58 Bualnes
~book is completely filled until June.
All manufacturen are n.mping up pro·
duction. Getinge plans to make 16,ooo un-
its this year, 60% more than in 2019. Most
of its rivals hope to increase output by a
similar amount. Italy's army has sent 25
technical staff to Siare, its only domestic
producer, to try to quadruple production,
to§oounitsamonth. MrJohnson'sgovem-
ment sent 60 large manufacturers a blue-
print of a ventilator along with links to a
Yoltl'Ube video and an academic paper de-
scribing a device that could be deployed
rapidly. oneBreath, a startup in California,is hoping regulators will fast-track approv-
al of its $4,000 design that could be ready
to produce in less than a year.
Getinge's boss, Mattias Perjos, doubts
that the British prime minister's plan will
work, at least in the short tenn. Ventilators
are not the most compllcated pieces of ma-
chinery. But they are fiddly. It takes Getinge
twoyearsonaveragetodevelopanewmod-
el. Even if regulators relaxed their approval
process-which can take another two
years-a carmaker will not learn to build
safe and effective medical gear overnight.
Even if specialist firms add productionEmbracing the suck
Managers earn their money in a crisis
W
HEN THINGS are going well, it is
pretty easy being a business leader.
The economy is booming, orders are
rolling in and there are no tricky deci-
sions to make about staff or budgets. It is
still possible to screw things up. but a
rising tide tends to lift all yachts.
It is in a crisis that corpoiate helms-
men show their mettle. Employees will
be uncertain and will look to the leader
for direction. sometimes, as with the
covid-19 pandemic, the problem will be
something few bosses can reasonably
have anticipated. Now they are expected
to chart a steady course in days.
In the political arena the obvious
examples of successful crisis leadership
are Franklin Roosevelt and Winston
Churchill. Both weresomewhatemtic
decision-makers. Buttheymadeupforit
by being excellent communicators. Their
styles diverged, but the public had little
difficulty in understanding their core
message. Roosevelt made clear that he
was willing to try any combination of
new ideas in an attempt to end the de-
pression; Churchill was unambiguous
about the need for Britain to resist Nazi
Germany, wbateverthecost.
Corpoiate leaders should resist the
temptation to give Churchillian speech-
es. But they have something to learn
from the calm authority ofRoosevelrs
"fireside chats". As chief eecutive you
bavetocommunicateamessageto two
different audiences: your workforce and
your customers. That message should
demonstn.te that the company bas a plan
to deal with the virus. This may involve
staff working from home(to prevent the
spread of infection) or changes in the
supply chain (to maintain production).
Both staff and customers will also need
reassuring that the company has suffi-
cient financial resources to sunive theeconomic downturn.
Jefferies, an investment bank, bas just
provided a fine example. In a joint letter,
the chief executive, Rieb Handler, and the
president, Brian Friedman, stressed that
"topmost on our minds is the safety of our
employees and our clients" before adding
thatthe firm ftis flush with capital at both
the operating businesa level and our par-
ent company". Other films may not be so
lucky. But silence on such matters would
be dangerous.
Porthe broaderstn.tegy, tips can be
gleaned from the National Defence Uni-
versity (Nou), an American military col-
lege. In 2006 it produced a useful-and
prescient-report called "Weathering the
Storm: Leading Your Organisation
Through a Panclemicu. It advised leaders to
analyse the tasks required for an organisa-
tion to contlnue operatlng and prioritise
them. To ensure essential functions can be
performed, empt~ should be tr.lined
in different disciplines. That way they can
cover for colleagues who become sick.
It helps to have done this in advance, of
course. But even firms that dithered can-The Economlat March 21st 2020lines to their factories, and non-specialists
reconfigure thein, one other constraint re-
mains. Most components come from Chi-
na, where virus-related stoppages reduced
production of industrial equipment by
28% in January and Febnwy, year on year.
China is beginning to rev up its industrial
engine as new infections slow. But itwill be
a while before its factories are fully back in
business. By the time they are, dillstlc mea-
sures that governments around the world
are taking to slow the virus's spread may
leave ventilator-makers themselves with
less breathing room to function. •besides making amends now-adoptthe
right the tone. How you handle crisis
communication is, the NDU says, "criti-
cal0.1t can matter as much as having the
right message.
This point is amplified by Shawn
Engbrecbt, a fonnerusArmyiangerwho
now runs a personal-protection com-
pany. He has written a highly entertain-
ing, ifidiosynaatlc, book entitled "In-
visible Leadership·. ·As a leader,· he
cautions, "you can promise everything to
the many until you are unable to deliver
even a little to the few." In the end, "Fail-
ure to tell the truth rapidly erodes trust
and confidence in higher command."
In a crisis, Mr Bngbrecht advocates
·embracingthesuck". Thismeansaccept-
ingwhereyou are atagiven moment:
"W111bing. hoping and pr.tying the pro·
blemawaydoes notworkso don'twaste
your time with coulda, shoulda or
woulda.u In short, no sugarcoating. If
everyone on staff realises there is a pro-
blem, they will not be reassured by an
executive blithely promising that it may
go away.
Agoodmanagermusttaketimeto
listen to staff concerns and answer their
questions. That may require a bit of
patience. InMr Bngbrechfs words, "the
quieter you become, the more you can
hear". Mass meetings may not be appro-
priate ata time of a highly infectious
disease. But an online town-ball gath·
eringwoulclbesalut.ary.
Have a clear message, keep calm and
be tillnsparent all obvious stuff, crisis or
no crisis. Another kind of leadership may
be more painful. Executives at airlines
like Qantas and United have agreed to
take pay cuts (or forgo their salaries
entirely) until the pandemic passes.
Good leaders show they face at least
some of the same dangers as their troops.