What I Am Learning About Leadership from COVID-19

[This reflection is from Danielle Hilmes, Sr. Director, Talent Acquisition, Stanford University Human Resources.  She is a current participant in the Leadership @ Stanford Program.  Danielle may be reached at [email protected].] 

Hi Everyone,

These are challenging times for all of us, but hopefully you are able to find your own silver linings amidst the disruption you are facing.

Here is what I am learning about leadership from COVID-19:

Inclusion – Inclusion is more important than ever, unless you are a member of a particular group, it can be hard to know their perspective unless you make an effort to do so.   One recent perspective that I did not initially consider, but has moved me deeply now that I am aware, was this article about how African-American men are concerned that wearing masks will expose them to racism from the police.   This is a no-win scenario and I am glad that it is getting publicity and acknowledgement so that we can all be more sympathetic to this challenge.  Conversely, one perspective that I have been well aware of, as an individual of Chinese heritage, is the concern of Asians and Asian Americans about hate crimes due to blame over COVID-19.  I was personally touched at the active way Marc Tessier-Lavigne announced his support for the Asian community at the Town Hall on April 6.  Both of these insights have motivated me to look for ways to become more actively inclusive and pro-actively seek out ways to get different perspectives on events and decisions and how to act upon them.

Leadership Styles – As Brian mentioned earlier this week, I think it has been very interesting to observe how some of our elected leaders are handling a crisis.  In particular, Andrew Cuomo, the governor of NY is fascinating to me.  He was not particularly popular before COVID-19; his daily presentations on live t.v. use pretty dry PowerPoint presentations; his brother, Chris, is a CNN anchor that has contracted COVID; and he is in conflict with the mayor of New York City on some of his COVID-19 responses.  All this being said, the people in the NY/NJ area (where I grew up) have come to love and trust him for his response to this crisis.  I ask myself and maybe we can discuss this question together sometime – what does it takes to be a wartime (crisis) leader versus a peacetime leader?  As leaders, how can we be good at both?

Networking – In this pandemic, we have needed to leverage our resources to be able to respond immediately to our evolving environment.  One learning for me was the tremendous support my professional network can provide.  In many cases, talking with my network has allowed me at least a 5-day lead to resolve issues before they hit Stanford.  For example:

•    How do we finalize a background check if the county courts are closed and criminal records cannot be obtained?
•    How do we hire new employees if one of the legal requirements is to physically check documentation of proof of citizenship but we are supposed to be sheltering in place and social distancing?
•    How to I reach out to thousands of temp/casuals in efficient manner if the only contact information we have on file is a phone number?

Before this program, I had not focused on building my professional network, but I am truly getting to experience the value now and I am extremely grateful.

I hope you are able to find your own balance during these unusual times.  If anyone needs my support in any way, please let me know.

Best, 

Danielle