In a crisis, leaders need to see the world as is, not how they wish it to be

TechNexus CEO Terry Howerton sat down with former Cisco CEO John Chambers to discuss navigating the COVID crisis. Chambers' candid advice: leaders who survive are the ones who see the world as it actually is, not how they wish it to be — and act decisively on that reality.

As we seek to understand what the current crisis means for our businesses in the short- and long-term, many have turned to past recessions and financial crises to find a road-map. Recently, Terry Howerton, CEO of TechNexus, had a chance to chat with John Chambers, former CEO of Cisco , to discuss the crisis we’re in and how we should be responding to it. In that discussion, John shared lessons learned from leading Cisco through half a dozen down-turns and disruptions. One comment really resonated with me — “See and deal with the world as it is, not how you wish it to be” . The full quote from that conversation: That pragmatism served Cisco well during his tenure — they anticipated the Great Recession (as well as its nadir) and took steps to prepare for it, despite on-going criticism . By viewing the world as it was and not just hoping the bull market would continue, Cisco was able to prepare for and take advantage of the situation. The onset of the current crisis has been dramatically faster than the Great Recession and other past downturns. Most leaders find themselves in reaction mode — start-ups, small companies, and large corporations are slowing burn rates, seeking bridge financing, and exploring every option to stay afloat during this time. With the benefit of hindsight, we can now see there were initial signals that were either largely ignored or simply didn’t know what to do with the information. Many governments around the world, at all levels and political alignments, were alerted as early as January about the potential crisis that could materialize in the coming months . Instead of aggressively mobilizing a robust response they squandered their time advantage. They viewed the world as they hoped and wanted it to be, under-utilizing the time available to prepare for the coming crisis. Why did so many governments, companies, and people fail to see things as clearly as they could have? It’s impossible to say for certain but it’s likely that multiple fallacie

By Andrew Loulousis at TechNexus Venture Collaborative