A Conversation With Business Legend John Chambers On Brand Leadership In Times Of Crisis

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My number one piece of advice is to have a replicable crisis management playbook that has been effective before and that you can adjust to your current strategy.

Within that replicable playbook, the first step should always be don't hide – be visible, be transparent. Do not be afraid when you have to say, “I don't know,” if you don't know something. This is where your credibility is so important. You’ve got to know what you know and know what you don't know.

Number three would be outlining the three, five, seven major programs or platforms you're going to use to get through this crisis. The best leaders will paint a picture of what the company looks like twelve or eighteen months out and map out a plan of how to get people to that North Star. That's super helpful and not surprisingly, you set up many of the other questions that I have for you. Everyone is rightfully focused now on supply chain issues.

What this means is, even though every company is slamming on the brakes, cutting expenses and freezing key opportunities, CX is an area that is still very hot, and I think it will continue to be throughout the crisis and onward. Another area I'd love to explore is before the crisis, CMOs and the new class of marketing executives like CXOs, CGO's and CRO’s, were all being tasked with more responsibility and working more closely with the CEO than ever before.

CEOs will also lean more on marketing leaders, as crises tee up a chance to establish a brand that is a leader. If you look at what Cisco did during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, most high-tech companies pulled out of the region but we did the reverse. We doubled down and sent one of our best sales leaders into the region. As a result, a year later, we were number one in brand and in market share in every major Asian country.

 

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In a crisis, only the medium and large business units survive.

was it you guys/ladies/submarinecommanders who did a piece on RichardBranson being a great boss to work for because he gave his immediate staff flexible working arrangments... or a degree of self autonomy in their work/life balance ? asking for several thousand friends 😈😊😇

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