Leveraging Leadership

Making Critical Leadership Decisions During Major Industry Disruptions

• Emily Sander • Season 1 • Episode 156

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Emily Sander discusses how leaders can make strategic decisions when unexpected events occur, using an example of a project that fell behind due to industry changes. A company leader had to shift focus from their planned initiative to tackle a new urgent industry policy, which Emily explains was a necessary strategic adjustment, not a failure. She emphasizes that changing plans in response to significant changes is a sign of good leadership.


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Who Am I?

If we haven’t yet before - Hi👋 I’m Emily, Chief of Staff turned Executive Leadership Coach. After a thrilling ride up the corporate ladder, I’m focusing on what I love - working with people to realize their professional and personal goals. Through my videos here on this channel, books, podcast guest spots, and newsletter, I share new ideas and practical and tactical tools to help you be more productive and build the career and life you want. 


Time Stamps:

00:00 Introduction: A Frustrated Leader
00:48 Unexpected Industry Changes
01:04 Strategic Focus Shift
01:25 Reframing the Situation
01:59 The Importance of Plans
02:06 Adapting to Major Events
02:11 Making Strategic Adjustments
02:50 Communicating with the Team
03:09 Preparing for the Board Meeting
03:23 Addressing Long-Term Strategy
03:33 Leadership in Crisis
04:01 Conclusion: Leveraging Leadership

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I was just talking to someone and they were very upset and very frustrated that they were not as far along on this one initiative, this one ongoing project they had set out on their annual plan. They didn't, they did, you know, yearly planning and I was supposed to be this far Emily and I fell behind a little bit and then I fell behind a lot and now it's totally off the rails and this huge. Event just took place at the company. So, um, an unexpected change had happened in the industry. So some legislation, some policy had come down and it had substantially like game changed the industry. And so she had to switch all of her focus to making sure this was not going to sink her company. And her teams, team members were freaking out and all these things were happening with different players across the industry. And she was really upset that I'm, I'm not, I'm getting further and further behind on this thing. And I jumped in and I said, you're not getting further behind on this initiative. You've made a strategic decision to adjust your focus and attend to this matter. And that just, I could see it kind of reframe. Oh, okay. Like, okay. When you say it like that, like when you put it like that, and I'm like, yeah, because look, if we flip it, we can say, all right, what, what if you gave the time and attention that was planned for this initiative, which was increasing time and attention, so she was going to be spending more and more time on this initiative, what if you were doing that and you didn't attend? This major crater that just came into orbit in your industry. And she was like, no, like, no, absolutely not. that would be weird. That would, that would not show well on you as a leader. So There's a couple of things going on here. First of all, make plans. Plans are great. Plans are like direction. We've thought through this, we're thoughtful. All those things are great. Plans change. You make a plan and you know, the plan's going to change. The second thing is know when to deviate from the plan and when to make that strategic adjustment and not, if you're like at every little like wiggle and shadow and shimmer, like I'm going to switch all the things to the plan, then you've got a different problem. That's like the opposite problem. But this was like a legit, like any. Anybody even outside the industry would understand like an average person and a reasonable person off the street. If you explained the situation would be like, uh, that one, you should attend to that one right now. So it was one of, it was one of those things, but just saying you're not falling further and further behind. You're making a strategic leadership decision to adjust and adapt over here. And that just, I could tell it made her feel better and she was able to go to her team with a more clear, more calm. Message and she also had a board meeting the next week that just happened to fall in that timeline and we talked through look, you don't have to like, don't feel don't feel you need to address this initiative. They're probably going to wonder what you're doing about this major event that just happened and you don't even have to have slides prepared this thing just. came down the pike. Just speak to how you're addressing this with the team and what's happening on the fly right now. And then if you get to it, share some of your thoughts and ideas about how this might affect the long term strategy and road map and what might need to be adjusted and tweaked. Um, going forward. So I just wanted to share that because a lot of us run into the, like, we have a plan, we're trying to make progress on things, and then something unexpected happens, we try to do it all. And, um, in a lot of cases, it's no, my job right now as a leader is to actually say, we need to shift our focus and I'm going to shift and adapt my attention Over here. And that can be a, not only a perfectly valid answer, but it's a good decision by a leader. It's a, it's a mark of a good leader. But I just wanted to share that in case it's coming up for you or someone on your team. So hopefully that helps. And I will catch you next week on leveraging leadership.