Gary Tubridy of Alexander Group: Five Things You Need to Be a Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Communicate early: Let the team know you understand the situation. Tell them what you are doing, and work on demonstrating that the management team is all in.
As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need to Be a Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times,” we had the pleasure of interviewing Gary Tubridy.
Gary Tubridy is a senior vice president of the Alexander Group and the general manager in charge of the firm’s management consulting business. He also leads the Alexander Group executive events series and hosts the Women Revenue Leaders, Operations and Executive Forums. Gary is a frequent speaker and author on the best practices of leading revenue organizations. He is one of three founding stockholders of the Alexander Group.
Gary holds a B.A. from Brown University and an MBA from the Graduate School of Business at Columbia University.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
My career began at IBM, where I learned about the role of selling and the importance of the sales function. After about five years, I left IBM to go to business school, which led me to consulting with a firm that focused on Human Resources issues and had a small practice in Sales Effectiveness. At that time, Sales Effectiveness translated primarily into Sales Compensation work; the thinking was that if you build the right pay plan you can motivate all the right behaviors and results. The concept of Sales Effectiveness is what led me to founding the Alexander Group. I founded the Firm with two other partners on the premise that Sales Effectiveness was a great deal more complex than simply building the right compensation plan — you had to consider sales strategy, sales channels, organization structures and management programs (including compensation). We felt that, in all this complexity, clients could gain a lot of top line growth with the right kind of help from a consulting partner. Turns out we were right.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘takeaways’ you learned from that?
As a new consultant, I felt it was my job to give clients precise, technically correct answers to any issue we addressed. In other words, I thought my job was to give them answers. One client during that time opened my eyes when she told me after a final presentation, “Gary, these are great ideas, but we can’t possibly implement them. We don’t have the talent or the systems.” Bingo! I had defined my job as giving them technical answers when what they needed were practical solutions…and some help in getting those solutions implemented. Takeaway: never let perfection get in the way of progress. The job is to help clients make progress toward their goals.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
One of the founding partners of Alexander Group was such a person. His name was Reed Roberts; he passed away a few years ago. If there was one lesson he taught me, it was that you can solve any issue for a client if you first figure out the right questions to ask. The right questions lead you to the right people, the right insights, the right data, the right analogs. Before we even visited a client, we would spend a couple days just articulating the right questions.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?
Our motto was simple, “nothing happens until the sale is made.” We espoused the notion that if you were not innovating new products or selling value to customers, you were overhead. We felt it was our mission to both help clients achieve their revenue growth goals and, at the same time, elevate the importance of the sales function within our client organization.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?
I have been in the leadership of Alexander Group at some precarious moments in our history. In 2001 when the .com bubble burst, in 2008 when the financial system melted down and we experienced the great recession, and in 2020 when we entered the COVID-19 pandemic. In each case there were three principles we followed. One, recognize the gravity of the situation early ‒ take action fast. Two, preserve your team. Cut pay if you absolutely must but do NOT cut jobs, the business is the team, and it must be preserved. Three, shift your service emphasis rapidly to recognize what clients are going through and try to help them. Deploy your team, which you have kept together, to help clients through difficult times and you will have a client for life.
Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?
No, we never came close to giving up. You simply have too many valued team members who have given Alexander Group so much that you can’t walk away. The team depends on the firm and there will never be a time where you can let them down.
What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
You have to provide calm and steady guidance through the turbulence. No hysterics allowed. Always be sure to listen to your people and clients along the way and be prepared to adjust your course as appropriate. The key is to be prepared to act, being calm does not mean being frozen.
When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?
Uncertain times are when clients need our help the most. That message is important to both our clients and our consulting team. We help clients manage the top line of their business in both boom-and-bust cycles. I try to make sure our organization, as a whole, is confident in the value it brings to market anytime and anywhere.
What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?
Tell the team right away, there’s no good in waiting. It’s also crucial to make it clear with no sugar coating. Once the news is announced, offer guidance, although the news may not be great there’s a way to manage through it.
How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?
I like the 80% rule, get about 80% of the data and insight that is available and be prepared to act on it. The wait for perfect data is not worth it — it never comes. Also, keep the data coming in. The shelf life for solutions is much shorter these days and is measured in months not years. After you have implemented your business plan, listen and be prepared to adjust.
Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?’
As long as you take care of your team, they will in turn take care of your customers. This key principle ensures both loyal employees and loyal customers.
Can you share three or four of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
- Denial: Some companies wait too long to recognize difficult times. The earlier you can act the less dramatic your actions need be.
- Over-reaction: After waiting too long, companies can sometimes take too drastic of actions and cut both fat and muscle out of their marketing/sales/service team. Preserve as much muscle as possible to rebound rapidly when the time comes.
- Peanut butter coverage: After cutting back on coverage resources, remaining assets are “spread evenly” across all customers. Instead, segmentation is critical here. For some accounts, especially enterprise accounts, the same or even enhanced coverage is warranted. For others, perhaps at the transactional end, more efficient coverage techniques can be used, such as inside or hands-free channels. At times like this it is best to be innovative.
Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
Difficult times call for innovative solutions. When the pandemic hit, clients needed to pivot to virtual coverage techniques overnight. New tools were needed, new techniques were applied and new skills were learned. With the new process, new team motions were conceived and executed. In change like this the need for consulting help is huge. We had to make sure that we commercialized and promoted the capabilities that our clients needed most. You have to understand what customers need in a difficult economy and shift your investment and promotion plan to the services that meet this need.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.
- Scan the market: Work to understand what is happening and assess the extent of the impact on your business.
- Plan: While running the scenarios and pressure test for weakness, it’s also important to engage the leadership team and lock arms around the scenario that works best.
- Communicate early: Let the team know you understand the situation. Tell them what you are doing, and work on demonstrating that the management team is all in.
- Listen: Get insights from the ground up and from clients — make sure to do this often and to let everyone know that you care about what they think as well.
- Be flexible: Make adjustments where needed — let people know you really are listening and that their ideas matter.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote?” Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Have strong opinions, loosely held.” Strong opinions derive from experience and research. In areas that matter a leader does indeed need to have a strong opinion. That said, when situations change or a better idea comes along, don’t be afraid to update or even change your “strong opinion,” to not do so simply means you are stubborn.
How can our readers further follow your work?
A great place to start is our website (https://www.alexandergroup.com/) where they’ll find a library of articles, whitepapers and videos on revenue growth focused topics. I’d also encourage them to become part of Alexander Group’s revenue leadership community where they can participate in our ongoing research efforts and marquee events like the Women Revenue Leaders, Operations and Executive Forums.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
Gary Tubridy of Alexander Group: Five Things You Need to Be a Highly Effective Leader During… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
