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substantive place that brings more experts and
office space and relying on a WeWork space. It also meant
functions into addressing the crisis,” he says. “You
adopting new technology—Slack and cloud-based services—
need to have more hands on deck.”
to stay in touch and share documents.
But it shouldn’t be a mindless delegation of
Hughes says the firm will emerge from the pandemic
“Part of being a good leader is to encourage everyone to speak up and
let them know they have forums where they can express their opinions,”
he says.
Tangirala has extensively studied how organizations can create
authority, says Chen. Each level of leadership has
more efficient and able to spend less money on
cultures where employees have agency to bring their whole self to work.
a role to play.
face-to-face meetings. Prior to the pandemic, he
He has found that when employees are given opportunities to share their
Chen’s past research looked at U.S. Army units—
was spending at least 200 days a year traveling to see
which often work in crisis situations—finding it
especially important that upper-level leaders, such
clients. “But with Zoom and virtual meetings becoming
provide important emotional support.
But, says Chen, good leadership still starts at the top.
“The leadership that people exhibit at the top sets the stage for the
leadership that is possible and likely at lower levels,” Chen says. “That’s
true for ethics, where if you have an ethical leader at the top, you’re less
likely to have bad apples within the company. Same thing about creating
The Black Lives Matter movement that surged in May and
June, sparking introspection for firms scarred with inequality,
exacted no toll or cultural shift at Relentless. “I go to work with my
fist raised every day,” says Hughes, whose clients and whose team of 60
all are Black.
“We’ve been walking the walk and talking the talk forever. But being
Black in America shouldn’t be this exhausting.”
If anything, the social crisis swirling at other organizations has brought
empowering systems. If you have a leader at the top who is open to
Hughes’ team closer together, inspiring deep conversations about race
bringing in talent and sharing advice with other leaders, then leaders
and belonging.
below are also more likely to follow suit.”
helps organizations innovate, correct problems and evolve.
the norm, we’ll cut a lot of costs on travel, for sure.”
as company commanders, provide direction-setting
while lower-level noncommissioned officers
thoughts and ideas, it leads to greater professional satisfaction. It also
That closeness is helping his team weather the other storms.
He worries about the uncertainties of the pandemic and its potential
INTO THE STORM
K.J. Hughes ’14, EMBA ’20, saw a crisis on the horizon in February.
Hughes is the founder and managing partner of Washington, D.C.based Relentless Management Group, which provides tax planning
and business management for professional athletes, entertainers
and other celebrities.
When a musician’s huge March gig was cancelled with no talk of
SETTING THE COURSE
rescheduling, Hughes and his team quickly huddled to discuss how to
meet client needs as sports and entertainment came to a standstill.
A swift decision to defer fees, indefinitely, “felt right,” he says. “And we
To navigate a crisis, leaders must quickly assess and make sense of a
situation, says management professor Gilad Chen, the Robert H. Smith
Chair in Organizational Behavior. Next they must set direction, a clear
path through the crisis. And throughout, they must provide unwavering
support and empathy for the people they lead. “You need to make sense
of it, and know where you’re going,” he says.
Speed and a leader’s conceptual skills—the ability to look at where
the world is going and shift in that direction—are particularly important,
impacts, especially when it comes to his young daughters, one of whom
has cerebral palsy. But he’s determined to keep moving forward.
“It’s what I would say to every leader: Be scared, be vulnerable, but also
use that to fuel the changes that you know are necessary and make sure
that you support those around you, those that you’re leading, with the
proper emotional, physical and financial support.”
That’s what he’s focused on for now.
“My fear is not going to force me into inaction or denial. That is where
“During a crisis, whether it’s about the Black Lives Matter movement
we have to be really strategic as leaders and let it be known that we may
or COVID-19, employees often cannot separate out personal anxieties
not have the answers, but the reason why we lead, and the reason why
from work anxieties,” says Tangirala. “They need to feel that the
we’re good at it, is because we are going to figure this shit out.”
organization is a place where they can express those anxieties and, in
expressing them, find that the organization will do things to help them
haven’t lost one client.”
Addressing the internal needs of the organization was more
challenging, says Hughes. “We were not set up for remote work,” he
says. “We’re still dealing with it.” That means rotating use of the
ROW TOGETHER:
CREATE SPACE TO SPEAK
In a crisis, an open work culture, where employees feel able to voice
navigate this.”
In times of turmoil, Tangirala says, people want to talk about what’s
happening and what challenges they’re facing, without feeling pressure
to compartmentalize their “professional” and “personal” identities.
How their employers respond makes a difference. When workers feel
their opinions, is the ideal, says Subra Tangirala, the Dean’s Professor
that their organization cares for them and is willing to take action on
of Management.
things they care about, they want to contribute more. “They want to be
good citizens for organizations,” Tangirala says. “They do the right things
Chen says.
“If you can make sense of where things are going and align your
company so that you’re in the right place, then you’ll adapt quite well.
You may even thrive.”
But no leader can handle everything themselves, he says. The most
effective leaders are the ones who create a system of leadership.
“Part of it is empowering leaders at lower levels and creating a
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rhsmith-editor@umd.edu
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