Why is the Covid 19 crisis a moment of truth for leadership?

In 2020 the situation is characterized by a huge disruption compared to the biggest crises of this and the past century. The COVID-19 crisis is a moment of truth for leadership. That is why I follow the best leadership examples while supporting clients in my consulting, training and coaching activity. I could not agree more with the following quote:

There is no better time to observe the quality of leaders when seismic challenges are rocking their world. KornFerry, Leadership Playbook Global

In my search I found a very valuable contribution from KornFerry in form of a leadership playbook covering major areas to handle during a crisis. As the Chinese sign for crisis contains opportunity in it as well, it is essential how leaders would behave and whether they will act from the level of fear or purpose.

It is advised by KornFerrry that in the heat of the situation, we need and are likely to see a new breed of effective leader emerge.
This leader will need to:

Step into, not away from, development.
Embrace uncertainty.
Navigate complexity.
Lead with empathy, curiosity, passion.
Be fast, decisive, and bold.
Run towards the fire.

What are the most important steps to be taken by leaders now?

8 STEPS LEADERS CAN TAKE NOW

1.	Be purposeful. • Constantly remind people why it is so important that we exist as a company. • See this crisis as a new way to purposefully serve colleagues and customers in new, meaningful, value-creating ways. • Leverage purpose as a new tool of innovation; purpose can touch lives in new ways.	5.	Be inspiring. • Share stories that reveal the enduring values and what is really important now. • Remember the purpose of the enterprise and rally people around it. • See the crisis as an opportunity to more deeply live and serve employees and customers.
2.	Be empathetic. • Acknowledge others’ stress in this situation. • Know that people are also struggling with personal and family issues beneath the business issues. • Show you care about them versus the enterprise only. • Repeat, repeat, repeat.	6.	Be resilient. • Take care of your energy, wellness, and fitness. • Encourage others to take care of themselves, and demonstrate by modeling it. • Show your energy to take on these challenges with energy and innovation.
3.	Be calm, clear, and confident. • Communicate with realness, clarity, authenticity, and regularity: tell the real story. • Express a vision of the other side of this…elevate from now to next. • Convert anxiety to the attitude “we will get through this together.”	7.	Be aware of mindsets. • Move from fixed/fear mindsets to growth mindsets. • Know that our openness and closedness opens or closes others. • Catch yourself in fixed/fear mindsets and move to growth mindsets before acting or behaving.
4.	Be both action oriented and reflective. • Reconcile the paradox of pause and action; both are critical. • Avoid being too passive or too hyperactive during these times. • Step back to reflect, learn, and strategize when the pace and bias for action are too high.	8.	Be courageous. • Make the tough decisions on purpose and with courage. • Pay attention to fear-based, reactive decisions. • Inspire others with your courage, energy, and positivity.

As we jumped into virtual world from day to day and accelerated the digitalization, here are some key principles of effective virtual delivery:
• Make it simple.
• Keep sessions short  focused.
• Include practical and  components.
• Incorporate elements that  emotional connection a human level.