Aired on April 15, 2020 on Mornings with Carmen, Bill English and Carmen LeBerge discuss the Dark Side of Personality as well as how leaders can lead (as opposed to merely manage) during a crisis. This HBR article is referenced.
Here are the show notes:
Leading through crisis: 3 main points
Negative tendency: In a word: Narrow: you’ll tend to take a narrow view of things – focus solely or primarily on the danger
Leading: in a word: Broad: Pull-back – look at mid-ground and back-ground – take a broad, holistic view of the situation – find opportunities in the challenges and focus proper energy/cycles on those things
Current Example: President and Congress focus on 2 things: economy and health. A holistic view would include the natural tendencies of people, our individualism and how we’ll respond over time to a shut down like this.
Negative tendency: Present Focus: Getting seduced into managing – making important decisions quickly – can lead to an adrenaline rush
Leading: Long View: Take the long view as opposed to the present view – anticipate what is likely to happen a month or year from now – prepare your organization for the coming changes
Current Example: No one knows how Covid will change our culture. Gather thought leaders – influencers – have them look at this problem and track changes in trends.
Negative tendency: Take Control or Micro-Manage: over-centralizing your response – taking too much control due to the increase of risk and ambiguity – fall into the trap of trying to control everything
Leading: Create Order and Predictability; Focus on Collaboration and Process: Seek order rather than control. Determine which decisions you, the leader, must make and delegate everything else
Current example: Trump saying that it is his decisions as to when to open up the economy again. He should be seeking order rather than control. Work with the governors, companies, agencies, health care professionals – get everyone on the same page – collaborate – don’t micro-control