“May you live in interesting times,” said British diplomat Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen amid the political and social upheaval of the Great Depression. Knatchbull-Hugessen did not mean to be taken in a hopeful sense. Indeed, while the origins of the saying are a bit hazy, most scholars believe it’s a rough translation of a much older Chinese curse, a sort of warning to “be careful what you wish for.” We don’t choose the times we’re born into, interesting or otherwise. But if we wish to leave the world better than we found it, we must rise to the occasion, no matter the challenges. In this article, we will discuss the challenges of leadership, and how you can get your company through challenging times.
People like David Miscavige, leader of the Scientology religion, offer clear and compelling examples of this meeting of the moment. Over more than four decades leading his faith, Miscavige has confronted challenges large and small, often driven by forces much bigger than him or the organization he leads. He — and many others in similar roles — show it’s possible to lead creatively and decisively in trying times.
If you’re wondering how best to position your own teams for the difficulties ahead, consider implementing these six creative ideas.
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Enforce a Return-to-Work Policy (Where Practical)
A whopping 90% of companies surveyed by a leading human resources service provider in 2024 said they planned to return their workers to in-person status by the end of 2025.
If your organization has not yet developed plans to return to in-person work, consider doing so, assuming it remains practical. Despite conflicting data on whether remote or in-person employees are more productive, it seems clear that in-person teams are more cohesive and effective in high-pressure situations. “Challenging times” are, by definition, “high-pressure,” hence the RTO imperative.
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Rebuild Teams Around Functional “Nodes”
Is your organization overly hierarchical? Siloed? Cloistered?
Hierarchy is useful as far as it goes; the military has a rigid chain of command for good reason. However, organizations that swell during periods of rapid growth often develop redundant layers of bureaucracy that later “sag” when growth stalls or even reverses. Excising the excess is much more difficult than avoiding it in the first place, as it involves difficult decisions about which personnel (or entire teams) to keep and which to jettison.
Nevertheless, there comes a time when such pain is unavoidable. Take the opportunity to rebuild the internal structure of your organization around smaller, highly functional “nodes” rather than larger, artificially delineated departments. Each node should have a flat reporting structure and focus on specific goals and objectives, the better to measure and manage their work.
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Thin Your Middle Management Ranks (Without Losing Core Talent)
This may happen naturally if and when your “nodal” reorientation comes to pass. However, if you’re not quite ready to restructure your organization so radically and you find bureaucratic “sag” to be a drag on overall performance, focus on culling the ranks of middle management.
This does not necessarily mean laying off middle managers en masse. It can mean parting ways with underperformers while reducing or eliminating supervisory roles for others and consolidating supervision among a smaller number of core performers. This may cause some attrition among the middle group while (it’s hoped) retaining the very best.
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Schedule “Show and Tell Days”
Unleash your inner child, at least temporarily, with weekly or monthly “show and tell days” for your employees.
These sessions give rank-and-file employees, or team leads, a chance to show off whatever exciting, interesting or useful thing they’ve been working on lately. They’re also a chance for individuals and teams to educate colleagues in other parts of the organization about what they do. By broadening internal visibility into others’ workdays, your “show and tell” project could help improve communication, understanding and synergies in ways difficult to predict in advance.
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Rotate Employees Within Complementary Roles
“You can’t teach an old dog new tricks,” the old saying goes. You can, however, offer a change of scenery while keeping their roles more or less constant.
Workers tend to be more engaged when they feel activated by their jobs, and most respond well to good-faith efforts to keep things “fresh.” At the same time, you don’t want to put people in uncomfortable situations or set them up to fail, so it’s important to be fully transparent about your plans to rotate employees laterally.
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Embrace Your Version of Google’s Legendary “20% Rule”
Google’s famed 20% rule, where employees were empowered to spend 20% of their at-work time pursuing pet projects so long as they followed company directives the remaining 80% of the time and shared the “spoils” with Google, has existed only in name for many years. The technology industry has grown far more competitive since the early 2000s, alas.
You probably do not want to lose 20% of your employees’ productive time overnight to pet projects. You might as well go down to a four-day workweek — or so you think.
But why not 3%? 5%? A few hours per week can still produce unexpected results for your organization while keeping your employees happier and more engaged than otherwise. Even if no breakthroughs result, the retention savings alone might justify the experiment.
Final Thoughts on Leadership
Some leaders appear to relish the challenges inherent in “living in interesting times.” They embrace uncertainty, lean into risk, and make bold decisions seemingly without reservation.
That’s why “the biggest risk is risk aversion,” leadership expert Christina Minshull argues.
But other leaders are not like this. They are more risk-averse and deliberate in their decision-making. They clearly have not asked to live in interesting times.
Both types of leaders can find success when it matters most, however. Those who do so tend to be the ones who implement creative strategies in response to novel challenges for which the past offers no clear guide. Such action may not come naturally to the more risk-averse among them, but it comes all the same.
Wherever you find yourself on the leadership spectrum, you can do the same if given the opportunity.
