Monday23 March 2020 ★ 9

the old playbooks don’t apply and we

simply have to trust our instincts.

Warren Kanders, CEO of Safariland

You need to keep a positive attitude. On

the other hand, a point we want to get

across to everybody is that the world

doesn’t stop and what we do is impor-

tant, and [demand] will come back and

we need to be there to support our cus-

tomers and the folks who depend on us.

And then we need to be thankful we

have a very strong business.

We have contingency plans. If reve-

nues fall we know what we need to do

in order to manage through the busi-

ness. We can balance people. One of the

possibilities is you work half a day, I

work half a day. Some work is better

than no work.

Richard Gelfond, CEO of Imax

I think [the priority] is being com-

pletely transparent from the very

beginning; saying what you know and

what you don’t know; and, as it unfolds,

being agile. ven though the news hasE

not been generally what people want to

hear I think they respect the fact that

they tell it to you honestly.

Julian Richer, founder of Richer

Sounds

Communication is absolutely key, but

you have to be honest... We have tried

to get the bad news out fast; first, admit-

ting mistakes so that you can learn from

them.It is also important not to over-

promise. You don’t know what will hap-

pen. I can say I will do the right thing in

the right circumstances. For example,

we are paying three times statutory sick

pay, not just if you have got coronavirus

but if you need to be at home because

you have underlying health problems.

Reporting by Andrew Edgecliffe-John-

son, Sarah Neville and Jonathan Moules

still have to make decisions on a

minute-by-minute basis to keep our

people safe while at the same time

ensuring the businesses are functioning

and moving forward. Those decisions

often involve difficult trade-offs.

All of this happens against a back-

drop of well-meant but sometimes con-

tradictory and quickly evolving gov-

ernment decisions that we have to

react to.

To cut through the noise, we’ve

assembled a group of outside experts

from the business, government nda

medical communities to provide us with

the most reliable information available

in real time.

Ultimately, the scale of the problem is

too big for any one company, and gov-

ernments will have to step in to manage

the crisis and support the economy. But

for now, we’ve had to acknowledge that

what we would like to do.

Also we have to understand the obli-

gations we have to the communities and

to clients who are just as unsettled as we

are. It’s an emergency, it’s unplanned.

There are a couple of principles you

have to lean back on. It’s a moment of

truth and all moments of truth deter-

mine how you look at yourself. It is an

opportunity to build trust, which is

lacking in institutions these days.

All leaders have to communicate

based on authentic communications

with all the stakeholders. You have to be

realistic, understand people’s anxiety,

but also be a bit forward looking.

David Winter and David Millstone,

Co-CEOs of Standard Industries

There is little precedent for a crisis of

this scale and magnitude, and yet we

clients and employees, that here’s sot

much fear and anxiety and concern if

your only focus is what you’re reading

and hearing you’re often missing what’s

happening on the ground.

If you don’t stay very close to clients

and employees you’re going to make the

wrong decisions.

How I’m leading right now is I’m

focused very hard on transparency,

staying calm and compassionate and

staying very close to our clients and

employees.

Alex Liu, managing partner at

Kearney

I think the urgency and immediacy of

communications globally and to all

walks of our firm is obvious. Because

we’re a services business we should not

make unilateral decisions just based on

municate frequently and with transpar-

ency as things evolve. The most impor-

tant thing we can all do right now is to

remain calm, do our part to prevent the

virus from spreading, and take care of

each other.

Julie Sweet, CEO of Accenture

I think there are three things that are

really important: the first is transpar-

ency and that’s true with clients and

with our people. It’s OK to say “I don’t

know” but you need to be transparent.

Transparency builds trust and it’s criti-

cal in a crisis.

The second is what I call calm and

compassionate. My job as a leader is not

to put more stress into a system that is

already stressed.

The third piece, which has never been

more important, is staying very close to

Vas Narasimhan, CEO of Novartis

You have to lead yourself first to lead
your organisation well in a crisis. You
have to focus on your wellbeing and
mindset. You have to keep perspective,
sleep well, maintain healthy habits, and
seek diverse sources of knowledge. And
you have to take the long view.
You also have to create clarity for your
teams and trust them without micro-
managing. For Novartis, this fits with
our“unbossed” culture— built on pur-
pose-driven and empowered people.
Last, you have to find sources of opti-
mism and compassion — and we see
many around the world right now. I
believehuman resilience and science-
based action rise to the occasion when
humanity is most in need. The global
response is in full swing and we will get
past this pandemic and every pandemic
to come.

Grant Reid, CEO ofMars

This is a situation unlike any we’ve seen
before, so there’s no playbook to follow.
It’s times like these when we really rely
on our five principles (quality, responsi-
bility, efficiency, mutuality and free-
dom), because they ground our decision
making in empathy and create stability
and hope in tumultuous times.
Right now, the needs of our 125,
Mars associates are front and centre of
our considerations. That includes
adopting policies to protect their health,
providing extra flexibility to manage
quarantine situations, and dealing with
the anxiety and impact created by the
pandemic.
Despite all this disruption, we’re
working with our partners to continue
delivering Mars products and veteri-
nary services to people and pets the
world over who depend upon them.
We certainly don’t have all the
answers, but we are continuing to com-

C O M PA N I E S & M A R K E T S

How to Lead

Strong leadership for uncertain times

Business leaders’ insights

on the unprecedented

challenges caused by the

coronavirus pandemic.

By FT reporters

California in

lockdown: a

deserted Los

Angeles freeway

AFP/Getty Images

Leadership

More interviews illuminating

the personalities of high-profile

leaders by focusing on the

issues they faced

ft.com/howtolead

After years as a ‘niche’ issue for male funders,

femtech start-ups are getting cash — and attention

So-called ‘femtech’ — where technology

and women’s health collide — is about

so much more than menstruation, and

the sector is having a “hockey stick”

moment.

There are female founders

pioneering products around

conception, pregnancy, miscarriage,

motherhood, menopause, disease

diagnosis and even — shock, horror —

sexual pleasure. The overallfemtech

market, which covers all of these things

and more, is set to be worth $50bn by

2025. It has been a long time coming.
      Denmark’sIda Tin(who coined the
      term femtech) was a pioneer when she
      launched the period tracking app Clue
      in 2013, but substantial investment has
      only arrived more recently.More than
      $1bnhas been invested in thesector
      since 2014, with around $750m of that
      in 2019 alone.
      Unconscious bias still steers VC
      decision making (just 2.2 per cent of
      VC funding goes to women-led
      companies) and female founders still
      share war stories of clueless investors
      who “don’t get” the pill or recoil at the
      sight of sanitary products (80 per cent
      of healthcare VCs have never invested
      in women’s health). Yet there is hope.
      Elvie, the British start-up known for
      its smartphone-linked pelvic floor
      trainer and silent breastpump, raised
      $42m last year in the largest female
      tech funding round of its time. Early in
      2020, before the coronavirus crisis,
      even healthier sums had beenhanded
      to female-focused “doctor-on-demand”
      platformssuch as Maven and Advantia
      Health ($45m each). With services
      from IVF to postnatal depression, no
      area is off-limits.
      Takethe menopause. Until recently,
      millions of women suffered in silence
      with little help beyond HRT (which
      does not work for everyone) and
      “menopause magnets” (there’s no
      evidence these widgets work at all).
      Now, whether they are at or at home,
      women battling hot flushework s,
      insomnia and anxiety can access
      support through tele-health start-ups
      such as Gennev (Seattle), Elektra
      Health (New York) and Peppy
      (London). At the same time, hardware
      start-ups are developing cooling
      bracelets and pillows — one Israeli

start-up even built a snowy virtual

therapy environment that can reduce

flushes and night sweats by half.

Sexual wellness is another hotbed of

innovation. The US streaming app Rosy

(for women struggling with low sex

drive) just raised $1m, joiningsexual

exploration start-ups like Spain’s

Emjoy, and American leaders OMGyes

and O.school. There are also women

engineering new pleasure devices in

the $30bn sextech market.

Those at the frontier of femtech do

not always get it right. Swedish fertility

start-up Natural Cycles, founded by

Cern physicist Elina Berglund, got

burnt after it inadvertently ran ads

making misleading claims. And, as

with any virgin territory, there will be

cowboys looking to make a quick buck.

Dozens of free apps will share users’

intimate data with Facebook — and you

may not want Mark Zuckerberg

knowing when you ave your period.h

But sharing data is not always bad,

and artificially intelligent tools deliver

better services the more information

they are fed. In some cases it is

imperative we share data too, because

women’s health has been overlooked

for so long (80 per cent of medical

research is still done on male mice,

meaning most study-backed businesses

are inherently built for men).

So who is tackling this dearth of

data? Mike Lavigne (who co-founded

Clue with Ms Tin) is now helping

Helene Guillaume launch women’s app

Wild. AI to counter the lack of science-

led, female-centric sports services.

Similarly, London-based Pexxi is using

AI-data analysis to help women find

the best contraceptive pill. In France,

Efelya applies AI to flag high-risk

pregnancies, while fertility clinic

Apricity is building AI tools to help

more parents conceive.

The takeaway? If you are reading this

at your “working from home” desk, it

is time to call for femtech perks. What

better way for businesses to signal they

are equal opportunities employers than

investing in services that support all

women throughout their careers?

The author is a freelance journalist for

Sifted, the FT-backed media site for

European start-ups

Some 80 per cent of

healthcare venture capital

funds have never invested

in women’s health. Yet

there is hope

‘

Kitty Knowles

Technology

’

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MARCH 23 2020 Section:Features Time: 3/202022/ - 15:31 User:alistair.hayes Page Name:MONINTERVIEW, Part,Page,Edition:USA , 9, 1