Don’t Let a Crisis Define You!
Now can be a time of great benefit if we use it wisely!
Over these last few weeks, I have interacted with some of the senior most executives in a variety of industries from all over the world. As I have listened, three common themes have surfaced that I thought would be a great share with friends of Merlion Partners. The three things are perspective, alternatives and customer.
Perspective
The dictionary definition of perspective is “the art of drawing solid objects on a two-dimensional surface so as to give the right impression of their height, width, depth, and position in relation to each other when viewed from a particular point. I had a good example of this myself recently. As I was agonizing over my retirement plan with all this craziness going on, my retirement fund manager reminded me of the following:
“Nobody knows when and where this will end. But we have confidence the recovery-for our nation, our economy, and the markets-is around the corner. We also know that the S&P 500 Index is 34% below its all-time high (as of the close March 23, 2020) from just over a month ago and is essentially pricing in the full extent of a recession (historical average is -37% in a recession). Though sell-offs are never encouraging, a bright spot is that this one resembles the severity of the market reactions during past severe pandemics. During the unusually deadly influenza outbreak of 1918, stocks dropped 33% before recovering; about 50 years later in 1969, a dangerous flu pandemic drove markets down 36%. Today, ironically another 50 years or so later, markets have declined a similar amount, which brings to mind the famous Mark Twain quote, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
He gave me perspective. Since then, I have almost completely stopped thinking about it.
I asked an executive recently, “what is the single biggest physical oppressor of all mankind?” His answer was “gravity.” We do not wake up each morning worrying about gravity! Why not? Simply because we cannot do anything about it. Remind those we influence that it is better to spend time and energy on things we can control more than on those we cannot. At times like these, leaders must lend perspective to family, their teams, peers, bosses, boards and customers. One of my favorite experts on the topic of performance and perspective is Dr. Alan Watkins. He is currently an Senior Lecturer in Neuroscience and Psychological Medicine at Imperial College, London, He originally qualified as a physician and has a PhD in immunology. His YouTube video link is here on this topic:
This is well worth a listen as it tells us why it is at times we show brilliance and sometimes why we choke. Often it is a physiological cause and that can also be the fix. Let’s pay attention to adding perspective.
Alternatives
Right now, throughout the halls of business, executives are facing serious challenges and the choices they make may have lasting consequences. Be the one to think flexibly. Look for alternatives. Research shows in times of crisis we may be tempted to latch on to the first good idea and run with it. We might even jump to solutions without even taking the time to really define the problem. Studies show that sometimes the more unusual and stressful the situation, the less likely gut instinct or tribal knowledge will work. Push yourself to look for options!
Be thinking now of equally viable alternatives to what you think might be the normal course. Prepare a list of questions that will provoke lateral ways of thinking. Here are some samples:
- What are we solving for? Let’s take some time to really define what we are after.
- If there were no constraints (budget/time), what would your ideal solution/outcome look like?
- What is the worst possible outcome from this course of action from your perspective, and why?
- If we do nothing, where would do we think the organisation would be in 12 months time?
- If you had to articulate our objective in a single short sentence, what would it be?
- Imagine if we fast-forward to 2 years after the implementation of this plan, what will the organisation look like?
- How do you think our competitors will handle this? Do we want to be the same, or different from them?
- What do we think our customers will be doing? What conversations are they having? How can we think of the box to anticipate their needs?
- Is there any other way our business objectives could be met?
Customer
While many are focused internally right now others are actively thinking about their back to customer strategy. How do we show care and concern now and plan for getting back in there as soon as we get the green light. Once it is all clear, it will be too late to think about it as everyone will be trying to meet with your customers. Getting a half step on the competition now could mean a much better position going forward. Some companies are offering to extend payment terms, offering free services or other things they can think of without being asked. Don’t forget to ask them what would be helpful. These are times when you really need to know your customers, their products, their values and their way of doing things and anticipate how to help them now and when things return to normal.
Many executives right now are spending so much time worrying about delayed or cancelled contracts and empty coffers that they are forgetting what really good customer service is. The people who are great at customer service see it as an extraordinary time to demonstrate outstanding customer focus, hence creating loyalty. Now may be opportunity riding a dangerous wind! I saw today a story about a printing company that was using its capabilities to help small businesses, for free, to help them during this severe economic crisis. DoorDash is offering free delivery on Saturdays for local restaurants to help them in this time of crisis. What are you doing to create long-term, deep relationships through this time with your customers?