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for organizations, they become good ambassadors for the organization
They also are looking at new ways to address race,
to the outside world, and overall, they can help an organization navigate
social justice and equality. They are rethinking the way
a crisis.”
Leaders at every level can create a speak-up culture.
they hire, how they deploy capital, and what they can do
by reaching out to them and giving them the authority and agency to
differently, specifically around diversity and inclusion.
make and implement decisions can foster engagement and collaboration
Her advice to leaders now: Understand what kind of
“Managers at every level have a sphere of influence and can make
During crises, while the instinct might be to consolidate decisionmaking authority, leaning on employees and lower-level managers more
and allay fears, Venkataramani says.
leader you are.
a difference, especially with people who are reporting to them,” says
“There are some people that run toward a crisis and
Tangirala. “They can, in their own ways, provide opportunities for their
thrive in a crisis. If that’s in your leadership DNA, this is
employees to share their opinions and concerns about how events in the
the time to lean in—rise, do what you can do.”
external environment are impacting them.”
And remind yourself to be tough and nimble, she says.
“Go through the what-ifs, because you need the resiliency
AN EVEN KEEL TO WEATHER
THE STORMS
to fight, but you also need to be able to quickly pivot.
Crises don’t follow a map.”
The last cascading global crisis leaders had to navigate was the 2008-
FAIR WINDS, FOLLOWING SEAS,
AND STEADY AT THE HELM
09 financial crisis, when banks’ risk-taking caught up with them and the
subprime mortgage market cratered, leading to a global financial collapse,
a housing market meltdown and a devastating recession.
Phyllis Caldwell ’81, MBA ’87, started her day then the way she does
now, practicing yoga to stay grounded. Only these days, the executive in
residence at Smith does it at home with her iPad.
During the mortgage crisis, Caldwell led the U.S. Department of
Treasury’s program to keep people in their homes under the Troubled
Asset Relief Program (TARP). Caldwell was appointed by President
Barack Obama in 2009 as chief of the Homeownership Preservation
Office, assigned to implement the mortgage modification and
foreclosure prevention programs with TARP funds. She had
previously spent 20 years in banking, often dealing with smaller crises.
It was her “resiliency training” for the big test of the financial crisis.
“You had unemployment, you had a foreclosure crisis, you had
under-capitalized financial institutions, and you had lack of consumer
confidence—all at once,” she says.
She built a team and invented roles for them, responding to evolving
demands. She had nearly 70 people at the Treasury Department, and
a few thousand more at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. “It really was
consequential and important work at a critical time. That is a natural
motivator for people to take these kinds of jobs, including me,” she says.
“Everybody was working until 11 o’clock at night and coming back in at 7
in the morning.”
Although the program faced intense criticism—government bailouts
were deeply unpopular—it’s now largely recognized for helping stabilize
the financial sector and the economy.
“What’s unique about this crisis is it’s so many crises at once,”
says Caldwell, whose current portfolio has several non-executive
appointments, including board chair of Ocwen Financial Corporation,
a publicly traded non-bank mortgage servicer. “And while the current
health, economic and social crises are connected, they are also siloed.
In times like these, some people shut down and feel stressed, others
lead through it.”
Today’s business leaders are rethinking everything—their business
plans, revenue streams, overhead and, after months of remote work,
their physical footprint. “They are reimagining the workplace, not just
Guiding an organization through rough seas is easier when a
leader has strong relationships, inside and outside the workplace.
It’s those ties—with colleagues, fellow leaders, and even family
and friends—that can help a leader understand what people at all
levels of their organization really need, develop the best approach to
get through a crisis, and keep their head where it needs to be to lead,
“Especially in times of crisis, leaders need to provide inspiration for
says Vijaya Venkataramani, who studies the impact of leaders’ informal
employees to see opportunities in everything,” she says. “When we are in
social relationships and their impact on their teams.
the middle of a crisis, they need to be shown that they have many more
In her research, Venkataramani has found that when leaders have
inherent resources and skills that could be leveraged in such situations. It
strong ties to colleagues, even in an informal social context, it makes
is when our ingrained ways of doing things are disrupted that creativity
everyone more committed to the organization, more satisfied with the
and innovation ensue. An important job of a leader in such situations is to
work they are doing, and more engaged.
provide employees at all levels the confidence to go to places they’ve not
been before.”
"It is when our ingrained ways of doing things are
disrupted that creativity and innovation ensue.
An important job of a leader in such situations is to
provide employees at all levels the confidence to go
to places they’ve not been before ."
–Vijaya Venkataramani
In times of uncertainty, Venkataramani advises that leaders check in
frequently with people at all levels by creating a network of influencers
Leaders also need to take care of themselves, says Venkataramani.
And that’s where leaning on others becomes so important.
“As stress and uncertainty build up during a crisis, it is easy to lose one’s
ability to remain levelheaded and to exercise good judgment. It is in such
situations that their social ties to colleagues, family members and the
community at large can be particularly beneficial.”
With the right mix of quick-thinking, course-charting, empathy,
listening and relying on others, leaders can do more than just keep their
heads above water. They can guide their organizations through to the
other side of this storm, intact or even stronger. /CH/
in different work groups, rather than relying solely on information
flowing through the formal organizational structure. Ties to the frontline are especially crucial to get an accurate, current picture of what is
happening on the ground.
chopping up the desk space and returning to normal,” she says.
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fall 2020
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SMITH BUSINESS
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