What the World Needs Now is Courageous Leadership | Accelerate Success with Lorraine Moore

We need leadership now as much as ever. Stand strong.

I reside most of the year in Calgary, Canada. Recently, when speaking with CEOs in the province, I encountered greater pessimism than usual. The pessimism related to office vacancy, changes to post-secondary education and healthcare, minimal capital investment, slower growth, etc. I work across North America and spent much of my life in Ontario; I find Alberta CEOs to generally have a greater risk tolerance, a strong entrepreneurial bent and a “never say die” mentality. I equate the overriding pessimism of late to a prolonged downturn in the oil and gas industry, the flight of international investment and other factors.

It is in these times that I place an even higher value on my global travel and work with executives in every industry. Systemic and fundamental shifts are happening not just in Calgary and not just in Alberta. When we spend too much time in one market, whatever that market is, we lose some perspective and, thus, some of our edge.

Oracle is undergoing a global retrenchment, including reducing its Chinese workforce by ~1000 people. Reductions are also being made in North American cities. Online shopping is transforming retail businesses. What is the future of large shopping malls and their many tenants? Bed Bath & Beyond, Ten Thousand Villages, Carlton Cards and Papyrus card stores are closing across North America. The costs of education are under siege from government and students are demanding more from post-secondary institutions. Baby boomers are aging, living longer and demanding more from their health care providers, contributing to cracks in the health care systems in Canada and the US, and impending changes.

We live in cycles. We encounter change as our children mature, as our financial situation improves or worsens, as our relationships change, and as we, our friends and parents, age. The demands on us ebb and flow. Sometimes they are predictable, and at times they are not.

Similarly, economies change. During the Great Depression, Rockefeller and others protested high taxes. In the 1930s, Sir Harry Oakes, moved his business to the Bahamas, as the Canadian government was going to tax him so heavily on his wealth. He and his family had provided considerable community support to their adopted city of Niagara Falls. The city lost that philanthropic support with their departure. This sounds a lot like 2019 in some Canadian cities.

In 2008 and 2009, the global financial crisis profoundly affected many Americans. In Canada, individual and institutional investors saw the value of their portfolios plummet. However, Canadians did not experience the same degree of job loss or the housing crisis experienced by the US.

When I was a teenager, I dated the son of a wealthy auto executive. They were good people. They led a rather charmed life on the outskirts of Detroit. Fast forward to 2010 and Detroit was an unsafe and scary place to live. Yet two years ago, the son of one of my clients announced that upon graduating summa cum laude, he wanted to move to Detroit, not Silicon Valley, as that was where all the “interesting work was happening.”

We are in leadership roles because people need direction, humility, vision, pragmatism, hope, courage, and someone to make the difficult decisions, with empathy. Leadership is not that crucial when government and business are high fiving each other, or when the world economy and trade are firing on all cylinders.

The directors, CEOs and executives I work with thrive on solving problems and facing challenges – until those problems feel intractable or are unlike anything they have faced before. That is when their management team, customers and employees can most benefit from their steady hand and cool head.

This will improve. It always has, and it always will. And one of the greatest drivers of that improvement has always been and will be – the thoughtful decisions and actions of true leaders – those with the title and those without.

Elevate your leadership performance by learning from some of the best. Pick up a copy of my book, The 360 Degree CEO: Generating Profits While Leading and Living with Passion and Principles available on Amazon.

My clients accelerate their results – increasing profitability, leadership performance, innovation, and accountability. I would love to discuss how I might contribute to your success. Contact me today.

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