

Decision Making with Conviction
Despite all the tantalizing forces pushing toward states of paralysis and denial, an increasing number of leaders are settling into this time by embracing a new reality. They recognize that the present and the short, medium, and long-term futures are highly uncertain. They are making decisions with conviction – and finding the areas where bold action is warranted.

Now that employees are working from home, cash runways are managed as much as possible, and businesses are tuned to this fits-and-starts moment, where are the most advanced leaders focused? On no-regrets moves – actions that make sense in any future – as well as on bigger bets that are tied to clear signals from the world they don’t control.

Here is a set of no-regrets moves we see companies take across industries. While you are likely to have some that are highly specific to your situation, these eight moves tend to be applicable across the board. Of course, all of these moves have a cost associated with them. The question for leaders is, will they provide a disproportionate advantage for your business?

1. Go direct to customers

With the retail shutdown, businesses gained permission to connect with their customers more directly. PepsiCo’s new site, Snacks.com, is an example of a large company circumnavigating traditional supermarket channels to sell their product directly to consumers. Over the long-term, this reduces costs and allows Pepsi significantly more customer data and intimacy, a goal that was in place long before coronavirus. How might you get closer to your customers during this time?

2. Focus marketing on stability, care, and resilience

The tenor of marketing has changed, and it’s essential to stay attuned. Companies that remain tone-deaf by continuing to deliver messaging that is too self-serving will drive customers away. A movie studio promoting darker themes re-calibrated its marketing at the outset of the pandemic to bring hope and inspiration to American movie audiences. A B2B software company that focused its messaging on growth and technology innovation during the bull market has re-tooled its selling points around stability, resiliency, and cost savings. Is your positioning well aligned with the needs and sentiment of today’s marketplace and robust enough to evolve as times change?

3. Invest in landing new customers

While some businesses are targeting incremental revenue from existing customers as they reduce customer acquisition spend, several enterprise software companies are taking the opposite stance. By offering solutions to problems consumers are facing – in the form of extended payment terms, price reductions, and other arrangements – these companies are taking business from less-resourced competitors. They will ultimately emerge from this crisis in a stronger market position. This strategy’s second punch will be an M&A spree of those companies who retrenched. How can you best ensure that you are seeding the future growth of your business and positioning your organization to end up on the right side of the buying spree that will emerge?

4. Accelerate business model transformation

Where there’s an impending need, organizations that have been contemplating a business model shift are using this moment to accelerate the change, and frequently leveraging technology and the cloud to help them. One example is Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU). As pressure has mounted on private universities over the past decade due to increased tuition costs, inequitable access, and a wholesale questioning of the value of four-year degrees, SNHU announced it would no longer accept students to its traditional campus programs. They are offering 100% tuition scholarship for online degrees, thus making themselves more affordable than many public four year colleges. This bold move accelerates a migration plan they had in place by several years. In a poignant note, SNHU President Paul LeBlanc called this a “burn the boats” moment. We see similar shifts in the technology sector, where these companies are taking this moment to accelerate their shift to the cloud, moving from selling products to services, and benefiting from the recurring revenue models to go with that shift. Are there opportunities to advance your technological journey to support future growth while meeting the cost containment demands of today?

5. Follow the money

For the most part, sales teams are targeting industries expected to emerge from the crisis as winners, such as technology, pharma, and government and moving away from (or betting on the most prominent consolidators/premium players in) travel, education, and real estate. They’re focusing more on big, stable, and resourced companies and less on small and medium-sized businesses. And, they’re shifting geographically too, to diversify their risks as the pandemic continues its varied path of impact around the globe. Are you able to effectively capture the growing white space in the SMB segment or positioned to win with the largest companies who matter most?

6. Build supply chains that are resilient to disruption

Efficiency often comes at the cost of resiliency. In a volatile environment, with a significant risk of delays, tariffs, and potential trade wars, businesses are building more redundancy and flexibility into their supply chains. A food importer who sells branded products in supermarkets is shoring up supplies from multiple countries, ramping production, and building inventory to keep their products moving. Sales are up 300%. Other large organizations are turning to automation to address the risks of having humans onsite and the potential supply chain shutdowns that can incur if teams get sick or are locked down again. How effectively can your company deliver if the pandemic sustains well into 2021?

7. Decentralize spans of control

As Mayors have usurped political capital, there’s a similar shift toward localization in corporate decision making. One global retailer is empowering its store managers to work directly with local governments, shopping malls, and nearby communities to meet needs and develop creative solutions for re-engaging in commerce. This move will undoubtedly lead to new products, services, and opportunities for this progressive retailer. How will you leverage decentralization to improve your agility and optimize your business to local conditions given the pandemic?

8. Optimize your virtualized business

Just as companies are getting accustomed to collaborating remotely, sales teams are figuring out new virtual sales motions, educators are creating long-term learning modalities, and restaurateurs are developing new safe-haven concepts. A global commercial real estate company is launching a new hybrid e-commerce/virtual shopping experience that was in the works long before coronavirus. The winners in the virtual world are rethinking “how” they do what they do. Moving traditional business approaches into video calls is a short term bandaid. How are you rethinking the virtual world to your advantage versus being held back by its constraints?

Companies that emerge more strongly will have thoughtfully approached scenario planning. Indeed, in these most uncertain days, the only thing that can be counted on is that nothing is guaranteed. But employing a scenario planning strategy will help companies prepare for any number of possible futures.

An Enterprise Software Company’s Approach
Puppet, an industry-leading software automation company, used scenario planning to develop a robust coronavirus response strategy, including a set of customized no-regrets moves. As soon as the pandemic hit, Puppet’s CEO Yvonne Wassenaar challenged her executive team:

“We need to understand what this means for our customers – what will technology leaders such as VPs of Infrastructure and Automation, CTOs, engineering leaders, and CIOs need to enable their companies to survive these uncertain times and be positioned as leaders in their industries regardless of what emerges from this crisis?”

After defining four potential future scenarios and what they would mean for Puppet’s customers and their operations, the leadership team designed a bold strategy. According to Wassenaar, they immediately refined their product roadmap to support their large enterprise customers’ most advanced security and remote network needs.

They shifted their marketing investments and tailored their messages to best resonate with relevant current day customer challenges. Puppet shifted its go-to-market model and prepared its workforce for a long-term virtual reality, including accelerating the build-out of remote services and investing in employee home offices. In recognition that some of their strategic choices are dependent on which future they’ll face, Wassenaar created a set of external triggers that will evoke strategies as they evolve. For example, if the economy grows by a certain percent, they anticipate an uptick in business digitalization and the mass adoption of DevOps, which will trigger an increased investment in their cloud-native efforts.

Wassenaar and her team found so much value in the scenario planning process they now provide a technology-centric version of the open-source toolkit for their customers. They’re helping Puppet customers identify no-regret moves that enable action today and set the foundation for future success as any number of potential futures emerge.

Bold Action
Many of these no-regrets moves and strategies were imagined well before the pandemic and are universally good ones to consider. Their boldness comes from a conviction to act – to respond proactively to the market, business models, and related pressures that may have already been there. As humanity, we may lack clarity for what is on the horizon, but as business leaders, we can – and must – make plans with confidence that we have considered a broad range of possible futures. Perhaps leaders are merely following the sage advice of Winston Churchill, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.”

Capitalism has gotten a bad rap, bearing the blame for corporate greed and income inequality. However, no other market system has the ability to create opportunities and benefit society. The real culprit is how capitalism has been corrupted, associated with crushing competitors and world dominance. Learn how business leaders can move away from competitive advantage and instead pursue their calling as capitalists — and realize their organizational and human potential. 

Capitalism or a market-based system is the most significant man-made tool in history. Go back through history and look at how little human life advanced prior to the introduction of a market-based system around 200 years ago.

Since the market system took hold, we have seen:

• A reduction in the percentage of the world’s population living in extreme poverty from 85% to 36%
• Average income per capita globally increase by nearly 1,000%
• Infant mortality rate worldwide (deaths by the first year per 1,000 births) drop from 216.8 in 1850 to 28.9 in 2018
• Average life expectancy worldwide double from 35 to about 80 years

While capitalism has been criticized by some recently, you cannot argue with its impact on the society and the world. There is no other system that creates opportunities, individual freedom, and a corresponding, widespread positive impact. Of course, there are unintended consequences related to capitalism, but the negative impacts come from an abuse of the system. As many have observed, it is not capitalism that is bad, it is capitalists that are bad (some of them). There are people who misuse capitalism, but that happens in any system. Power tends to corrupt people. Fortunately, markets can sniff out corruption and many times hold corrupt companies accountable. There are obviously examples, many well publicized, of corruption in business. However, the stories of millions of businesses and leaders that are doing tremendous work in helping their employees, customers, and communities grow and excel are not typically shared.

To be fair, pure socialism and communism can be considered altruistic systems since every citizen is theoretically tasked with helping everyone else equally. However, in these systems, the government becomes the “gatekeeper” or “clearing house” responsible for making major decisions that impact the masses. The problem with the execution of socialism and communism is that the decision-making is concentrated in the hands of the few, lacking market-based forces to provide accountability and guardrails. Essentially, when decision-making and power become concentrated, there is a greater risk of corruption compared to spreading out the power through market-based forces. Once again, as long as people (including me) are flawed, we need to have something that keeps us from abusing the power. That, of course, is a market-based system–until something better is created. 

Unfortunately, the desire to win at all costs and an obsession with beating the competition has tarnished the reputation of capitalism. At the core of capitalism is the desire to help others and create a better world. Basically, the capitalistic system uses a free market to engage people in developing solutions to problems that consumers and the world are facing, benefiting society and communities. The motivation or purpose of capitalism is not to maximize profit (although profit is necessary to create a long-term sustainable impact) or beat competitors, but to improve society.

Why do some business leaders pursue competitive advantage and world dominance at all costs? Here are reasons why some businesses focus on crushing their competition and everything in their path:

• Business strategy evolved from military strategy, which historically has focused on annihilating competition.  In war, that is good; in business, it is not good.
• Universities and business schools adopted a focus on competitive advantage and have been teaching this since the 80s with little advancement and innovation.
• Global consulting companies have built significant practices conducting competitive analysis, delivering qualitative and quantitative reports on competition to their clients.
• Focusing on competition is easy, since there is always a villain in every story. Business leaders incorporate this thinking by aligning employee focus on beating competitors and making them out to be the villain in the story of business.

As capitalists and human beings, we can do much better. Capitalism exists for the purpose of building a better society, and business is a microcosm of the market system. Your business plays a significant role in providing for your employees, customers, and communities.

At the core of human beings is a desire to connect, belong, contribute, and make a difference. Companies become the avenue for individuals and groups to fulfill all these core desires. Today, workplace organizations are the platform for people to learn, grow, and pursue their human potential. 

As work and life become blended (this was accelerated with the COVID-19 outbreak), it is critical that businesses take responsibility for their role in creating better communities and shift their obsession away from annihilating the competition. While focusing on competition creates alignment, it does not fulfill the human need to make a difference and leaves us falling short of our potential in life. Focusing on competition leads to incremental growth as companies become preoccupied with winning a game between a few players and lose sight of the many opportunities that are presented. Leaders should look at competitors for inspiration rather than seek to annihilate them.

Here are some steps to help your organization move away from focusing on competitive advantage to fulfilling your potential:

1. Define what really excites you and your team about the impact your company and product are having on the world. What is your organizational potential?
2. Translate that into a tangible cause that creates your cultural foundation.
3. Develop a strategic platform that connects to your culture and provides tangible business-related outcomes that tie to your cause.
4. Integrate a comprehensive model for execution that enables your employees to pursue their potential through the work they do.

By following these steps, your organization will effectively blend culture, strategy, and execution (as demonstrated in The Blendification® System), thereby putting you and your team on the path to realizing their potential. By doing this, focus will shift away from annihilating competition to pursuing a common cause. Employees will be engaged in growth and development and have a passion to help their fellow employees and customers succeed, resulting in a positive impact on their communities. This is the business model that enables your company to play its part in fulfilling the purpose of capitalism.

An adventure can be something you actively prepare for and intentionally seek out, but it can also be an experience that hits you broadside with no prior warning and leaves you scrambling for what to do next. The current COVID-19 crisis falls squarely into the latter category, and navigating through it is an adventure in every sense of the word. 

The word adventure is defined as “an unusual undertaking usually involving danger and unknown risks,” and what we’re all facing at the moment fits that definition exactly. How do you deal with moments like this? How do you navigate through the inevitable fear associated with the unknown? Here are our top three tips for surviving a crisis, as seen through the eyes of professional adventurers.

1. Expect the unexpected. The great Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen once said, “Adventure is just bad planning.” This sentiment expresses what all successful adventurers know: you need to be prepared for whatever may arise, no matter how unlikely. In our book Wild Success, we profiled the irrepressible open ocean sailor, Lisa Blair, preparing to set off on her perilous solo journey around the Southern Ocean. Before setting sail, Lisa built her emotional skills by mentally preparing for her journey by visualizing a myriad of scenarios that could go wrong and preparing for them with “if-then” plans before setting sail. This allowed her to practice and better understand how she would emotionally respond when something bad did happen. 

Often the fear of the unknown is more difficult than actually dealing with a problem you’ve already prepared for mentally. By practicing her skills and building her toolkit over time, Lisa was able to develop her capacity for resilience and be at her best when things were at their worst.

In our current climate of uncertainty, what do you do to better prepare? We suggest doing exactly as Lisa did. Try to anticipate what might play out in weeks and months ahead and make contingency plans for it. Rather than deny the unimaginable prospect, expect it, make plans to deal with it, and then put it away, hoping never to use it. The unthinkable will likely never happen, but if it does, you’re ready to meet it head-on.

2. Find a role model. Who is a role model you can look to in moments like this? How would the great adventurers such as Ernest Shackleton or Sir Ranulph Fiennes act during this crisis? I suspect with focus, determination, and grace. Having a robust role model during difficult times can help you navigate the uncertainty. Being able to imagine how your role model would handle a crisis will help you manage it better. 

A close friend of ours, Chris, is a firefighter. He told us a story about one of his first responses to an accident situation and the importance of finding a role model in moments of uncertainty. “It was a Saturday evening when we got the call,” he said. “It was a head-on collision on the Sea to Sky highway from Vancouver to Whistler BC, and we feared the worst. When we arrived, we could see the wrecked cars on the road ahead of us. I was pumped full of adrenaline. It was my first situation like this. I was terrified. My partner, John, was a captain at the fire hall. The moment we stopped our truck, I grabbed my stuff and started running to the scene. After about 30 yards, I realized John wasn’t with me, and I stopped. I looked around and saw him still carefully packing his gear, after which he began to stride calmly towards me. Later he explained how important it was to prepare for moments like that mentally. ‘You need to be as calm and clear in your actions as you can be,’ he said. ‘No rash actions. No panic. The victims expect it of you.’ He’s been my role model ever since.”

Who is your role model? 

3. Stay positive. We recently had the opportunity to speak with the Chief Legal Officer of an important client of ours, a large American multinational enterprise information technology company based in California, who shared with us how important positivity is for him. He explained that his company was facing an existential restructuring to transform it into what it has become today, but they couldn’t see how effectively to do it. The CEO convened an all-hands-on-deck C-suite crisis meeting to navigate a path forward, and it wasn’t pretty.

“The meeting was brutal,” he said, “By the end of it, we were all overwhelmed by the predicament, and we were desperate.” 

“As we were leaving the meeting, our CEO stopped us and gave us a real pep talk. It stuck with me ever since. ‘I want to see smiles on those faces!!’ she said. ‘You can’t go out to your teams looking dejected. You may feel bad, but you can’t show it. Put a smile on your face even if you don’t feel it. It’s your obligation as a leader.’ So, we did it. We moved forward, we stayed positive, and we got the job done. You have to stay positive, no matter what!”

Adventurers understand this well. Positivity is critical to our success. As I skied to the South Pole in 2008 (Kevin), my two teammates and I made a pact to say nothing negative in the tent each night. Negativity had no place on our mission. We knew full well that most extreme expeditions like the one we were on devolved into team members hating one another by the end. We weren’t going to allow this to happen. We’re still friends to this day, and we succeeded in our mission. We broke the world-record in doing so.

Adventurers know what it takes to perform at the highest level in an ever-changing environment of uncertainty and stress. You, too, can survive a crisis like an adventurer by expecting the unexpected, seeking out a role model, and staying positive. 

Emotional IQ counts for twice as much as IQ and technical skills combined in determining who will be successful, according to a report from Harvard Business School.

This surprising finding indicates that emotional intelligence isn’t just a nice-to-have, but a required characteristic to forming successful relationships. It’s arguably one of the essential leadership skills of the 21st century, and the good news is that it can be learned.

 So, what is emotional intelligence? In short, it’s the ability to be aware of, understand, manage, and express your emotions, and handle interpersonal relationships judiciously and empathetically. A renowned expert on the topic is the author and psychologist Daniel Goleman, who with his partner, Richard Boyatzis, came out with the now-mainstream concept of the Emotional Competency Framework. This idea is comprised of self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and social skills. 

Conscious leaders need to stay relevant to the times. As work tasks are increasingly moved to robots, AI, and automation, it’s more critical than ever for leaders to be in touch with emotions and feelings. Life takes on a different and higher meaning when you experience the thrill of accessing your humanity. Here’s why a conscious leader in the 21st century places so much value on emotional intelligence and how you can embody it, too.

1. CONSCIOUS LEADERS ADAPT TO EVOLUTION AND EXPAND THEIR MINDSET

Evolution is pushing forward with or without us. As a result, the world is furiously changing and calling for bold social reform and environmental solutions to address growing challenges. Politicians and leaders of industry have to expand their mindsets and take the words of Albert Einstein seriously when he said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” 

 Many organizational change initiatives fail; in fact, only around 30 percent are said to succeed. The reason? Change experts suggest new structures and new systems, but leaders and people within these systems don’t change. You can’t change the world, change an organization or system, unless the people operating these systems change first. 

2. CONSCIOUS LEADERs USE ALL THREE HUMAN INTELLIGENCE CENTERS 

As a child, our cognitive intelligence is promoted above everything else. We enter an educational system that values logical thinking, knowledge, and linguistics, and prepares us through technical skills to function in a society that values the same. The creative arts are down-played and are usually the first to be cut when budgets are tight. It’s no wonder that leaders who come from traditional schooling systems, traditional MBA programs, and Ivy League institutions are programmed to use only one of the three intelligence centers (head, heart, and body). We are trained in making decisions and communicating from our rational, objective head-center while bypassing the tender wisdom of the heart and the experienced intuition of our gut.

3. CONSCIOUS LEADERS REPLACE COMPETITION WITH RELATIONSHIPS

As we gradually leave behind the systems, traditions, and machine mentality of the Industrial Age and open our hearts and minds to the emerging human-centric organization, the focus shifts to building relationships. Authentic connections are formed through clear and effective communication, integrity, trust, inclusion, and diversity. It’s what the workplace and the world are desperate for right now. Simple acts of kindness, respect, and empathy can determine the level of your employees’ engagement and loyalty.

4. CONSCIOUS LEADERS TRUST RESEARCH AROUND EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Over the past few decades, mounting evidence has suggested that the potential for a leaders greatness is directly linked to high emotional intelligence. The University of Maryland found that 71 percent of hiring managers found EQ to be more important than IQ. Some of the attributes of high EQ leaders include being able to build solid relationships and inspire others, an ability to handle high stress levels, and those of others, someone better-equipped to manage and resolve conflicts, and a person more likely to lead by example.

 In the start-up world, this trend is becoming increasingly evident. Investors aren’t just looking for the next big idea; they’re also greatly concerned about the team. If they think the founder and the team won’t have the leadership potential to weather the rough-and-tumble of entrepreneurship, they might pass on investing. They are seeking mature leaders with people skills. 

5. CONSCIOUS LEADERS CREATE AND INNOVATE 

Artists aren’t the only creatives. Leaders must also allow creativity to flow freely to create the change needed to bring the world to wholeness. These are leaders who understand the power of the journey — through experimentation, questioning, listening, exploring, reflection, transformation, collaboration, and co-creation. Implementing these changes requires a “beginner’s mind” and a willingness to keep the channels of innovation open at all times. As a colleague of mine likes to say, “Innovation is not something we do; it’s something we are.”

6. CONSCIOUS LEADERs HEAL AND UNITE — NOT DIVIDE

Violent acts are no longer happening in far-off places. They’re happening in schools, churches, and workplaces all around us. 

Leaders of companies have an additional role to play: that of the healer. As they deal with the horrific aftermaths of shootings, opioid epidemics, health pandemics, political turmoil, and terror threats, they will need a plan in place to support employees, families, and the broader community. In times such as these, people look to leaders for strength, heart-centered action, and words of solace. This requires an empathetic and compassionate leader who is conscious of broader issues beyond the business they lead.

Communication is ingrained in every facet of life, yet many struggle with fear, insecurity and general ineffectiveness when finding themselves eye-to-eye with someone and presenting ideas, resolving complicated issues, express feelings, or “selling themselves.” 

According to Megan Rokosh, a global business communications expert with more than 12 years of agency public relations, media, and creative strategy experience, “Some people are paralyzed with fear at the very thought of taking an idea and communicating it, both in the workplace and their everyday life. However, confidence can be significantly bolstered by heeding even a few simple strategies — some fundamentals and essentials — that can improve one’s poise and self-assurance.”

Here are three of Rokosh’s confidence-building communications secrets:

1. Craft Situation Diffusion Dialogue 

Create an assortment of “go-to” statements you have at-the-ready — to handle awkward or hard situations and moments. These are assertions and declarations that you know work well and that you can whip out quickly when needed. For example, if you are late to a social outing, rehearse the phrase, “I’m so sorry I kept you waiting, my rule is that when I’m late, all the drinks are on me.” Or, when you’re at a loss for words, you can say, “I could have sworn that I packed my tongue today,” and lighten the moment. Having these short statements up your sleeve can help avoid those stumbling moments in awkward moments.

2. Give in to Vulnerability  

Vulnerability often equals likability, and they are indelibly connected — so use this truth to your benefit. There’s nothing more off-putting than arrogance, and seeming vulnerable can make you more relatable. If you’re nervous and kicking off a meeting, tell your audience to “be gentle with you” and have a quick laugh to loosen everyone up (and yourself). Self-effacing humor can be a powerful tool. Or, if you’re having a difficult time understanding something, say, “Sorry if I’m holding things up here, but can you explain one more time?” Your contrition will endear. 

3. Address Adversities Head-on

You will undoubtedly face times at work and home that require you to confront something difficult. Although challenging, the situation must be addressed to be effectively resolved. Great leaders always speak up, and you should, too! Make clear from the beginning that you intend to hear and consider the other person’s side. Say something like, “Your perspective is valid, and I want to hear what you have to say, but first, please allow me to share my thoughts.” This will give you the floor, hopefully uninterrupted, since the other party has been given the assurance they’ll have a chance to present their side as well. It goes without saying that this discourse should be in-person, versus text or email. There are times when a call or in-person meeting or video call is the right approach — where words, inflections, and expressions become more impactful and meaningful. 

Rokosh also reminds us that the world’s best communicators are trained that way. “It’s rare that the communicators we admire haven’t put in extensive work toward their oration skills. It allows them to speak eloquently, pause in powerful silence when appropriate, and address tough media questions,” she notes. “It’s important to remember that, while some people are inherently talented communicators, for many (if not most) becoming a confident communicator requires learned skills. It’s a simple strategy such as this, and proactively putting it to use, that will get you to where you want to be.”

If effective communicating is an area of insecurity for you, and you find yourself being held back by fear, try these three easy tips and feel more resilient and controlled — or, at least, exude the image that you are.

Rakesh Walia hopes his journey from child labourer to boardroom executive will inspire other children toiling in India’s roadside eateries, fields and factories to break free of the shackles of poverty and despair.

In his autobiography Broken Crayons Can Still Colour, Walia, 59, gives a rare first person account of life as a child labourer in India – in his case in a workshop making bicycle parts and later in carpet weaving factories in central state of Madhya Pradesh.

Now a top executive with the telecommunications firm Matrix Cellular, Walia chronicles his life from being orphaned at six to toiling in factories before enlisting in the Indian Army and finally pursuing a career in business.

“I didn’t know how to tell my story so I began by recording my thoughts on my mobile. There were 7,000 voice recordings I transcribed to eventually write this,” Walia told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview.

He said he felt compelled to tell his story in the hope it would inspire at least one child worker to break free and succeed.

There are an estimated 5.7 million child workers between the ages of 5 and 17 in India, according to the International Labour Organization. More than half toil on farms and over a quarter are in manufacturing on tasks such as embroidering clothes, weaving carpets and making matchsticks.

Children also work in restaurants and hotels, and as domestic workers. Walia started his young working life a servant for relatives after his parents’ death in a road accident.

From making tea each morning to running errands, washing utensils to cleaning the car, Walia writes that his strongest memory of those years was of being constantly hungry. For a few years he was allowed to go to school, but at 13 he had to drop out due to financial strains on the family.

The book describes his meeting with a broker who promised him a job in the capital Delhi. He started off making bicycle parts and then found himself at a carpet weaving factory in Madhya Pradesh. “The room where we worked was poorly lit, unbearably hot and filled with wool dust that would stay suspended in the air,” the book reads.

“I would spend endless hours weaving loose strands of wool into carpets … My hands would chaff and I developed painful blisters.” A chance encounter with an army officer gave him a purpose in life, Walia writes, describing his struggle to get an education and join the army even as he toiled in the factory.

“I would carry my books to the chowk (square) near the factory and study under the streetlight,” he wrote.

The slim book found no publishers for many years, said Walia, who now lives with his wife and son in an upmarket neighbourhood near New Delhi. “But … I was determined to tell my story,” he said. “I was even ready to print it myself and hawk copies at street corners.”

Priced at 199 Indian rupees ($3), Walia hopes the book will be accessible to children working across India. “Every child has a dream, even those forced to work in factories,” he said. “I want to tell them that sometimes dreams to come true.”

By Anuradha Nagaraj, Editing by Ros Russell.

So many companies are shifting their employees to working from home to address the coronavirus pandemic. Yet they’re not considering the potential disasters that might occur as a result of this transition.

An example of this is what one of my coaching clients experienced a few months ago, before the pandemic hit. Pete is a mid-level manager in the software engineering unit of a startup that quickly grew to 400 office-based employees doing Electronic Health Records (EHRs). He was one of the leaders tasked by his company’s senior management team with shifting employees to a work-from-home setup, due to rising rents on their office building.

Specifically, Pete led the team that managed the transition of all 400 employees toward teleworking, as he had previously helped small teams of 3 to 6 people transition to a work-from-home situation in the past. However, the significantly bigger number of people they now had to assist was proving a challenge. So too, was the short amount of time available for this project — only four weeks.

When Pete approached me for advice, I recommended the “Failure-Proofing” strategy; a practical and easy-to-use technique to defend against planning and project disasters.  

Step 1: Imagine that the decision, project, or process failed, and brainstorm reasons for why it failed.

Meet with key stakeholders and discuss your plan. Make sure to provide all the details. Next, ask participants to imagine a future where the plan failed. Doing so empowers everyone, even those who are confident that the plan will succeed, to tap into their creativity and come up with reasons why it failed. 

Each participant should anonymously write out three possible reasons why the plan failed. The reasons should include internal decisions, such as manpower or budget restrictions and external factors, such as new policies set by government agencies. 

Next, the facilitator gathers the statements and discusses the central themes around why the plan failed. The facilitator should highlight reasons that would not usually be raised, had the discussion not been anonymous. If you do this technique yourself, list down separate reasons for the plan’s failure from the perspective of different viewpoints. 

Going back to Pete, he decided to gather a group of six stakeholders — one manager from each of the four departments needing to shift to work-from-home, and one team leader from the two teams that would provide auxiliary support to Pete’s team during the process. He also recruited Ann, a member of the firm’s Advisory Board, to be an independent facilitator.

Ann discussed the current plan, which was to shift all 400 employees to a remote work setup within four weeks. Everything, including business meetings, would be done online after the four-week period. Pete’s team would migrate the employees in batches of 100 employees per week and the records division would be last, giving ample time to convert documents and processes to digital platforms. 

After outlining this plan, everyone submitted their anonymous reasons for failure. Ann read out the responses, which highlighted a key issue: The plan would fail because it wasn’t communicated in a clear and timely manner. Most of the participants raised doubts that management could communicate the idea properly, due to a history of miscommunication within the company. Knowing this fact in advance, prepared everyone to make it a success.

Step 2: Brainstorm ways to fix problems and integrate your ideas into the plan.

Pick several failure scenarios from the exercise above and think of ways to solve them. This should include how to tackle mental blind spots and cognitive biases. Also, present any evidence that indicates that the potential failure is happening, or could happen. For this step, it’s critical to have people with authority in the room. 

The facilitator should write down potential solutions. If you’re going through this step yourself, ask for outside input at this point. 

Circling back to Pete’s discussion group: Mary, an HR manager, took on the task of addressing the communication problem that was identified earlier. She discussed the communication issue around senior management and proposed that they immediately send out a company-wide announcement on the migration to telecommuting and the steps to be taken. 

Then, each senior manager had an in-person meetings with their direct reports in middle management, to get buy-in and ensure that the message passed effectively down the chain of command. In turn, the middle managers met with frontline staff and worked out the next steps for each team.

Step 3: Imagine that the decision, project, or process succeeded spectacularly, brainstorm ways of achieving this outcome, and integrate your ideas into the plan.

We’ve tackled failure, so now, let’s imagine that your plan succeeded superbly! This way, your company can maximize its success. 

Imagine that you are in a future where your plan succeeded beyond your wildest expectations. Ask each participant to anonymously write the possible reasons for the plan’s success. Then, ask the facilitator to focus on the key themes. 

Next, the facilitator gathers everyone’s statements and leads the group in discussing the results. Assess each reason for success and decide which ones need attention. Check for cognitive biases as well. After that, come up with ways of maximizing these reasons for success. 

The facilitator should write down the ideas to maximize the plan’s success. If you’re going through this step yourself, ask for outside input at this point. 

Once again, when Ann read out the statements, there was a key theme: They imagined the plan succeeded because management was responsive to the anxieties and concerns of employees during the transition. To address that, Pete’s team set up a telephone number that staff could text or call, that was always staffed by a member of the group. This gave quick answers to questions from staff.

In short, to prevent work-from-home disasters in this time of transitioning to telework, make sure you imagine failure (and avoid it) and imagine success, too (and maximize it). 

As leaders who aim to solve a diverse range of problems, from poverty to pollution, social entreprenerus are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and help in a time of crisis.

But as the coronavirus spreads rapidly around the world, prompting governments to take huge measures to protect public health and their economies, what sort of a role can social entrepreneurs play? One example is shown above, where a staff member brings bottles of pear and mint alcohol for labelling at Swiss distiller Morand, as the company starts using their fruit alcohol to produce hand sanitizer to meet local demand in Switzerland. We asked experts attending the Skoll World Forum — that was recently held virtually — how social entrepreneurs can help in the battle against COVID-19.

1. MICHELLE AREVALO-CARPENTER | CEO AND CO-FOUNDER OF IMPAQTO IN ECUADOR

“The global pandemic will put purpose-driven businesses to the test: will they abandon their impact during hard times or will they double-down and become examples of resilience? In times of deep crisis comes deep reconsideration about the way we as a society conduct business, so I am placing my bets on the second option: as social businesses, I trust we will show the world that doing well by doing good is the only way forward.”

2. LAURA WEIDMAN POWERS | HEAD OF IMPACT AT ECHOING GREEN IN THE UNITED STATES

“Social entrepreneurs who are proximate to the communities they support have long worked to build a more equitable and inclusive world, making them well-positioned to react nimbly in support of communities marginalized by failing systems throughout this pandemic. Greatly resourcing these leaders is critical to their impact mid-crisis, but it is just as important that this support continues post-pandemic to provide them the runway to rebuild and re-imagine our collective futures.”

3. EMILY BANCROFT | PRESIDENT OF VILLAGEREACH IN THE UNITED STATES

“Social entrepreneurs are a vital link between coordinated, country-level responses and those looking for active ways to help respond. This moment of urgency is forcing new levels of trust and collaboration that will hopefully last. We can’t afford to snap back into business as usual.”

4. SASKIA BRUYSTEN | CEO OF YUNUS SOCIAL BUSINESS

“It’s amazing to see many of our social entrepreneurs adapting their business models – like craft company RangSutra in India now producing masks instead of clothing and fabrics. But as an impact investing community we need to come together to ensure these companies receive short-term liquidity and payroll relief to survive this crisis.”

5. DON GIPS | CEO OF SKOLL FOUNDATION IN THE UNITED STATES

“Social entrepreneurs are already pivoting to more virtual models, embracing remote learning, combating misinformation, providing mental health support, and supporting critical supply chains. Many are stepping up in the fight against COVID-19 by partnering with government in different ways.”

By Sarah Shearman @Shearmans. Editing by Belinda Goldsmith.