Crisis Leadership

I missed last week’s posting because my wife and I were celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary. The two weeks since I last shared my thoughts about leadership have seen a tremendous upheaval in global financial markets, including a precipitous decline in the U.S. stock market that has many Americans living in fear about their retirement futures. Coupled with the current housing slump, a slowdown in our economy, and the presidential election cycle there is more uncertainty in our country than many of us have ever experienced.

A crisis begs for strong leadership but what does that really mean or look like? It might be easier to identify what crisis leadership is not. Leading in a crisis is not about affixing blame. While it is always easier to abdicate responsibility by pointing fingers at others, a crisis needs leaders to simply speak the truth, as they currently know it. Even if an answer isn’t apparent, or the pain is difficult to bear, a leader can acknowledge these facts in an empathetic way to begin calming fears. Blaming others only diverts emotional energy and does little to change behaviors.

Leading in a crisis is not about fixing things. Certainly we want our leaders to have answers to the problems we face but no leader has enough intelligence, creativity, or skills to make complex problems disappear. Instead, leaders need to elicit our trust by not over-promising and then under-delivering. When leaders approach a crisis as though they are the only ones who can rescue us from the challenges, then a wealth of ingenuity, innovation, and shared responsibility lodged in the minds and hearts of the people is lost. Employees and citizens must be part of the solution, not viewed as sideline observers.

Crisis leadership has nothing to do with taking credit for a proposed solution, especially if it is successful. Most problems are far too complex to solve by oneself. A leader who collaborates by bringing together experts that know more than he or she does stands a better chance of achieving a sustainable resolution to the issue being addressed. If you must always be recognized for finding the right answer those around you will stop offering their opinions.

What has been missing in this most recent crisis in our nation’s economy is real leadership. The partisan politics, lack of accountability, unwillingness to tell the truth, and inability to gain the trust of our citizens should be a wake up call. Where are the leaders who will sacrifice personal gain for the public good? Who has enough will and moral character to admit they don’t know all the answers? Which of our current presidential candidates has the emotional capital to rally our nation to solve these pressing problems? Is there any leadership at a national, state, or local level who is offering us hope?

I don’t pretend to know the best way to deal with every crisis, especially the financial one we are facing as a nation. Yet I also know that the sky is not falling and the world is not ending. If only our leaders would be braver and smarter than “Chicken Little.” Maybe they should read the story of the “Little Red Hen.”