I came across this wonderful poem about 35 years ago and it has haunted me ever since.

I’ve been incredibly lucky to have a few friends who are like this. Re-reading it today makes me realise that you don’t need to have many people that you really trust in your life to be very rich indeed! This is “Mapping Beauty” (my Core Process) at its very best. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

What is a friend?
C. Raymond Beran

I will tell you – It is a person with whom you dare to be yourself
Your soul can be naked with him
He seems to ask of you to put on nothing, only to be what you are

He does not want you to be better or worse
When you are with him, you feel as a prisoner feels who has been declared innocent
You do not have to be on your guard
You can say what you think, so long as it is genuinely you
He understands those contradictions in your nature that lead others to misjudge you
With him you breath freely
You can avow your little vanities and envies and hates and vicious sparks,
your meannesses and absurdities and, in opening them up to him,
they are lost,dissolved on the white ocean of his loyalty

He understands – You do not have to be careful
You can abuse him, neglect him, tolerate him
Best of all, you can keep still with him – It makes no matter
He likes you, he is like fire that purges you to the bone
He understands
You can weep with him, sing with him, laugh with him, pray with him
Through it all, and underneath, he sees, knows, and loves you

A friend? Just one, I repeat, with whom you dare to be yourself.

Ambition is good. It drives us forward and stretches us so that we take on new ideas and experiment. It makes us do things. It makes us grow as people and those benefits accrue to the company we work for.

But what happens to an organisation whose leader(s) lacks ambition? This can occur when the company makes enough profit to satisfy the earthly needs of the major shareholders or when the effort to play on a bigger stage is considered to be a step too far (i.e. too frightening). The status quo is a safe haven.

This all too common phenomenon can have some serious drawbacks for employees and the economy as a whole. Innovation suffers as great ideas are discussed and then discarded (as in “put it on the back burner for now”). The effect on staff moral is huge if they see this happening. Most people, if they are honest, want to work for a “go getter” company. It’s cool, it’s fun and it gives you great bragging rights to your friends. How many people want to talk about their work if they think they are in a deadbeat company?

So if you are ambitious and find yourself working for such a company what happens? You’d get demotivated pretty quickly wouldn’t you? What’s the point of suggesting new ideas when you know they’re never going to see the light of day? So you either put up with it (unlikely, unless all your earthly needs and more are met) or you look for new challenges elsewhere. And this is where the economy as a whole can suffer. We need innovation spread across the whole economy in lots of company and not grouped into a few. This increases competition which increases innovation which increase competition and so on. All the while the economy benefits as the amount of business being carried out in the market increase along with the confidence that this brings. If also leads to an increase in tax revenue to fund social programmes etc.

As we enter what is being talked of as one of the worst recessions ever, lack of ambition will hurt us all even more.

So how do we lead in these situations? For me there are 6 points to consider:

1. Have Vision
   This is important at the best of times, but at the worst, it become critical. Articulating your vision to your employees allows them to perform in an atmosphere of confidence. If they feel that you know where the company is going and that they are involved in this journey, they will be more inclined to roll their sleeves up, to give you the discretionary effort which can be the difference between success and failure. Keep them abreast of developments, good and bad. Make them feel a valued member of your team. Get this right and they will walk through the proverbial brick wall for you.
2. Understand Your Shortcomings
   This is in both yourself and your team. In good times, we tend not to think about our own weaknesses. In bad, they can really hurt you. Now is a good time to work out what your people need to do to improve their skill sets with coaching and/or training courses. Brainstorming meetings with employees you rate can kick start innovation.
3. Nurture Your Employees
   Your top performers are less affected by market downturns than others because they are the most mobile and confident. To hang on to them they must feel part of your team. Get creative in how you make them feel like this: increase their professional development, think about their reward structure etc etc. However don’t neglect everyone else. If they perceive the top dogs getting more than they do, it will quickly breed resentment which can undo all the good work you’ve done elsewhere.
4. Empower People
   This is about trusting your team. Delegate to them and allow them to make strategic changes without asking permission if they think it is in the best interests of the firm. In bad times, speed of decision-making is crucial.
5. Don’t Cut the Marketing Budget
   This is one of my biggest concerns with clients as they don’t seem to see the obvious flaw in this logic. In order to survive, you need to sell. When the market it poor, your sales drop. So you need to find new sales channels. How can you do this if you cut the marketing budget? I’ve always felt that there is a strong argument to be made for actually increasing the marketing budget in a slump. But one thing you must do is “sweat” your budget. Get the most “bang for buck” by putting pressure on your PR company, advertising agency etc. This can easily be sweetened by paying them a performance related bonus – a real “win win” in this market.
6. Be Brave, Be Creative
   When the going gets tough, you need to look at every aspect of your business including things which you hold dear. Nothing can be sacrosanct. Remember this is about survival so everything can and must change if it helps in this regard. If it doesn’t help, think about whether it is actually necessary at all. If it adds to your costs, kill it. A healthy does of realism makes it much easier to be brave – and creative!

You will note that I have hardly mentioned costs in the list above. Indeed several of the points will increase your cost base in the short run (training, coaching etc.). Many companies won’t have a lot of cost they can strip out as they have outsourced in the past and can use the Internet for much of their workflow. Ironically cutting costs can bring about the very recession we fear. If I cut costs, my suppliers get squeezed so they cut costs which in turn squeezes their suppliers. And so it goes on. This takes liquidity out of the marketplace and it is liquidity, not interest rates, which determines how people feel. If your mortgage rate goes up, but you have money in your pocket, you don’t feel too bad. But remove the cash element and you quickly feel upset.

Being a leader in times of trouble is what seperates the successful from the failures. It is hard to do emotionally as you won’t get much time just to be, but it will pay off believe me.