Integrity - Economy’s No. 1 Concern
When the dust settles from COVID-19, our actions today will dictate our performance and success tomorrow.
As the public and private sectors make decisions every day to address the constantly changing nature of this crisis, what should be front and center in executive thinking and planning, is how our decisions now, will shape the future.
When our economy, businesses of all sizes, emerge on the other side of this crisis, the path forward both individually and collectively, will be determined by the decisions, actions and executive leadership during this period of uncertainty.
The fear is that as businesses are forced to alter their operations for survival, they take drastic measures, cease communications, and go dark on suppliers, vendors and even employees.
If this happens, leaders who ignore the importance of communication are going to have a much bigger problems when business returns to a level of normalcy. In fact, West Monroe’s March 19-20 poll of 150 C-suite executives showed their No. 1 concern is the unpredictable behavior of partners, employees, and clients in this environment characterized by layoffs, supply chain disruption, and burning through cash reserves.
Why is this time so important for the chief executive? Amid the uncertainty, the temptation emerges: to slam on the brakes, to stop work on every project, and even to halt normal business operations. That is the worst thing any of CEO could do right now and will have grave consequences on the economy, as well as upstream and downstream ecosystem partners.
It’s one thing to make necessary decisions like cutting discretionary spending or halting travel due to government restrictions. But it’s another to violate the etiquette of a partnership ecosystem built over decades on shared value contributions, but even more so on trust, respect, and communication.
This economic crisis is not just about how executives weather the storm financially, but how they demonstrate integrity by keeping business partnerships and relationships sound and secure.
For our capitalistic society, that means a selfless responsibility and commitment to transparency and communication with all stakeholders. Each of stakeholder group, and the broader ecosystem of partnerships, deserves your best attention during this crisis.
A bull-run market has the ability to hide a lot of flaws—and with an 11-year bull run, these flaws have been overshadowed by the flow of cash and growth. A crisis exposes flaws—in your business model, your portfolio of products and services, the company's value chain, culture and values, and relationships. Now is the time to review your businesses strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT Analysis). Find the flaws that could contribute to a downfall and remove them from your future business model. Remember, everyone who holds a stakeholder position in your business, depends on you for selfless leadership.
How executives make decisions across all aspects of business continuity in the coming months will determine long-term success—and the ability of others in your ecosystem to survive the crisis.
While defensive self-preservation of the business is critically important, you must increase transparency and communication during this crisis, so as to avoid any significant erosion in your ecosystem that could very quickly turn into “everyone for themselves.”
It is human nature to be cautious during times of uncertainty— we are seeing people stock up on household goods, due to the normal human instinct of not knowing “what’s to come.” America has become the “empire of toilet paper.” Caution is one thing, but if we all cocoon for weeks on end, it will be too late to develop a reaction plan.
Stay home and be safe? Absolutely. But now more than ever, the business communities that make up the U.S. economy, need each other as an ecosystem of collaboration so everyone can emerge from this crisis on the right trajectory with as little damage to stakeholders and ecosystems as possible.
Some businesses are going to thrive during this time because their goods and services are just what the world needs right now. From food delivery services to cleaning products to medical supplies and video conferencing, there are players in the value chain that may actually have the problem of excess demand.
For those companies, it’s more important than ever that they are good leaders. Many others, however, will struggle to survive. Regardless of which side you’re on, your organization will be tested. Many C-level executives have already made tough decisions that are contrary to their corporate values, and the crisis has not yet reached its peak.
Times of difficulty make us better. This crisis will be a test for us all. It is also a time to work overtime to make the emerging future better for businesses, for our culture and society. Executives have a responsibility to protect and sustain the value they have built.
Communicate, empathize, and come up with win-win scenarios in the face of this seemingly no-win situation.
