Skip to Main Content
HBS Home
  • About
  • Academic Programs
  • Alumni
  • Faculty & Research
  • Baker Library
  • Giving
  • Harvard Business Review
  • Initiatives
  • News
  • Recruit
  • Map / Directions
Working Knowledge
Business Research for Business Leaders
  • Browse All Articles
  • Popular Articles
  • Cold Call Podcasts
  • About Us
  • Leadership
  • Marketing
  • Finance
  • Management
  • Entrepreneurship
  • All Topics...
  • Topics
    • COVID-19
    • Entrepreneurship
    • Finance
    • Gender
    • Globalization
    • Leadership
    • Management
    • Negotiation
    • Social Enterprise
    • Strategy
  • Sections
    • Book
    • Cold Call Podcast
    • HBS Case
    • In Practice
    • Lessons from the Classroom
    • Op-Ed
    • Research & Ideas
    • Research Event
    • Sharpening Your Skills
    • What Do You Think?
    • Working Paper Summaries
  • Browse All
    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      7 Leadership Principles for Managing in the Time of Coronavirus
      Research & Ideas
      7 Leadership Principles for Managing in the Time of Coronavirus
      26 Mar 2020Research & Ideas

      7 Leadership Principles for Managing in the Time of Coronavirus

      by John A. Quelch
      26 Mar 2020|by John A. Quelch
      Leaders managing their organizations through crisis show seven distinctive capabilities, says John A. Quelch. Call them the seven Cs.
      LinkedIn
      Email

      I want to share with you my 7 Cs for coronavirus survival if you’re a manager or a leader. This message is also available on video.

      1. Calm. Your folks, your employees, your customers, your suppliers, are going to be looking to you as a leader to project a sense of calm through this difficult, uncertain situation.

      2. Confidence. You have to be calm, but not still-water calm. You have to project confidence that you’re going to be able to see this through successfully, with a minimum amount of hurt to the company, but also to all of the stakeholders who are relying on your leadership to get them through the difficult days and months ahead.

      3. Communication. You have to relentlessly communicate, communicate, communicate. This is to avoid rumors developing that muddy the waters. But when I’m talking about communication, I’m also talking about a strategy for communication. You need a sense of order in which to communicate decisions and priorities, but also have rapid communication to the entire body of constituents—not delays over hours or days or, even worse, weeks. Silence is absolutely the worst possible thing that you allow to happen, because that’s when the rumor mill develops.

      4. Collaboration. You are not going to know all the answers; no one expects you to. This is a time for you to call on the resources, the capabilities of all of your employees, all of your team members, and bring them together in taskforces, sub-taskforces, and potentially have a role for everyone in which they feel they can contribute to overcoming the uncertainty, overcoming the crisis. Engaging employees in this way will also reduce that rumor mill, give confidence to them that they will then project in turn to the people who are relying on them as their managers for direction.
      5. Community. All of us live in communities. Our factories are in communities, our colleges and universities are in communities. We are leading by example, not just within our organizations, but within our broader communities. And especially since we’re talking here about an infectious virus, it’s extremely important that we set an example, model behaviors that are community friendly and supportive.

      6. Compassion is extremely important at this time. We may rise to the occasion if we’re fortunate to have a good team around us, but there are many people in our organizations who are depending upon us, who are not necessarily that resilient. And they need to be given the compassion to express their concerns. So, think of someone in your organization who has elderly parents in a fragile state of health. They’re going to be doubly concerned about relatives at this time when the virus is potentially affecting the most vulnerable and medically challenged in our communities. If they want time off, if they want to work from home, if they need to have a little bit of space to look after their family members, please consider giving that to them. Compassion at a time of crisis is a very important manifestation of leadership.

      7. Cash. The most obvious commercial C of the 7 Cs is Cash. Cash is king at a time of crisis, and everything needs to be done to look both short term and long term at the financial health of the organization. After all, your employees, suppliers, and customers are depending upon you to lead, not just emotionally but also prudently with respect to the long-term finances of the organization. Whatever you can do to conserve cash is going to be critical, because that’s what’s going to determine whether your employees are going to be paid next week.

      About the Author

      John Quelch is the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at Harvad Business School and Dean of the University of Miami Herbert Business School.

      [Image: stevecoleimages]



      THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

      More Business-Related Pandemic Coverage from Around Harvard and Beyond

    • How to Manage Coronavirus Layoffs with Compassion (Harvard Business Review)
    • Organizational Responses to COVID-19 and Climate Change: A Conversation with Rebecca Henderson (Environmental Insights)
      • COVID-19 Business Impact Center (Harvard Business School)

      Read COVID-19 coverage from Working Knowledge


      Related Reading

      • These Coronavirus Heroes Show Us How Crisis Leadership Works
      • Five Leaders Forged in Crisis, and What We Can Learn From Them
      • How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

      In a crisis, what do great leaders do differently?

      Share your insights below.

      Post A Comment
      In order to be published, comments must be on-topic and civil in tone, with no name calling or personal attacks. Your comment may be edited for clarity and length.
        Trending
          • 29 Oct 2020
          • Research & Ideas

          The COVID Gender Gap: Why Fewer Women Are Dying

          • 13 Jul 2020
          • Research & Ideas

          Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

          • 11 Jan 2021
          • Research & Ideas

          Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

          • 17 Feb 2020
          • Sharpening Your Skills

          How Entrepreneurs Can Find the Right Problem to Solve

          • 13 Jan 2021
          • Research & Ideas

          How 'Small C' Change Can Beat Large-Scale Rebuilding

      John A. Quelch
      John A. Quelch
      Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus
      Contact
      Send an email
      → More Articles
      Find Related Articles
      • COVID-19
      • Leadership
      • Health Pandemics
      • Crisis Management
      • Health

      Sign up for our weekly newsletter

      Interested in improving your business? Learn about fresh research and ideas from Harvard Business School faculty.
      ǁ
      Campus Map
      Harvard Business School Working Knowledge
      Baker Library | Bloomberg Center
      Soldiers Field
      Boston, MA 02163
      Email: Editor-in-Chief
      →Map & Directions
      →More Contact Information
      • Make a Gift
      • Site Map
      • Jobs
      • Harvard University
      • Trademarks
      • Policies
      • Digital Accessibility
      Copyright © President & Fellows of Harvard College