Business Leaders Share Thoughts, Experiences On Leadership During The Recession

UNIVERSITY PARK, PA (June 11, 2009) – A new white paper by leadership consultant and Smeal College of Business professor Albert Vicere highlights recent interviews he conducted with nine business and thought leaders about how they and their organizations are managing the challenges and opportunities presented by the recession.

"Surviving the Terrible Two(thousand)s: A Participant’s Guide" offers concise and insightful advice for, and from, business leaders guiding their organizations through these lean economic times. The paper outlines their experiences dealing with the economic crisis and shares potential upsides identified by each of the nine interviewees.

"It's scary at the moment," writes Vicere, executive education professor of strategic leadership at Smeal. "Most of us never foresaw the depth and the breadth of this economic trough. The reality of the problem is underestimated. There's not likely to be a meaningful recovery until 2010. It's ultimately a failure of leadership. But it's a great time to reinvent a company."

That opening paragraph is culled from Vicere's conversations and generally sums up the thoughts of these nine business leaders:

• Samuel Beiler, president and CEO of Auntie Anne’s Inc.
  
• Joe Cavinato, executive director of the Institute for Supply Management's Center for Strategic Supply Leadership
• Craig Damos, CEO of The Weitz Company
• Henry Givray, CEO of SmithBucklin
• Christina Gold, CEO of Western Union
• Robert Joyce, chairman and CEO of The Westfield Group
• Sean Rush, president and CEO of JA Worldwide, Inc. 
• Ed Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods
• James Thomas, dean of Penn State's Smeal College of Business
  

The rest of Vicere's six-page summation of his conversations with these thought leaders includes insights on how their organizations are handling the downturn; ideas for leveraging the recession to transform organizations; and leadership advice for executives navigating their organizations through the economic turbulence.

Vicere uses these interviews to cull together five key perspectives for organizational leaders who want to turn the economic crisis into a force for positive change:

• Look Out: Focus intently on developments external to your organization—social trends, economic shifts, technological innovations, etc.—and consider them when making critical business decisions.
• Look Around: Be aware of your competitors’ reactions to these trends.
• Look in the Mirror: Take an active and personal approach to leadership in order to inspire, energize, and deploy your leadership teams.
• Look to Your Team: Build and rebuild your leadership teams by finding the right people and getting those people in the right places.
• Call for Action: Frame new targets, new goals, and new levels of achievement to define your organization’s future.
  

A copy of Vicere's complete white paper is available online here.