Business leaders that build company value learn from the tough times
Early in my career, I had a boss say to me that the experience that truly separates strong leaders from weak ones relates to the storms that have been navigated. Her comment was that many leaders are just fine when everything is running smoothly, but when a problem hits the business or the entire industry, the really good leaders don't hide under their desks. They have the confidence to step up and lead effectively. And in so doing, they protect and even build the current value or net worth of their company and know how to build a future euphoric exit valuation for ownership.
COVID-19 is separating strong leaders from weak ones. And the strong ones look around them to see where there are more junior executives in their career and see a crisis like this as an opportunity to help them develop and grow from the experience to be gained. As the owner or CEO of your business, ask yourself the following question. Do I have key managers on my team that I could broaden their responsibility now, and provide them an opportunity to grow in their experience as a result of this crisis? Could you put them on a particular project, give them a particular challenge, expand their authority, any steps that can expand their horizons and their experience? There will be another crisis, whether specific to your business, your industry or perhaps of a global nature and you want to have an even stronger team around you then.
As the expression goes...don't let a good crisis go to waste. Although there is much that is bad that occurs during a crisis, identify where you can create some good. And a key area of creating good is within the development of your organization. And doing so is enabling the value or worth creation of your company which at the end of the day, is your highest priority as the owner/CEO.