As a business leader, do you find every aspect of corporate life at a crossroads today? As if there are too many decisions and not enough options? If yes, you are in good company.
Almost a century ago, Britain’s Prime Minister Winston Churchill found himself amid a crumbling empire, his country on the losing end of the Second World War, and his own political career in peril. Although Churchill has been famously misquoted saying, “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” he certainly lived up to this! When at least a quarter of the world’s population was anticipating Britain’s defeat, Churchill engineered one of the greatest political turnarounds in history: He persuaded the United States to forego its longstanding policy of isolationism, thereby changing the course of the world, and literally redesigning the world map.
So what can business leaders learn from Churchill today?
1. Adjust Your Reality to Prepare For the Future, Not the Other Way Round: Many business leaders we meet today say they understand this. But they do not. They believe that the skills and ‘success stories’ on which they built their careers are what will coast them through (what they see) as a temporary storm. They just need to push down on the accelerator and work harder.
But this is exactly what not to do!
Extrapolating past business habits, even ways of thinking is one of the surest ways to write one’s leadership into irrelevance. Think of the future as a new country: It has a new language, new customs and new values. What do you need to do to prepare your people for a (successful!) life in this new country? What needs to be left behind? What discomforts do you anticipate during the transition, and what can you do now to ease them?
2. Evoke The Past, But Don’t Live There: In his famous wartime speeches, Churchill often spoke of the war as a way of recapturing Britain’s past glory. The nostalgia was a deliberate, well-thought-out tactic to maintain morale in a country where even the Queen had to ration her groceries and water supply. How can a people surrounded everywhere by impending poverty, a stacking number of coffins and no hope think about a happy future? Why would they contribute to such an effort? Churchill’s speeches reminded them of why they had done this in the past, and why they were going to do it again.
But even as he made these speeches, Churchill was preparing the country for life after the War: In less than a decade, former colonies would become the Commonwealth, Britain’s aristocracy—of whom Churchill was also a part – would find its role in public life dramatically changed as a more egalitarian society took shape. Churchill was already preparing the resources and the direction this new society would take.
Such preparation is a leadership imperative. Management textbooks will call it ‘vision.’ But there is a practical, unsentimental responsibility attached to creating the future. And this is what it is.
3. Hard Decisions Don’t Have to Be Inhumane Decisions: When one of Churchill’s advisors suggested he make budget cuts in Arts to boost the war effort, Churchill vehemently refused, a stand that remained unchanged for the rest of the war.
Arts may seem a far cry for businesses that have witnessed not one, but two grand waves of corporate downsizing, leaving thousands unemployed. But it’s really not that different. Like employment, the Arts give people’s lives meaning, connection and sustenance. They provide the motivation to work towards something bigger than themselves, and they help visualize collective possibilities. Churchill understood that his government would have to sacrifice temporary popularity to keep the Arts budget. He did it anyway, and it paid off: To this day, the creative economy remains one of Britain’s most important exports.
As business leaders, we have to be decisive about what setbacks we will absorb for our people. Often these setbacks will be of a personal nature, and they will often be unappreciated. Absorb them anyway. This is what will be remembered about you.
4. Share The Glory: Churchill was the product of a time when ‘class’ had the same (or even more severe) implications as corporate hierarchies have today. It was a structure that had to be maintained and guarded at all costs—not unlike our own love for the merciless ladder to the corner office.
So, no one would have blamed him if he had amassed all wartime victories for himself. Or at the very least, downplayed the efforts of his rivals.
But with him, it was never just about himself. He recognized that despite his social and political position as leader, it was important to communicate that he worked for the people. They did not work for him. Scholars today may critique his speeches on many grounds today. But no one can accuse Churchill of pettiness or small-mindedness.
This is one of the harsher reality checks a good crisis will force upon you.
As leaders, our main job often devolves into just defending our place at the top. Contemporary leaders are not wrong in believing that there are competitors, conspirators and even saboteurs in the circles they move in.
One of the hardest, but most rewarding feats of leadership in a crisis is to achieve our objectives—not despite our adversaries, but because of them.
Crises uncover who’s on your side, and who’s not. Learn to optimize both.
And now, the final lesson….
5. Don’t Get Complacent: This one doesn’t come from Churchill. In fact, it’s a cautionary tale against leadership hubris.
We don’t have to look too far back in corporate history to see how badly ‘the mighty have fallen.’ Corporate giants in telecommunications, photography, entertainment—the undisputed ‘Too Big to Fail’ market leaders simply do not exist today.
Not because they did anything wrong. But because they took too much time to do what was right. Churchill was very confident his wartime would victory would translate into electoral success. He didn’t see – in time – that his people were ready for a new kind of leadership after the war.
As leaders, we need to recognize that crises are not a ‘blip’ in clear skies. They are phenomena that have the power to alter the horizon.
And to maintain leadership relevance into the future—we need to see what our people see when they look at the horizon.
Are you ready to lead with courage, clarity, and relevance in times of uncertainty?
At PERLUXI, we help leaders and organizations see beyond today’s crossroads and prepare for tomorrow’s realities. Just as Churchill reshaped the course of history, you can reshape the future of your business—with the right vision, strategy, and support.
👉 Start a Conversation with Us and discover how we can help you turn today’s crisis into tomorrow’s advantage.