Learn How
Why Leadership Matters More Than Ever
Phase 4:
Business Unusual
Inventing new ways to operate and lead while waiting for a vaccine
Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Learn How
Whatever catchy title we give it — “The New Normal” or “Today’s Reality” — the pandemic has created permanent changes in the way we work and lead. Supply chains built for absolute efficiency may no longer make sense. Telemedicine and telesales, once derided, are becoming standard. A workspace doesn’t necessarily include physical space.
If the virus continues to spread, these radical shifts may need to go much further.
In the meantime, companies are inventing new ways to operate and lead. Some will last; others will fade away. In the meantime, discussions around race and inequity are leading to other changes in the workplace. Here’s what our ongoing conversations with more than 1,000 C-suite leaders have revealed so far.
More than ever, we believe a leader cannot be successful during this time without utilizing both the “being” and “doing” aspects of their role. Read on for our insights on how these methods of leadership connect.
Doing and Being
Doing
Being
The actions a leader takes. Making the operating decisions about keeping an organization running, such as hiring and layoffs, workplace safety, finances, and more.
The human side of leadership. The essence of who you are and how you connect with and motivate others.
Rethink talent
Doing
Doing and Being
Being
Being
Incorporate diversity and diverse thinking into all decisions, understanding that the way you previously evaluated leadership may no longer work.
Give high potential and emerging leaders needed resources and more attention, particularly if you are changing their responsibilities.
“During crises like this pandemic, you often see the best and the worst in people. We’ve asked ourselves, is there ‘an adversity quotient’ we should be looking for in our future executives?”
Dig Deeper
Houston HR Leaders Look Ahead at Implications of the Covid-19 Crisis
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The value of sales forces and other roles will shift as companies revamp business travel. At the same time, new leadership needs are emerging, such as the ability to manage remotely. Employers need ways to measure new skills and a process to reassign or retrain talented team members.
With an economic crisis underway and many careers dependent on physical meetings paused, companies must redeploy and retrain talent.
“Managing a remote workforce is now a critical skill and has required a mindset change for some leaders on what a productive day looks like. They must be thoughtful about different ways to engage with and develop their teams.”
Redesign compensation systems to reflect the “lost year” and create incentives to succeed under duress.
Doing
Doing and Being
Prioritize ESG and set real goals tied to action
Doing
Doing and being
Being
Define digital leadership
Doing
Doing and Being
Being
Being
Leaders must become fluent, or at least conversant, in the technology they are managing.
Dig Deeper
COVID-19 Gives Us the License to Fully Embrace a Digital Culture
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Read More
Doing and Being
Create accepted measurements of success in a digital environment. Elevate smart digital thinkers with emotional intelligence to positions of power.
The pandemic caused resistance to digitalization to fall in a matter of days. But what was an ad-hoc response must now become a formal part of leadership.
Doing
Dig Deeper
Eight Things CTOs Think Have Changed Forever
Read More
Reconceptualize the digital workplace, with new definitions of cybersecurity and productivity and develop processes for things such as remote audits.
Dig Deeper
Eight Things CTOs Think Have Changed Forever
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“Survivors will be more digitally native.”
Restructure
Doing
Doing and Being
Being
Being
Be empathetic and clear about changing priorities, which threatens the confidence, and sometimes the careers, of many people.
Mourn, but act. Particularly where company survival is an issue, tough choices must be made now. Do not promise what you cannot deliver, and do not offer false hope.
Doing and Being
Lean supply chains were good for profits, but many failed in this crisis. It may be time to build in redundancy once again.
Doing
“We have had such massive disruption that there will need to be guard rails for the supply chain.”
Being
“People will remember what companies did in this crisis.”
Empty statements can be harmful right now. Leaders must act with authenticity and speak from the heart or risk rejection by a sophisticated customer base that can identify “green-washing.”
“Happy, clappy engagement surveys are not going to cut it anymore. Investors and asset owners in particular are going to push companies to go beyond carbon reduction and focus on an issue that has not been front and center in most companies’ minds – talent.”
The Sustainability Agenda: More Important—and More Valued—Than Ever
Read More
Doing and being
Move from thinking about sustainability, diversity, and stakeholder rights to putting true metrics in place to measure performance—with consequences for leaders if they aren’t met.
In a climate of turmoil, ESG (environmental, social, governance) has become a “must do.”
Doing
Reconsider efficiency
Read more back-to-business insights
Read more
back-to-business insights
Creating Opportunities While Weathering a Crisis
‘Don’t Let the Urgent Crowd Out the Important’
In Conversation with Ümran Beba, Chief Global Diversity and Engagement Officer of PepsiCo
A Generation of Medicines at Risk
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How leaders and organizations are navigating a new reality
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Phase 1
Phase 2
Phase 3
Phase 4
Phase 3
Doing and Being
Doing and Being
Phase 3
Phase 3
Read all of our Covid-19 insights from leaders across geographies, industries and functions.
Egon Zehnder can help you lead through crises.
Learn more
Learn more
“We can be connected virtually, but do we truly engage, impact and influence across virtual channels?”
— Houston-based HR leader
— U.S.-based chief sustainability officer
— Sustainability leader
— Technology company CTO
— Chief Technology Officer
— Sustainability leader
Dig Deeper
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Doing
Being
Next: Being
Previous: Being
Doing
Doing and Being
Being
Being
Doing and Being
Doing
Next: Being
Next: Doing and being
Doing
Doing and Being
Being
Being
Doing and Being
Doing
Next: Being
Doing
Doing and Being
Being
Being
Doing and Being
Doing
Next: Being
Next: Doing and being
Next: Doing and being
Previous: Being
Previous: Being
Previous: Being
Doing and Being
Doing and Being
Doing and Being
Redesign compensation systems to reflect the “lost year” and create incentives to succeed under duress.
“Managing a remote workforce is now a critical skill and has required a mindset change for some leaders on what a productive day looks like. They must be thoughtful about different ways to engage with and develop their teams.”
— Texas-based CHRO
Dig Deeper
Leading Through the Coronavirus Crisis
Read More
Read More
Read More
“People will remember what companies did in this crisis.”
Leaders must believe in ESG and support it publicly, signaling that they value it as much as—or more than—typical business metrics.
Reconceptualize the digital workplace, with new definitions of cybersecurity and productivity. Develop processes for things such as remote audits.
“We’re using this opportunity to develop and drive a new multi-channel business model, very much focused on increased digital and remote services.”
— Jean Pierre Mustier, Group CEO, UniCredit
COVID-19 has demonstrated that how we use technology is as important as what it does.
Leaders consistently emphasize how much their priorities have changed. Now, with financial pressure intensified, it’s time to restructure.
— Sustainability leader
Redesign the customer experience
Shopping may never be the same. Online or hybrid interactions may determine a business’s survival and the entire user experience must be reconsidered.
“The human factor comes as the most critical criterion during these times.”
Connect with the customer. Brand experiences may be as much about emotional as physical connections.
Mourn, but act. Particularly where company survival is an issue, tough choices must be made now. Do not promise what you cannot deliver, and do not offer false hope.
Risk and Opportunity: Healthcare Leaders in Asia Reflect on Post COVID-19 Recovery
Read More
Read More
The Sustainability Agenda: More Important—and More Valued—
Than Ever
Read More
Read More
A New Lens for a New Normal:
Assessing Leadership in a Time of Transformation
Read More
Read More
Being and Doing
How the COVID-19 Crisis Has Humanized Leadership
Being and Doing
How the COVID-19 Crisis Has Humanized Leadership
Phase 1
The Emergency Unfolds
Phase 1
The Emergency Unfolds
Phase 2
Managing During the Crisis
Phase 2
Managing During the Crisis
Phase 3
The Slow Restart
Phase 4
Business Unusual
Phase 4
Condimentum vitae sapien pellentesque habitant morbi
Phase 3
The Slow Restart
Phase 3
Phase 2
Phase 1
Doing and Being
— Sustainability leader
— Texas-based CHRO
— Technology company CTO
— Chief Technology Officer
Take a hard look at scenario planning. Most companies had it, but they didn't anticipate a global crisis.
Rethink scenario planning
— Ümran Beba, former chief global
diversity and engagement officer, PepsiCo
Learn more about Egon Zehnder's restructuring expertise.
“During crises like this pandemic, you often see the best and the worst in people. We’ve asked ourselves, is there ‘an adversity quotient’ we should be looking for in our future executives?”
— Houston-based HR leader
Dig Deeper
Houston HR Leaders Look Ahead at Implications of the Covid-19 Crisis
Read More
Next: Doing and being
Incorporate diversity and diverse thinking into all decisions, understanding that the way you previously evaluated leadership may no longer work
Dig Deeper
Leading Through the Coronavirus Crisis
Read More
Leaders must believe in ESG and support it publicly, signaling that they value it as much as—or more than—typical business metrics
“We’re using this opportunity to develop and drive a new multi-channel business model, very much focused on increased digital and remote services.”
— Jean Pierre Mustier, Group CEO, UniCredit
COVID-19 has demonstrated that how we use technology is as important as what it does.
Leaders consistently emphasized how much their priorities had changed. Now, with financial pressure intensified, it’s time to restructure.
Leaders consistently emphasized how much their priorities had changed. Now, with financial pressure intensified, it’s time to restructure.
Reconsider efficiency
Lean supply chains were good for profits, but many failed in this crisis. It may be time to build in redundancy once again
Rethink scenario planning
Take a hard look at scenario planning. Most companies had it, but they didn't anticipate a global crisis.
“The human factor comes as the most critical criterion during these times.”
— Ümran Beba, former chief global
diversity and engagement officer,
Pepsico
Connect with the customer. Brand experiences may be as much about emotional as physical connections.
Risk and Opportunity: Healthcare Leaders in Asia Reflect on Post COVID-19 Recovery
Read More
The Sustainability Agenda: More Important—and More Valued— Than Ever
Read More
A New Lens for a New Normal:
Assessing Leadership in a Time of Transformation
Read More
Learn more about Egon Zehnder's restructuring expertise.
Phase 4
Phase 4
Doing and Being
Doing and Being
Phase 1
The Emergency Unfolds
Phase 1
The Emergency Unfolds
Phase 2
Managing During the Crisis
Phase 2
Managing During the Crisis
Phase 3
The Slow Restart
Phase 3
The Slow Restart
Phase 4
Business Unusual
Phase 4
Business Unusual
Doing and Being
Phase 1: The Emergency Unfolds
Phase 2: Managing During the Crisis
Phase 3: The Slow Restart
Phase 4: Business Unusual
Content Lead: Jennifer Reingold, Cheryl Soltis Martel | Digital Project Leads: Luke Sherwin, Kelsey McGillis | Communication Strategy: Stacy Drumtra