FINANCE & MANAGEMENT When <strong>the</strong> going gets tough… Difficult <strong>times</strong> demand a specific kind of <strong>leadership</strong>. Here Bob Seelert of Saatchi & Saatchi describes <strong>the</strong> five key steps <strong>for</strong> business success in <strong>the</strong> current climate I n 2009 I wrote a book comprising 94 business stories and <strong>the</strong> lessons <strong>the</strong>y 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, startwith<strong>the</strong>answer.com), came out as <strong>the</strong> economy was being gripped by a financial crisis and slipping into recession. Accordingly, I swiftly reviewed <strong>the</strong> 94 stories, and based on <strong>the</strong>ir collective input, I wrote what could have been <strong>the</strong> 95th story – entitled Ten Things To Do When Leading in Tough Times. These ‘ten things’ represented a <strong>road</strong> map <strong>for</strong> navigating through <strong>the</strong> <strong>troubled</strong> waters, and we put <strong>the</strong>m to good use at Saatchi & Saatchi. Now, three years later, <strong>the</strong>re has been some improvement in certain aspects of <strong>the</strong> worldwide economy, but <strong>the</strong>re has been deterioration in o<strong>the</strong>r 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 <strong>the</strong> 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 <strong>times</strong> when companies have to be prepared <strong>for</strong> anything. Simply put, five of <strong>the</strong> ‘ten things’ that were appropriate following <strong>the</strong> financial crisis remain highly relevant <strong>for</strong> managers today. They are: 1 GET THE UGLY TRUTH OUT ON THE TABLE It’s essential that companies ‘get <strong>the</strong> ugly truth out on <strong>the</strong> table’. The order of <strong>the</strong> day described above represents a factual assessment. Economies in most of <strong>the</strong> western world are not buoyant, and significant negative issues have <strong>the</strong> potential to make things even worse. Anyone who thinks <strong>the</strong>y can predict <strong>the</strong> next 12 months with certainty is simply deluding <strong>the</strong>mselves. There<strong>for</strong>e, it is a time when one needs to be prepared to ‘go 18 MAY 2012 FINANCE & MANAGEMENT
COVER STORY ROSE BLAKE FINANCE & MANAGEMENT MAY 2012 19