Industry Viewpoint: Leading from the living room – The Produce News

by Nick Pasculli | May 08, 2020

These have been a long six weeks. With all my employees working from home, it has certainly challenged my leadership skills. Now more than ever, I am so grateful I graduated from the California Agricultural Leadership Program (albeit 20 years ago) and the Cornell University Executive Leadership Program as I believe I gained important skills that I am relying on to guide my company and my team.

While sugar coating things is never very useful from a business perspective, the tone to strike during a crisis is one of optimism balanced with realism. It does not matter if you lead a small team of five or a large team of 500, we are all facing challenges that are unique to this crisis. With most of our state, country and world sheltering-in- place, this is a rare moment when the entire planet is having a collective shared experience.

Here are some ideas that you may find helpful in adjusting to a new normal as we find ourselves leading from our living rooms, kitchens or home offices.

At this moment in our collective history, blind optimism is irresponsible, as is heavy negativity. The tone to strike with our teams during the crisis is one of optimism balanced with realism. This situation we find ourselves in will greatly change strategies and plans to protect our people and business. It may be hard to see, but there will be silver linings in our present crisis. Perhaps we will see healthier policies, new societal values, new ways of working and a renewed emphasis on innovation. It is most important to be clear, direct and transparent with your team as they ask hard questions about the impact to the business. Remember the best leaders are often forged in fire.

I pray that we will come through this crisis stronger, more resilient and more innovative. I am also hopeful that we will emerge more compassionate and empathic. We can strive to engage with positive energy, lend a helping hand to others who may need it, and ensure that your leadership teams have the information they need to make wise decisions.

(Nick Pasculli is the president & CEO of TMD Creative)

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Industry Viewpoint: Leading from the living room - The Produce News