During those two years of global pandemic response and our culture learned to do some things very well. We learned to adapt to remote work over a computer screen. We’ve figured out how to rebalance family time, and do school from the kitchen, and what the phrase “socially distanced” means. We all keep a mask in the car just in case. And we tempered our reaction to others, knowing people are at all different points on the spectrum—from “over it” to “have health issues that make illness dangerous for me” to “have an elderly relative at home that I don’t want to get sick”.
But despite all the experience we now have, we haven’t come close to figuring out the one thing we all want the answer to: what’s normal now? Some people still wear face coverings. They’re up to eight or ten booster shots now. But despite our education, years of experience, and signals from the latest media cycle, none of us really knows when the next shoe will drop, or what it will be.
Without virus testing there is no data for decision-making. During the pandemic’s height some countries had an infection rate of less than 1%, while others had a positive rate above 20%. Under 5% and the pandemic is considered under control. In the US the rate has hovered above 7% for over two years.
A key thought for leaders, though, is that we have to figure out how to live with a pandemic virus, versus living through it. This is a profound distinction. The virus represents an element of risk and unpredictability. At the beginning of the pandemic, we understood it as something temporary—it would last a few weeks, or months, and then we’d go back to the way things were. As time passed, we’ve begun to understand that (1) the pandemic is going to last a while, and (2) that amount of time is going to affect our culture in profound ways. Even as news of vaccines and medications gave optimism, some elements of the pandemic continue even to this day. These changes, make up our new normal. And though the specifics of this situation are unique, the leadership skill of managing such risks is not. Let’s suggest, then, four healthy steps you can take to unmask the future, and help you see more clearly how to live with risk, if you can’t get through it.
To limit the spread of Coronavirus, 217 countries imposed travel restrictions. Airlines’ passenger revenue plunged by $314 billion in total—or 55%—from 2019 levels. Job losses in the travel industry reached more than 100 million. They’re still recovering. Photo: Delta Airlines
Lead with transparency. When crises occur, or when tremendous risk is present, it is a natural tendency of leaders to obfuscate, or make their leadership decisions more opaque. We like to circle the wagons, and operate in a mode of protecting what’s ours. Transparency in the midst of risk is difficult. But it’s what people want and need from leaders. Ephesians 4:25 says, “Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.” Transparency is not about admitting our lack of knowledge or leadership skill in a specific situation. Instead, it’s concerned with gathering information and opening up the decision process to discussion, input, consensus and reason.
During the pandemic, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), our government’s front-line agency in dealing with global disease, issued no less than six conflicting policies on the wearing of masks in public. In March, April, June, August, October and November of 2020, the CDC updated their mask guidelines for the public, initially saying not to wear one at all, and later saying wear whenever possible. Confused, leaders in individual states issued guidelines that, too, conflicted. Some states today have no mandatory masking policy, while others recommend wearing one even in the privacy of your own home. The lack of transparency in how the policy was formed, and inconsistency in the decision-making, has brought on much confusion and frustration, instead of the clarity that leadership demands. The lesson? Make decisions in an open format, sharing more information that will bring confidence to the process.
Lead with challenge. This is the ability of people not directly involved in the decision making process to question what is going on. 1 Thessalonians 5:21 says, “But test everything; hold fast to what is good.” A biblical leader does not fear decisions and directions being tested because he knows it brings a greater degree of trust in the result. And, it may even reveal an unforeseen weakness or mistake. In order for challenge to be effective, powerful people need to be willing to listen to dissenting voices and, if necessary, reverse their positions. About four months into the pandemic, the government issued guidance that only people who believed they were exposed to the virus and also showed symptoms should be tested. This advice was quickly challenged by hundreds of medical professionals, with data showing that about 40% of those infected with Coronavirus never showed any symptoms. Testing everyone who believed they had been exposed would help slow the spread of the virus. The policy was again studied and reversed. Today the United States tests more people for coronavirus each day than any other country on earth. As a leader, don’t be afraid to encourage challenge, and neither be afraid to accept it and learn from it.
Lead with humility. Again from Ephesians 4, we are urged in verses 1-3, “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” Humility in leadership is being able to admit that you don’t understand something. Some in leadership roles are surrounded by the best minds in their respective businesses, and there is an organizational expectation that the circle of leadership is always equipped with the information, skills, talents and experience to make good decisions. The pandemic has proven that there are circumstances where we must be humble enough to admit we cannot see which fork to take in the road ahead.
In the years after September 11, 2001, Atlanta-based Delta Airlines declared bankruptcy. In the wake of that worldwide travel disruption, many lessons were learned. Delta bought out rival Northwest Airlines in 2008, upgraded planes and reduced customer complaints. By January 2020, they reported $6.2 billion in profit, a 30% increase over the previous year. But then the pandemic happened. By the end of March, the airline was losing $100 million a day. Even after a $5 billion infusion from the government, the airline was on life support, shedding 30% of its workforce, mothballing 650 jets and cutting flights by 85%.
Even with all of the smart business decisions they could muster, a year into the pandemic Delta had not even reached a break-even point, still losing about $27 million a day. Delta’s answer? Admit to shareholders that they can’t predict what will happen next. They adopted the slogan “putting people over profits”, and began focusing on passenger safety, and keeping as many of their employees getting paychecks as they could, until travel conditions improved. In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, humility helped Delta’s seasoned business leaders navigate the uncharted skies.
Lead with curiosity. Interestingly, curiosity and humility often go hand-in-hand in leadership. While the humble leader admits he doesn’t have all the answers, the curious leader is concerned with knowing why. God promises to the curious that “I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths” (Proverbs 4:11). Curiosity is important because it keeps us from being intellectually lazy. It is all too easy to accept conventional assumptions that work well in normal times. Good leadership is not just about what works well in normal times. It is about knowing when and why things fail to work and planning around them.
Citizens were told that data indicated that face masks combined with other preventive measures, such as frequent hand-washing and social distancing, help slow the spread of the virus. More recent studies show little or no effect from face masks, even though they are mandatory still in many scenarios. So, wear a mask or not? Require it at work? School? In social situations? It’s become a real dilemma for leaders who don’t want mask politics to create division in their organizations.
Nine months into the pandemic, companies announced vaccines that had a high degree of effectiveness against Coronavirus. The research on these vaccines, which in some ways are similar to flu vaccines, goes all the way back to a curious Australian researcher named Graeme Laver. His first key discovery, reported in 1964, showed that the infectious particles of influenza could be disassembled using detergents, and could yield purified forms of two proteins. He and his colleague Rob Webster used the proteins to form a new type of influenza vaccine.
Before this, flu vaccines had been made with inactivated whole viruses, which caused bad side effects. Laver’s and Webster’s work meant that only the immunity producing particles were used, getting rid of most of the other problems. Building on their research, the just-announced Coronavirus vaccines are a marvel of scientific research, with over 90% effectiveness with few side effects. In 1996, upon winning the Australia Prize for science, Graeme Laver summed up his life: “What I have done is not to set out to make any money, not to cure humanity’s ills. What I’ve done is to try to satisfy my curiosity in trying to discover new things.”
The future will be found as we walk down a path of question marks. The pandemic has raised the bar on the expectations for leaders. The key is being able to shift from managing a temporary crisis to managing an ongoing cultural shift as the result of Coronavirus. We’re still too close to predict and react to permanent changes. But we do know that some of our leadership skills must grow to meet the challenge. So too must our senses expand to lead with greater transparency, with challenge, with humility and with curiosity.
Sound decisions before the pandemic may no longer make sense. Just as we may need to learn to live with the Coronavirus rather than through it, we may also need to learn how to lead with questions versus being able to answer all of them. One day soon we will be able to walk around free of the masks we’ve been wearing in public. But will we be able to unmask better leadership skills that will serve us more readily in the “new normal”?
