Marcia' Leadership Q And As: Why People Resist Change?

Q. Why People Resist Change ?

A. For decades, leaders have relied on a single word to mobilize organizations: change. Change initiatives. Change programs. Change management. Change readiness.

Yet few leaders pause to ask a more consequential question: What does the word “change” trigger for the people expected to carry it out?

For many employees, change does not signal opportunity or progress. It signals risk, loss, exposure, uncertainty. When leaders speak about change without understanding its human impact, they unintentionally activate fear. And fear, once introduced into a system, quietly erodes people, productivity, and profits long before leaders see the damage in financial results.

Great leaders recognize this pattern and pivot. They stop pushing change and instead invite people to work together to improve the systems they work within every day. Invite people to embrace improvement.

Fear Is Not a Soft Issue. It Is a Business Risk.

Fear in organizations is often dismissed as emotional noise, something to be managed through communication plans, engagement surveys, or resilience training. Fear is a systemic condition that directly affects thinking, judgment, and performance.

When fear is present, predictable things happen:

• Thinking narrows from problem-solving to self-protection

• Learning slows because mistakes feel unsafe

• Information is filtered or withheld

• Decision quality deteriorates

• Effort becomes cautious rather than committed

This is how fear erodes productivity. It does not fail loudly. It fails quietly through rework, delays, disengagement, and missed opportunities. Profits decline not because people don’t care, but because fear makes caring risky.

What Fear Looks Like Inside Organizations

Fear rarely announces itself directly. Leaders often mislabel it as resistance, lack of accountability, or poor attitude.

Employees are afraid of losing their jobs, their relevance, or their credibility. They fear being evaluated by unclear or shifting criteria. They fear speaking up and being punished, ignored, or sidelined. They fear decisions being made behind closed doors.

Increasingly, they fear technology. Now fear is escalating as AI is being introduced without any explanation of its impact on their work.

Leaders hear the symptoms but miss the signal. What looks like resistance and dis-engagement is often rational self-protection in an environment that feels unsafe.

Why “Change” Triggers Fear

From an employee’s perspective, the word “change” often carries unspoken messages:

• Decisions have been made and are not transparent

• Expectations may shift without warning

• Experience may no longer matter

• Mistakes will be punished

Even well-intended change efforts can provoke fear when leaders emphasize speed, compliance, or messaging. Instead understand how people experience the system. When change is done to people rather than with them, fear fills the gap.

Leaders Pivot: From Change to Improve

Great leaders make a deliberate pivot in language. They stop focusing on change and “change management.” Instead, they invite people to Improve the work and results Together.

This transformation in language, the pivot from change to improve is monumental. New vocabulary impacts behavior because while there may be resistance to change (due to a perception of loss), people often enjoy working together to improve.

Improvement restores. It builds on what people know and can share. Knowledge and experience can be appreciated. It invites contribution rather than compliance. Improvement tells people they matter to the system, not just the outcome.

How Leaders Pivot Their Language

Leadership language either amplifies fear or reduces it. There is no neutral ground. Fear-based language is often vague, sanitized, or euphemistic. Words like restructuring, maximize, or realignment without context leave people guessing. Silence invites worst-case assumptions.

Trust-building language creates clarity:

• Why a decision is happening and why now

• What is known and what is still uncertain

• How decisions will be evaluated

• Where human judgment remains essential

This is not soft language. It is precise, transparent, and respectful.

How Leaders Act to Build Trust

Trust is built through repeatable words, operational actions, and respectful behaviors that reduce uncertainty and restores clarity.

Great leaders lead a decision-making system. They communicate the intent, direction, and expectations. They create an environment where either rapid or thoughtful processes can be discussed, debated, experimented with, and solutions proposed. They surface trade-offs instead of hiding them. They slow decisions just enough to gather inputs, then execute decisively together when the timing is optimal.

Operational trust-building shows up when leaders:

• Share decision criteria in advance

• Separate input-gathering from decision-making

• Make constraints visible

• Eliminate low-value work before demanding efficiency

• Allocate time for learning, not just delivery

These actions reduce speculation and political or dysfunctional behavior. People stop protecting themselves and start supporting each other to improve the work together and serve the customers.

How Leaders Design Trust into Daily Operations

Leaders who build trust redesign the system so work processes can flow. People solve problems through robust conversations with data in context. Operationally, this looks like:

• Meetings with clear purpose, decision owners, and outcomes

• Metrics are used to learn, not punish

• Early surfacing of root causes to problems

• Break down barriers across teams and departments

When trust is designed into operations, fear loses its grip.

Trust is most essential during challenging and uncertain times

Dignity is non-negotiable, even during layoffs, restructuring, or automation decisions. This behavior signals that people can safely contribute even when things are hard.

The Payoff

When leaders pivot from fear-driven change to improvement-centered leadership, trust grows. Learning accelerates. Engagement deepens. Innovation becomes safer. Productivity improves sustainably. Profits follow through capability, not pressure.

People do not need to be motivated to care. They need to feel safe to think.

A Wake-Up Call for Leaders

If fear exists, the system is speaking. Leaders design the system. If the system and the culture are not healthy and don’t deliver the results you want, leaders are accountable to build trust. To do nothing means fear will be contagious and erode the people, productivity, and profits.

Fear is not a people problem. It is a leadership and system design problem. Great leaders do not deny fear or label it resistance. They identify it, name it, and list how it impacts people and the organization. They pivot and create a System for improvement and trust.

They continually work to reduce fear and build trust. They replace fear with clarity. They replace imposed change with improvement.

Marcia's Leadership Q and As: Smart Does Not Equal Wise Leadership

Q. My partners and I run a private equity company and have invested in more than 20 start-ups over two decades. We are all successful executives—and we have also experienced our share of failures. Our investments range from a few successes to marginal successes to mostly failures. We try to help the start-ups. We’re all smart, but we’re not making progress. How can we experience more success for our start-ups and our firm?

A. With more than 6,000 startups in Silicon Valley with a failure rate of over 90%, there are many investors who would like to experience more success. First, let’s challenge a few beliefs, and we can see why so many fail. Because you and your partners have been successful in the past does not mean you have the knowledge to guide your start-ups to be successful in the future.

Your team may be smart in an industry or a role like engineering or IT, but do you have a management philosophy as your foundation and the ability to teach it? Much depends on the start-up team’s knowledge about managing systems and developing and leading people (vision, team, culture, values, customer identity.) Most entrepreneurs have ideas, but they lack the management knowledge and business acumen to launch and scale a company. The ones who succeed are in continual learning and experimenting mode. They don’t use old thinking.

Second, when a team grows a company, they often grasp onto traditional business practices, management fads, tools, and “best practices.” Often, they learn these in college or from mentors who tell them to do what they did ten or twenty years ago. They are applying old thinking to innovation and new technologies. When 90% of companies are failing, why would you invest in a startup doing the same thing? Innovators question everything. They take bold actions to lead differently. Innovation in leadership thinking is essential.

You can best help your startup teams and your own firm by investing in yourselves and the teams. Accelerate your knowledge of strategic, systems thinking by having a consultant work with your team and the startup leaders. Invest in management team offsite meetings to focus on new learning, not spreading the thinking and practices you used 10 or 20 years ago. For resources, see my website.

Your firm and the companies you’ve invested in have a better chance of wild success if you focus on learning how to be a resource to them; guide them to learn a philosophy of management; ask better, more relevant questions on how they are working together to serve their customers; and, look at the data over time. The results/profits will be an outcome of great management. (In other words, take your Focus off of the bottom line! It’s a Pivot you must make to succeed.)

A. With more than 6,000 startups in Silicon Valley with a failure rate of over 90%, there are many investors who would like to experience more success. First, let’s challenge a few beliefs, and we can see why so many fail. Because you and your partners have been successful in the past does not mean you have the knowledge to guide your start-ups to be successful in the future.

Your team may be smart in an industry or a role like engineering or IT, but do you have a management philosophy as your foundation and the ability to teach it? Much depends on the start-up team’s knowledge about managing systems and developing and leading people (vision, team, culture, values, customer identity.) Most entrepreneurs have ideas, but they lack the management knowledge and business acumen to launch and scale a company. The ones who succeed are in continual learning and experimenting mode. They don’t use old thinking.

Second, when a team grows a company, they often grasp onto traditional business practices, management fads, tools, and “best practices.” Often, they learn these in college or from mentors who tell them to do what they did ten or twenty years ago. They are applying old thinking to innovation and new technologies. When 90% of companies are failing, why would you invest in a startup doing the same thing? Innovators question everything. They take bold actions to lead differently. Innovation in leadership thinking is essential.

You can best help your startup teams and your own firm by investing in yourselves and the teams. Accelerate your knowledge of strategic, systems thinking by having a consultant work with your team and the startup leaders. Invest in management team offsite meetings to focus on new learning, not spreading the thinking and practices you used 10 or 20 years ago. For resources, see my website.

Your firm and the companies you’ve invested in have a better chance of wild success if you focus on learning how to be a resource to them; guide them to learn a philosophy of management; ask better, more relevant questions on how they are working together to serve their customers; and, look at the data over time. The results/profits will be an outcome of great management. (In other words, take your Focus off of the bottom line! It’s a Pivot you must make to succeed.)

Send your leadership questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, and executive retreat facilitator, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com Call for her help today!

Marcia's Leadership Q&As: New Leaders, What Are Your 1st Actions?

Q. As a new leader entering a company, what should my first action items be?

A. Number one: don’t make any changes! If the company is doing well, let it roll. If it is in dire straits, let it roll. To go in and immediately make changes will be first, instilling fear.

People don’t know you and cannot trust you, especially if you start changing how they work. Second, you’ll be guessing at what the improvements could be because you will not deeply understand the culture and the informal system (the way things really work.)  Your first action is to take no decisive action for abrupt changes.

Instead, your first action is to move across your entire organization (inside and outside) and listen! In the first few weeks (depending on size of your business), schedule meetings (1-1, face to face, small groups, and Town Halls) with your senior managers, supervisors, front line workers. Then meet with customers. Then meet with vendors. Listen, listen, listen until you deeply understand what their experiences are working in or with the company. Your workers will tell you. Your vendors and especially your customers will tell you what they love and what they hate. They will tell you when you’re stellar and when they are ready to leave and go to a competitor.

With all of this information and looking at the key company data over time (trends, sales, profits, critical success factors--like how long is a customer on hold), you are ready to have the deep, yet rapid discussions with your leadership team.  Your strategy session (which great leaders have monthly) includes: direction, aim, strategic initiatives, communication/engagement plans, focus, and implementation plan with deadlines and budget guidance. At this point together you can make new decisions and involve your teams with effective communication (share what aim you want them to accomplish.)

Very important: share with everyone what you learned through your deep dive into the company. People want to know if you “got it.” The most powerful tool you have is your ability to communicate in multiple channels: in person, via Zoom, video messages, email, Intranet—whatever is at your disposal. Use it all. Continually make time to have conversations with people all over the company, not just the same senior team.  And also, great leaders are in touch with their customers. They intimately understand the experiences they are having—good and bad.

Marcia's Leadership Q&As: Leading a non-profit?

Q. Leading a non-profit, I feel a commitment to both my constituents who we serve, but also my staff who serves them. At the end of the day, there’s little money left to invest in developing my staff. How can I do this on a shoestring budget?

A. There are multiple ways to invest in your staff and your volunteers. Let’s explore some options. Leading your organization does mean investing in your staff, so make it a priority in your annual budget to set aside money to do this. Make it an aim that is essential to operating a healthy organization. Then ask, “By what method/how can we make this happen?” And you probably want to both invest in developing the natural leadership of your staff and their knowledge and skills, and commit to ways to appreciate your staff.

Here are a few ideas: look for Sponsors who can contribute (corporate Community relations departments often look for partners they can support); Your local Community Foundation may supply resources; family foundations look for non-profits to support; state agencies have budgets and deliver funds for development and training; and, Board members and angel investors often contribute to the causes they want to support. Often if you have a concrete plan and need, you can approach an organization or an individual donor and ask them for a contribution for a specific amount for a specific purpose or project.

Also tap in on the ideas of your staff and volunteers. Ask them what they want/need to learn and what resources they believe could be available to them.  It may include on-line learning, a facilitated workshop; and an Appreciation & Education Day retreat. You will find that your resources will be varied and abundant. Make your list and your plan to begin approaching the resources who can support you. There are organizations who have the money who want to serve and support others on their journey.

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Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com.  She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Marcia's Leadership Q&As

Q. As our meetings, conferences, and events open up for our sales teams, all employee town halls, our vendors and our customers, what new changes should we prepare for?

A. Having just spoken at a conference for event and meeting planners, the issues and questions they are raising and preparing for are fresh in my mind. The organizations that will likely survive in the long term will be the ones that are seriously communicating with their vendors across their supply chain. They are true partners, sharing every detail with transparency as soon as they are aware of changes—both the good and bad news. All of the parties need to be as flexible, collaborative, and supportive of each other as possible—in action, not just words.  

Contracts will also get more specific. How will quality service be defined in a still-Covid world where the number one concern for 60% of meeting planners is the safety of their attendees? Contracts will spell it out. For example, if the peak time for attendees will arrive for registration, specify how many staff members will be needed at the desk (we’ve all seen long lines after a tiring flight, and one person is working the desk.) Specify the training requirements you need to serve your attendees.  

Resort destinations are pricey and will eventually come down, but it may take a year. There’s a lot of pent-up demand for people to meet—safely. This is a time to listen to each other and help everyone continue to successfully work out of the pandemic. Those who try to take advantage of others by being inflexible will be remembered in the future. Find the win-win in your interactions to optimize the results for all.

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Q. There has been a lot of loss of varying kinds for people over the past year. How do we support each other?

A. Grieving is not generally a huge topic in the workplace, but the past and next years are exceptions. People have experienced a tremendous variety of many kinds of loss. Loss of a loved one or colleague is most devastating. Loss of a relationship, a job, a business, financial stability, the way things were, connections with friends or colleagues are experiences that need to be healed. Everyone grieves in different ways.  

There are no right or wrong ways. To heal, people need to feel. Being there for someone just to listen, share stories, share the pain is an important part of the healing process for many. Some people heal quickly and others may take years. 

Be patient with each other. Check in with how people to see how they are. Do small things to be supportive. If you ask how you can help, it can put more pressure on the person grieving. Instead, don’t ask; do something! There is a focus on creating mental wellness programs in more schools and organizations to support those who are struggling. Connect people with resources (books, videos, articles, a support group.) Most importantly, don’t brush the grief away. It is the reality and the healing process takes time.

Marcia's Leadership Q&As: What are your leadership questions?

Q. I’ve run teams and my business for years. People recommend I get a coach. How do I know if I need one?

A. You’ve “run teams and a business.” Essentially, you’ve been a leader, facilitator or coach. But how good have you been? How did you keep improving your leading and coaching? Getting a fresh outside perspective on how you do what you do and how you can be more effective is important in life and work.  

I spoke once to a successful entrepreneur; in a short chat, he discovered new ideas and ways to look at his business. At the end of the conversation he said, “Oh, I thought I had a successful business, but now I wonder, how much more successful could I have been?” It’s a powerful question. Even if you think you’re doing well, how much better could you be?  

Leadership is more than getting a coach or adopting a checklist of leadership traits. 

The articles that headline: “Six Tips of a Leader” or Three Things CEOs Do Daily” are so superficial. Leadership takes knowledge about how to optimize systems and develop people.  And it takes courage with that knowledge. Being a great leader means committing to continually learning and listening. Leaders can make changes (change management—another fad.)  

But great leaders transform themselves and their organizations by seeing through a lens of strategic, systems and statistical thinking. That’s what a knowledgeable coach can bring you—with the questions to guide the implementation of new concepts. If a coach doesn’t understand that, you’ve met a hack with superficial ideas. As resources, excellent leadership books may not be some of the bestsellers by known names—they are selling the sizzle, not the steak.

Marcia's Leadership Q&As

Q. Who are the best people to listen to in order to get the most accurate picture of how my company is doing?

A. Just as you have multiple people to communicate to, you have multiple groups to listen to. They are all part of your system. There is not an either-or answer, and there is not an answer where you rank the people you as a leadership (team) need to listen to. As a leadership team, you are the visionaries for your organization, so you need to listen to each other and your consultant/strategist who will ask you strategic questions (not provide you with answers.)  

You need a system where you can gather the voice of the customers. It’s common to use surveys and focus groups; these are easy methods, but not necessarily relevant. Observing the customer use your product or service is much more effective. Your employees also have a voice and contribute their ideas to improving the organization. How do you listen to them: townhalls, informal conversations, e-mail connections, Zoom chats? Your vendors and industry and future trends are full of perspectives. How do you engage with them? Do you have a plan to attend meetings and conferences to stay up-to date on innovation? 

Your competitors are also part of your system; do you create a bigger pie for all to succeed, or do you only continually compete? Leaders think strategically: what can we learn to pursue new opportunities and serve our customers? The more creative you are and experiment, the greater success you may experience. (That doesn’t mean chase fifty ideas at a time; focus, prioritize, plan and proceed, or you can spread your resources too thin and fail.)

Q. How do I build stronger connections between my company and the customers we serve?

A. Trust and authenticity evolve based on the communication (in words and actions) and relationships you have. Having conversations regularly with a diverse group of customers can keep you relevant. Many of the greatest leaders spend a minimum of 50% of their time and often 70 to 80% of their time in customer focused meetings and conversations. Understanding and listening to customers helps you create future products and services for current customers and new markets. Unfortunately, too many leaders spend less than 20% of their time really understanding or connected to their customers. If you can host periodic gatherings and learning sessions with your customers, that is powerful.

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Q. Our organization has grown, and now there are more people available to do the day-to-day work that managers used to have to deal with. But many managers still have a strong tendency to take on the tasks. How do we break the “I’ll take care of it” reflex?

A. Great question, and I’m smiling! One of my mentors told me over 20 years ago, “a great leader is a lazy leader.” That’s a pretty surprising yet memorable comment, isn’t it? It’s also powerful. A leader doesn’t do the tasks that can be delegated unless it’s a time when all hands need to work together to get the job done. As people move from a more detailed and sometimes analytic role (like a sales person or an engineer) into management and leadership, it means the mindset and the role of the person also must change. Leaders need to think strategically, create and work ON the systems that the people work IN, anticipate and pursue opportunities, and develop the people. They delegate the work and create the environment where people contribute ideas and are self-motivated to contribute.

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Q. It’s easy to get caught up in everyday work. How do you get off the hamster wheel to make time to plan and do something big or meaningful for the company?

A. Whether an executive, a manager, or a team member, it’s important to have a tentative plan for your day and week. Then adapt as needed. If you know what to need to accomplish, you can focus and prioritize. Look at how you spend your time. If you’re in back-to-back meetings, when do you read and respond to emails ,customers’ requests, think and plan, and do your work? Planning, communicating, reflecting on lessons learned, are part of the job. Schedule time for those essential tasks, too. You might need to schedule 30 or 60 minutes at the beginning and end of the day to keep information flowing. If you don’t Plan, you will be in Do-Do-Do mode all day long, just reacting and feeling drained and stressed by the end of the day. Schedule quiet time to think, plan and focus on the priorities. Use the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycle, a tool to continually improve. You work short term, but think longer term to contribute doing more meaningful and innovative work in the company and for the customers.

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Q. I’m going to step down from the President position for personal reasons. I’m concerned I may miss it, regret my decision, or not agree with some of the decisions my predecessors make, though I’ve been grooming them for months. What do I do if I regret leaving?

A. It will be natural to miss the leadership you’ve had, the people you interact with, the challenges and routines, etc. Your work and position has been a big part of your life. It’s time to consider your transition. Reflect on your contributions, what you learned and the progress you made, your legacy, and the reality of the emotions (the good and the bad.) You may want to take a break for a few weeks or months before moving on to your new life or encore career. You may feel a loss of what you miss; it’s natural. Grieve what you miss, so you can move forward. Look forward to new opportunities, new routines, new experiences. An important step is to Let Go. Don’t look back or stay involved in the decisions (unless you’re called for advice.). Give the new leader space to lead, to explore, and to make mistakes, too. Most people have a transition time; take that time to adapt, and have some plans so you don’t go from working full-time to having nothing on your calendar. Give your new life space and an opportunity to be very self-satisfying. It has happened, but rarely that leaders are called back into a company to deal with a special project, to save it or turn it around (like Steve Jobs at Apple.). If that happens, assess the situation and consider giving yourself a timeline to make it a temporary time and not permanent. Think about the why before re-entering. Every situation is different, so there is not one answer, but keep in mind why you left and your life goals and stay true to those.

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Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com. She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Marcia's Leadership Q&A

Q. I’ve cleared my In Box and finished my calls at the end of my day. I’ve got 10 or 30 free minutes. What are the best things I can do?

A. This answer will be different for each individual. Time every day (even 10 or 30 minutes) for self-care is rejuvenating. I’ll share a few ideas, and see what resonates for you.

Over time, you might try different ideas. Be quiet, close your eyes, reflect on your days: did you accomplish what you planned; did you help someone; did you refer someone; what did you learn; what mistakes did you make; what will you improve tomorrow; what’s your plan for tomorrow?

Other options are to listen to a podcast or in Clubhouse; read an article; write a thank you card, a letter, a poem, or write in your journal. Do some physical activity, a video exercise class. Do something that you enjoy for yourself. Or do something special for someone else: send flowers and surprise someone

Think about the people who make a difference in your life, often times those closest to you and thank them and give them recognition, both children and adults.

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Q. Sometimes it feels like work is all-consuming. How can I create more distance between my work and personal life?

A. Over the past year, people have experienced such different situations. Some have had to work less hours or leave the workforce due to family obligations. Some have worked less hours but improved their efficiency and productivity. Others have gotten consumed with work and Zoom meetings.

Part of work becoming all-consuming may be the habits you’ve created. If they’re not healthy, it’s time to break the bad habits and create new ones. When you think about your Wheel of Life, what are the parts that make up your life? Family, hobbies, friends, career, fitness and sports, health, finances, spiritual, school, romance? Are you dedicating your time and energy (not just your words) to the parts of your life that are important to you?

Schedule time to dedicate to the parts important to you. Put healthy limits on the parts that are consuming you. Schedule your work hours. Set up consistent habits so you feel a division of work and home life. Create some routine at the beginning and end of your day so that you prepare for your day.

Then change your venue to begin your work day. Take breaks and get a change of scenery; take a walk or a drive for 10 or 30 minutes. Interact with different people. Then go back to work. Finish your day and shift your venue again.

Do something for yourself, with family or friends to take the mental break. Both routine and some creative outlets and variety will be refreshing and healthy. Keep trying new things and see what helps you feel better.

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Q. How do I hold myself accountable to lead, set good examples, and maintain standards for the people in my organization?

A. Think about what you want to accomplish and what you want your organization to accomplish. The culture and the workplace you create and the way you interact with your employees and customers is a reflection on you. What do you believe, assume, and what do you stand for—intellectually, emotionally, and in action? Do your words and actions match? These are based on your values. You want your values to blossom and be reflected in your organization. Take them from the Me to the We. Identify a few essential values and live them and communicate them every day in words and actions. When there’s a misstep, learn together (don’t blame), and move forward.

Q. As the president and business owner of my company, I sometimes need an objective perspective. How can I find someone who can provide that?

A. People need resources and advisors through life, whether it’s a doctor, teacher, or advisor. Every team needs a coach. Every student needs a teacher. Some systems provide resources like a school coach or teacher. But if you lead an organization or business, you need to find someone who is sincerely committed to guiding and educating you. There are multiple ways to find a knowledgeable resource. A common way is to ask friends and colleagues who you trust for referrals. Another common resource that is growing in popularity because it’s at your finger tips is Linked In. You can search for advisors, reach their profiles, expertise, and testimonials. See common connections you have. Connect with them and have conversations and assess if they have the personality, knowledge and ability to build trust with you. If they are a trusted advisor, they will ask many questions and help you think at a new level. If they both provoke your thinking and make you uncomfortable, yet you feel safe, you may have found the match you need to explore new options and decisions.

Marcia’s Leadership Q&A

Send your leadership and team questions to Marcia Daszko at md@mdaszko.com.  She works with Boards, C-suite leaders and teams to pivot, innovate, accelerate and achieve bold results never before imagined. A provocative keynote & virtual speaker, strategic Deming advisor/consultant for 25+ years, she is the bestselling author of the book “Pivot Disrupt Transform.” www.mdaszko.com

Q. When should a team prepare for a crisis? Is it too early to plan for the next crisis, especially when we’re still in the middle of this one?

A. Great leaders, at work and at home, anticipate and consider challenges and how they will respond to them. Whether it’s pilots training to deal with a challenge in flight, families preparing for an earthquake or a hurricane, a driver being aware of the traffic, a company preparing for a pandemic or loss of a major client, people do a variety of crisis planning. Some companies had a plan in case they were ever faced with a pandemic. Did your company have a plan? Those that had one had created it with calm rationality and could quickly adapt it. Others had to rapidly pivot, or they struggled.

Thoughtful leaders at home and at work think ahead. They scan their environment for safety. What might they be faced with?  With your team, what do you need to think about, anticipate, discuss, plan and prepare for? It’s never too late to make a plan. That’s what leaders do. When it’s needed, leaders and their rapid action teams adapt and pivot, and respond. If an unforeseen crisis occurs, teams who have a foundation in leadership thinking, will respond rather than react or freeze in fear.

Q. What signs should a leader look out for that signal that they may not be the right leader for the job anymore or should take a different role in the organization and move aside?

A. It is not uncommon for a founder, owner or executive to move aside as an organization grows, needs to scale, or goes through transitions they have no experience in or are uncomfortable with. The enterprise may be moving and growing at a fast pace, building in complexity, or innovating into new areas of expertise. If executives feel overwhelmed, uncomfortable, fearful, or are micro-managing, they need to assess if they are continuing to find joy and satisfaction in their current position.

There are multiple ways to address this situation. Many young founders have a close mentor(s) such as a supportive CEO, Board Director or a professor who guide and advise them as they navigate and develop. Or an executive may have founded an organization and be passionate about product development, but may not have an affinity for running or growing a business. People have natural leadership within them and each person needs to decide where they can best contribute and feel fulfilled.

6 Executives Use Pivotal Leadership: Pivot, a Powerful Business Strategy

In December, Managing Editor Josh Moss of the Silicon Valley Business Journal invited me to write the cover article for a January issue. We chose Pivotal Leadership as the topic so we could explore and share what pivots executives had made in 2020—and why pivots need to continually emerge for healthy organizations.

If you question how to pivot, to rapidly move your teams and organization forward faster, to capture new markets, and to make a difference with stellar customer experiences, contact us today at md@mdaszko.com. We can help you assess where your barriers are to pivoting and innovating and how to remove them, and achieve rapid growth you never before imagined!

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THE POWER TO PIVOT IN 2021:

Pivotal leadership — the ability to transform challenging crises into bold solutions and a new future — is essential.

The challenges caused by the Covid-19 pandemic demanded unprecedented responses last year that few leaders had ever had to make. Across all sectors, leaders faced new dilemmas on an hourly or daily basis.

Pivotal leadership — the ability of leaders to pivot and adapt as their world is disrupting around them — is essential. What does it really mean?

“Pivot” means to make a fundamental, often abrupt and rapid change in direction.

Leaders had to take the essential step to pivot in 2020, to either survive or thrive, and they’ll have to keep doing it this year.

As Covid hit, some executives immediately closed their companies and furloughed their employees. Others adopted a “wait and see” stance, assuming the pandemic would end soon.

But pivotal leaders quickly assessed the situation, sensed what their constituents needed, and responded. They gathered rapid action teams, brainstormed ideas, and created solutions. They designed, focused and applied on the move.

Pivoting takes vision, rapid decision-making, and ubiquitous communication. It’s a commitment to experiment and take immediate action. Time is of the essence!

Leaders who pivot have a compelling, focused aim, and a solid foundation of management thinking to draw from.

We saw auto manufacturers GM and Ford pivot and produce 100,000-plus ventilators for hospitals. Distilleries made hand sanitizers. Luxury clothing manufacturers produced PPE gowns and masks. Schools pivoted to virtual learning, healthcare to telemedicine, and millions began working remotely.

Why pivot? Current needs aren’t being met. The status quo doesn’t work. Leaders see a need and boldly jump into action.

People who continually generate the most creative ideas are the most resilient and likely to pivot, survive and thrive.

I reached out to several executives to find out more about the challenges they faced early on in the pandemic and how they applied pivotal leadership to adapt their organizations. Here are their stories.

Healthcare

“We’re doing things we’ve never done before,” said Chris Boyd, a senior vice president and area manager for Kaiser Permanente, who led Kaiser’s Santa Clara facility when Covid-19 first hit. “For healthcare the pandemic got very real, very quickly.”

Immediately, the leaders at Kaiser identified its needs: Safety, personal protective equipment, a command center, and accelerated and widely dispersed communication.

“At first, the projections were so dire, but we succeeded in doubling the capacity of the hospital,” Boyd said. “By the second surge, we were well prepared.

“Communication was crucial, and it had to be different for everyone. We did video visits with patients to video broadcasts to employees, but we also needed contact with others who were not at a computer. Executives took a beverage/snack cart and visited staff to address their fears.”

Great leaders are always pivoting, creating, innovating — finding new solutions and markets. They see a crisis or amazing possibilities and bold opportunities.

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Serial entrepreneur Toby Corey founded GetVirtual in March 2020. The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools.

TOBY COREY

Social entrepreneurship

In March 2020, serial entrepreneur Toby Corey founded GetVirtual.

The Santa Cruz-based organization connects small businesses affected by Covid-19 to tech-savvy university students who could help pivot the businesses online with digital tools. Students receive college credits from partnering universities (it started at U.C. Santa Cruz and has spread to other Bay Area universities), invaluable experience in entrepreneurship, and an opportunity to give back to the community.

“The need is extraordinary. Everything is a process,” Corey said. “There are already 100 students working with 100 small businesses. The students want to be social entrepreneurs, be intellectually curious, and experiment.”

Corey said that altruism is important and that Generation Z is especially altruistic.

“Modern thinking is mindful,” he said. “It’s paying it forward; we’re doing that. We inspire greatness, disruption and innovation.”

The mindset of leaders who are able to pivot are focused on growth, the future, and meeting new needs with bold solutions.

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Kavitha Mariappan, Zscaler executive vice president, customer experience and transformation.

SCOTT R. KLINE

Cybersecurity

Leaders pivoted for the safety of their employees, contractors and customers, locally and globally. For Zscaler — a San Jose cloud security company that became 2018’s biggest Nasdaq tech debut — that meant also dealing with a new level of security.

“One pivot has been the rapid, higher-level emergence of IT for business continuity. IT has been a savior,” said Kavitha Mariappan, Zscaler’s executive vice president, customer experience and transformation. “Preventing disruptions, addressing threat activities (the Zscaler cloud processes 140 billion transactions per day), being resilient, and innovating are what we do to protect the ‘crown jewels’ and protect our customers.

“We talk to our customers about transformation, and pivoting is critical, for security, safety and scaling for the future,” she said. “The pandemic was a true test in leadership authenticity and empathy. It’s a time of growth. We accelerated our initiatives and invested more in our people, infrastructure, and customers. We have a ‘rest and recharge day,’ a day to take a break. We’re anticipating, ‘What does re-entry to the office look like?’”

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Executive Briefing Centers

The conferences and trade show sectors, as well as travel and hospitality industries, were impacted or devastated in 2020. The initial impact on global executive briefing centers where sales teams meet with customers was also felt.

Elizabeth Simpson, president of the Association of Briefing Program Managers, reported how rapidly her 600 business members pivoted with each other.

“It was a tsunami of sharing,” she said. “Members immediately asked for resources to go virtual. We didn’t have them, but two members responded with help for the whole community.”

She continued, “One of our members, Pam Evans, senior director of the Executive Briefing Programs at Palo Alto Networks, made a powerful pivot with her team. She met with the VP of sales to say, ‘We’re open for business. We can take care of our customers virtually.’”

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Bob Linscheid, the new CEO of the Silicon Valley Organization, is the past president/CEO of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce, as well as CEO of Linscheid Enterprises Inc.

TOMAS OVALLE/ SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL

Business advocacy

Bob Linscheid joined the Silicon Valley Organization last fall to help the wounded organization get on a new path forward.

After an internal upset caused the previous CEO to resign, Linscheid was tapped to be interim president and CEO. He said he is ready to make a pivot that heals the 133-year-old organization.

“My job is to find the SVO’s path to reconciliation. As the No. 1 most innovative city in the U.S., San Jose is expressing its needs.” Linscheid said. “I’m doing a massive amount of listening to 1,200 diverse members’ voices and processing a lot of information. We have problems to solve, and we’ll be stronger as a group to make a difference. Great leaders hang out in uncertainty, but will be the most innovative.”

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San Jose State head coach Brent Brennan with linebacker Isa'ako Togia at CEFCU Stadium.

TOMAS OVALLE

Sports

From his first day four years ago, Brent Brennan, San Jose State University’s head football coach, began a holistic approach to develop the young men on the team.

In his first two years, the Spartans won just three games. This season, he took the team to the Mountain West Conference championship and won — something that hadn’t been done in nearly 30 years.

With 110 players, Coach Brennan defined success by many measures, not just on the scoreboard. They focus on academics, health, training, and engaging with the campus and community. The team supports other athletic events, delivers dinner kits, and visits schoolchildren.

“Football is the best sport to learn about systems and holistic thinking. The game is a good training ground to pivot. It’s the process, the struggle. The players need to lean on each other. The pieces come together,” Brennan said. “The mindset is (to) keep moving forward: Go to class, get stronger, make good choices, contribute to the community, deal with setbacks together. Their pivotal growth as a team came when they each started caring more about each other and giving to the team. They are more connected.”

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2021 pivots

What do you anticipate in 2021? Are you ready to pivot at the speed you will need? What leadership strategies and creativity do you need? Have you assessed your ability to lead and done your pivot audit for 2021? It will not be business as usual.

Pivoting means that leaders will transform and go where they never before imagined!

Marcia Daszko has been working with senior executives for more than 25 years. She guides leaders to pivot to survive, rapidly scale, and achieve bold results. The bestselling author of “Pivot, Disrupt, Transform,” she serves on various boards and has taught MBA classes at six universities. Contact her at md@mdaszko.com.

TOMAS OVALLE/ SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL