Know Where You Are in the Arc of Your Career

Every leader’s success depends upon the effectiveness of the team surrounding them. Growth requires a leadership team to disagree productively on issues of substance and develop an appetite for understanding the external environment.

It’s important for a CEO to be self-aware about how to drive these priorities based on where they are in their tenure.

Outside-in Thinking, for example, is easier for an experienced CEO. Few would disagree with the importance of looking outward for new growth ideas. Crisis is a time for benchmarking against peers and competitors.

“The risk, especially for a new CEO, is that you don’t want to look vulnerable, while asking the many questions necessary to understand the external environment in which you’re operating,” says Fetter. “The instinct during a crisis is to turn inward. Meanwhile, the right reaction is to look outward to trusted advisors in your ecosystem.” He suggests selecting advisors with whom a CEO feels they have a level of trust and confidentiality.

Fetter’s Advice

• Form a kitchen cabinet. Consider not telling the members that kitchen cabinet exists.
• Develop a confidential relationship with your predecessor.
• Develop relationships with CEOs in different industries. They’re also living the CEO role and are a rich source of unexpected insight.
• Extend your kitchen cabinet to the board. Pick a director who has both your trust and respect as a confidant.

Encouraging Idea Conflict is harder early in a CEO’s tenure. Leaders with a growth mindset actively seek debate around new ideas. Fetter suggests this can be difficult to achieve early in a CEO’s tenure when one doesn’t yet feel they have the kind of relationship to encourage conflict within the leadership team. He stresses the importance of being intentional about building those relationships at an individual level.

Fetter’s Advice

• Find insiders who you value and who are confident in their own positions, such as your CFO, General Counsel, or Head of Investor Relations.
• Have a direct conversation asking for their unvarnished opinion on an issue. Specifically, request that they criticize your position.
• Recognize that your first reaction to being challenged will be defensiveness. Get comfortable with choosing not to react accordingly.
• When conflict over ideas arises, make a point to defend the employee who speaks up. 

Fetter emphasizes the importance of being clear that productive conflict is expected. For example, in one case he articulated to one of his direct reports, “You have a cloak of immunity” when it comes to offering criticism. 

Break the Habits of Unhealthy Culture

Two of the most crippling cultural habits are "yes culture" and "explanation culture." While making leadership changes is one approach to addressing these issues, it’s the CEO’s responsibility to break the bad habits that can pervade an unhealthy culture. 

“There’s Nothing More Damaging than ‘Yes Culture,’” says Fetter. This culture is the flip side of one that embraces idea conflict. He adds that “Many people surround themselves with a growth mindset in a stasis culture, second guess those views, and then look for ways to say ‘We told you so.’” Fetter adds, “If you find yourself giving your opinions rather than asking questions, you’re likely encouraging ‘yes culture.’” 

Fetter’s Advice

• You are your own final line of defense against "yes culture."
• Reflect on how much time you spend expressing your views versus asking others for theirs.
• Be explicit that "yes culture" is not tolerated (see Encouraging Idea Conflict).
• Don’t start a meeting with your own opinion. That is highly likely to get you a “yes.”
• The simple act of asking “What do you think?” is a powerful tool.

Closely Tied to Yes Culture: “Explanation Culture,” which is marked by leaders whose first reaction is to explain why something didn’t happen rather than sharing their solution. Fetter adds that explanation culture is a companion to “We’re already doing that” culture. During times of crisis and times of growth, explanation culture is a significant obstacle to acknowledging challenges and finding solutions.

Fetter’s Advice

• Breaking explanation culture begins with the board suggesting that management break through and look at the world differently. As a board member, keep that in mind.
• Carefully choose the altitude at which meetings take place. Too high and nothing gets done; too low and you’re inviting in-the-weeds explanations.
• Ask big picture, open-ended questions that force solutions thinking rather than yes or no questions.
• How you frame a suggestion can make all the difference. Fetter notes a colleague who would preface suggestions with, “I’m sure you’ve already thought of this …”

Build a Reservoir of Goodwill During Crisis

Maintaining a positive attitude during times of crisis is crucial to rallying the organization. The risk is going too far in projecting optimism, crossing the line into “happy talk.” Fetter suggests that staying moored in reality while conveying optimism is critical to building the reservoir of goodwill needed when asking people to do hard things during a crisis as opposed to asking them to do more hard things when pivoting to growth mode.

Fetter’s Advice

• Demonstrate an awareness of the current situation and empathy with what employees are facing as a result.
• Identify and communicate a few things that worked pre-crisis, but do not work now.
• Emphasize and give tangible meaning to your core values.
• Commit to being as transparent as possible and always truthful.