foresight Leading Through Turbulent
Economic Times
I
BY JEREMY THUKU
It is during the time of adversity that the real character of a man can be known. Martin Luther King, Jr. quips “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.� I could not agree more with Martin Luther, particularly concerning leadership in times of economic crisis. Great leaders have overcome adversity whether in the economic, social or political arena while poor leaders have dithered. During the 9/11 attacks in the United States, President George W. Bush navigated through one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in the globe and rallied all the nations of the world behind him in the fight against terrorism. On November 6, 2001 President Bush made a clarion call; “Y ou're either with us or against us in the fight against terror" albeit being considered dictatorial this affirmed the mind of a leader. Ideally, Bush demonstrated that calm and confidence could be adopted in time of crisis. Winston Churchill is perhaps the most reckoned leader who described one of the best leadership skills in a time of crisis. World War II was devastating Britain but rather than cry foul, Churchill rallied the Tories, the Britons and everyone shaping the Allied war strategy. They supported his course going down as one of the most celebrated leader in the 20th century. Both Bush and Winston showed how leaders could lead in time of crisis. There is no handout there that provides guidelines on how to deal with the crisis because each crisis uniquely presents itself. During the time of economic crisis, recession rules; jobs are lost, share prices dip, currencies lose their value, stock market crashes, firms struggle to stay afloat and purchasing power parity declines. It is the time of economic
10 I Inversk Magazine I OCTOBER 2020
trough. When a crisis happens, a leader has little or no time to make effective preparations. More so, a crisis does not have a timeline, and it may persist than expected. Currently, as the world battles covid-19, no one knows how long this will go on. Hope is the only thing that remains in a man. The Enron scandal in which one of the largest global audit firms namely Anderson, collapsed shocked the financial world. It became magnum opus in the audit study. The leaders of Enron became embroiled in the wrongdoing. Despite many assurances by Kenneth Lay, the founder and the CEO of Enron about the
comeback of the firm, it did not pull through. It demonstrated how flawed leadership could exacerbate a crisis. Kenneth Lay felt a powerful sense of entitlement. According to Peter Elkind and Bethany McLean, the authors of The Smartest Guy in the Room, Kenneth Lay considered himself very visionary. In the time of crisis, he continued to receive millions a year in compensation from the firm. He further took loans from the company for personal consumption. Lay continued to give contracts and jobs to family members and used corporate jets in time of crisis. Even his counterpart Jeff Skilling who had joined
