A 'Both/And' Leadership Challenge During Coronavirus Crisis: Deal With Now And Plan For Tomorrow

Learn more about what to do today to survive--pause or barrel through the crisis--and come out intact for a recovery ahead.

By John McManus

JP Morgan Chase ceo Jamie Dimon has his view, as expressed in his annual letter to shareholders:

“We don’t know exactly what the future will hold — but at a minimum, we assume that it will include a bad recession combined with some kind of financial stress similar to the global financial crisis of 2008,” Dimon said in his annual shareholders letter. “Our bank cannot be immune to the effects of this kind of stress.”

What we do know is that the moment for leaders--of small, medium-sized, and big businesses in the real estate, construction, development, investment, manufacturing, and distribution community--is a "both/and" moment. Even as cash preservation is the primary gestalt, what comes next, down the back-part of the novel coronavirus infection rate curve, is no less crucial. Clark Ellis, principal and co-founder at Continuum Advisory Group, speaks of a need for "ambidextrous leadership," a management system that prioritizes focus on dealing with the now, and planning for tomorrow, equally and simultaneously.