Hit the road Positive leadership for troubled times - ICAEW

FINANCE & MANAGEMENT
When the going
gets tough…
Difficult times demand a specific
kind of leadership. Here Bob Seelert
of Saatchi & Saatchi describes the
five key steps for business success
in the current climate
I
n 2009 I wrote a book comprising
94 business stories and the
lessons they had taught me in my
career as chief executive of companies in
three separate industries.
The book, Start With The
Answer (John Wiley &
Sons, £16.99,
startwiththeanswer.com),
came out as the economy
was being gripped by
a financial crisis and
slipping into recession.
Accordingly, I swiftly
reviewed the 94 stories,
and based on their
collective input, I wrote
what could have been the 95th story –
entitled Ten Things To Do When Leading
in Tough Times. These ‘ten things’
represented a road map for navigating
through the troubled waters, and we put
them to good use at Saatchi & Saatchi.
Now, three years later, there has been
some improvement in certain aspects of
the worldwide economy, but there has
been deterioration in other factors.
Today’s environment is characterised by
low growth, high unemployment,
unsustainable entitlement programmes,
suffocating levels of debt, dysfunctional
“We believe we
are living in a
VUCA world
– Volatile,
Uncertain,
Complex, and
Ambiguous”
governments, concerns about currency,
and continuing volatility in the Middle
East. At Saatchi & Saatchi, we believe we
are living in a VUCA world – Volatile,
Uncertain, Complex, and
Ambiguous. What one sees,
hears, and thinks today
could turn out to be
dramatically different
tomorrow. These are times
when companies have to be
prepared for anything.
Simply put, five of the ‘ten
things’ that were appropriate
following the financial crisis
remain highly relevant for
managers today. They are:
1 GET THE UGLY TRUTH OUT ON
THE TABLE
It’s essential that companies ‘get the ugly
truth out on the table’. The order of the
day described above represents a factual
assessment. Economies in most of the
western world are not buoyant, and
significant negative issues have the
potential to make things even worse.
Anyone who thinks they can predict the
next 12 months with certainty is simply
deluding themselves. Therefore, it is a
time when one needs to be prepared to ‘go
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MAY 2012 FINANCE & MANAGEMENT