The 10 Tenets of Good
Leadership in Bad Times
Tom Blodgett
ACS Commercial
The 10 Tenets of Good Leadership in Bad Times
What today’s innovators are saying about the characteristics required
Being a good leader can be challenging even when times are good. When times are tough, it
becomes even more difficult to lead well, as Joe Purzycki, COO of Barclaycard, knows.
The global economic crisis that exploded in September 2008 left nowhere to hide for the
most recognized credit card company in the U.K., which has more than 23 million customers
worldwide. Yet Barclaycard delivered a strong income and profit performance in 1H09 despite
the crisis and an increasingly hostile regulatory environment.
How did they do it?
In large part, its success can be attributed to following Purzycki’s seven tenets of effective
leadership during a downturn. Other leaders interviewed by ACS echoed key sentiments from
his list and added a few of their own.
Will this list surprise you? Likely not. Is it useful to be reminded? Absolutely!
#1 Stay positive
“The first tenet,” observes Purzycki, “which sounds fairly elementary, is that you’ve got to stay
positive. As leaders you can’t let the negative news predominate, whether it’s Oprah Winfrey or
Suze Orman talking about problems in the credit card business. You’ve got to turn those things
into positives for your colleagues and remind them of all the good things we do.”
#2 Have a clear and compelling vision
“When everybody is worried about whether we’re going to make our numbers,” Purzycki says,
“you’ve got to show people your vision on a regular basis and tell them it hasn’t changed and
we’re going to be successful.”
Derrell James, ACS Group President, IT Outsourcing Solutions, observes that sticking with your
vision in difficult times is important. He says, “The leadership attribute needed to survive and
thrive in uncertain times is endurance – a ‘no quit’ attitude. These times have happened before
and they will go away. Companies that have a vision, a strategy – the patience to stick with it
and continue to do the right things – will thrive.”
#3 Be seen and heard
“This is my Number One rule for my direct reports – be seen and be heard,” Purzycki
emphasizes. “I want my top managers to walk the floors. I want them to keep their doors open.
In tough times it’s important that the leadership is visible to the folks in the trenches.”
#4 Be decisive
“Give your people decisive actions so they can move forward,” adds Purzycki. “If people are
wavering and leaders can’t make a decision, you’ve got to go when you have 80% of the
information required to make a decision – don’t wait until you get to 100%.”
Yet Frank Hauck, executive vice president, EMC Corporation, notes that decisive leadership
doesn’t mean ignoring feedback or never making adjustments. “Strong leaders have to show
confidence – that they have a game plan that’s well thought out, well established, and that
people can rally around…but what a strong leader also does is ensure they have enough
feedback mechanisms so they can make adjustments if things don’t go right.”
#5 Make smart sacrifices
“What most companies do when things get really bad is to cut their costs,” Purzycki notes.
“While we’ve got to hold costs down, one of the sacrifices we don’t want to make is around
people. We don’t want to stop recruiting great people and bringing good people on. The smart
sacrifices involve things such as inefficient processes.”
#6 Keep an intense focus on your customers
Barclaycard’s global CEO Anthony Jenkins challenged his team to become more efficient
but to keep the customer at the forefront of every decision. “In this critical time, we think
there’s opportunity to deepen customer loyalty. So we are putting a greater focus on those
interactions. Every time we re-engineer processes, we ask ourselves how this makes the lives
of our customers better,” says Purzycki. Barclaycard achieved this in part by becoming more
lenient in practices that directly impacted their customers and by simplifying customer
interactions wherever feasible.
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The 10 Tenets of Good Leadership in Bad Times
#7 Appreciate the most important resource – your colleagues
“Nothing gets done and you have no chance of success if you don’t have great colleagues who
are highly motivated.” In the downturn, Barclaycard invested more time and money educating
its colleagues, especially those at their contact centers, which it views as the window into the
company. It gave these employees the resources to help customers navigate this difficult time
with more convenience.
#8 Be flexible
Peter Allen, former partner and managing director, TPI, believes the ability to be agile and flex
with circumstances is a critical trait for leaders now. He says, “I think the key leadership trait
that will determine the winners from the losers is having a truly open mind about how work
can be done differently, how people can be engaged differently, and how the integrity of the
business processes can be maintained through different delivery models.”
#9 Be proactive
Ann Vezina, Group President, ACS Enterprise Solutions and Services, says, “Leaders who are
proactive, who saw the recession coming and got out in front of it, who started taking the
necessary actions at an early stage, will survive and thrive. They started talking to us about
reducing costs through outsourcing and getting non-core functions off their balance sheets
early on.”
#10 Take risks
Lora Villarreal, ACS Chief People Officer, observes, “Being a good leader includes being a risk
taker, being flexible and adaptable. You have to be a visionary and think outside the box. When
we interview for senior positions at ACS, those are the qualities we look for.”
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