An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis

Make a list: The goal of this activity is to understand the pressures your organization is facing and to help prioritize action plans. Try to be as comprehensive as possible. Include worries, fears, and concerns — anything that can pull focus away from taking action for you and your team. Once the list is done, group like themes together to see the trends in the issues. Lastly, go through each theme and identify the degree of actionability as in — areas where taking action on your part can influence or potentially affect the outcome. Now you have a list of actionable areas you can work to prioritize action and level of effort against. You also have what I call an “empathy list” of all the issues people are worried about. The key as an effective communicator is to acknowledge the concerns but then return everyone’s focus to what is ultimately actionable, which are the aligned priority themes you’ve identified. This measure goes a long way to keeping your team moving in the right direction and helps you avoid valuable time loss debating issues that you can’t ultimately control.

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 Omar L. Harris.

Omar L. Harris. is a Former GM (GSK and Allergan), Intent Consulting Founder, Leadership Coach, Speaker, and Award-Winning Bestselling Author of 5 books, including “Be a J.E.D.I. Leader, Not a Boss: Leadership in the Era of Corporate Social Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion” (2021), “The Servant Leader’s Manifesto” (2020), and “Leader Board: The DNA of High Performance Teams” (2019). With 20+ years of global pharmaceutical executive experience building teams, Omar has worked on 4 continents (U.S., Middle East, Asia and Latin America) for Pfizer, Merck, Schering-Plough and more.

His books and work have been featured by CNN HLN Weekend Express, WPXI-TV NBC News Pittsburgh, Black News Channel, KPLC NBC/FOX/ABC News Lake Charles, Roland Martin Unfiltered (Book Club), The Beating Alpha Podcast, The Living Corporate Podcast, Real Leaders, SHRM Blog, Thrive Global, CEO World Magazine, Human Capital Innovations (HCI) Podcast, VoiceAmerica and many more. As fun facts, Omar speaks 5 languages, plays 7 instruments, and started his first company at the age of 7. https://www.omarlharris.com/

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?

Hi! I’m originally from Pittsburgh, PA, but consider myself to be a global citizen. Growing up, I moved from Pittsburgh to Charleston, WV, and then to Lake Charles, LA, where I attended junior and high school. I was grateful to receive a full 5-year academic scholarship to Florida A&M University, where I majored in marketing and received my MBA. After doing an internship at Pfizer during my BA/MBA program, I started my pharmaceutical career with Pfizer at the age of 21 as a sales rep in Detroit, MI, and embarked on a journey that would take me to Sao Paulo Brazil, Philadelphia, New Jersey, Brazil again, Jersey City, Turkey, Indonesia, and back to Brazil before starting my own company as of July 2020. Along the way, I became the youngest director and senior director in my company’s history (even more remarkable doing this as one of the only African-Americans in marketing in the entire company), a 38-year-old General Manager in Indonesia (the only African American GM in the world at the time), and ultimately author of 5 books and becoming a global leadership thought leader.

Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?

I almost had a full on panic attack the first time I had to present in the corporate boardroom to my company’s CEO and President along with my team. I only had 3 slides to present but as the moment I had to speak arrived, I was sure I was going to faint or die of a heart attack instead of speaking. I actually blacked out what I said, but apparently it went very well! Lesson learned — these executives are just people like you and me and don’t deserve you killing yourself to impress them!

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?

I’m very grateful to 5 key managers who really invested in me and believed in me. I call them the raw materials molder, the strengths discoverer, the strengths developer, the diversity diviner, and the safety net. Let’s focus for now on the strengths developer, a man named Mike McCann who managed the most successful part of my career when I was just getting started. He was a breath of fresh air when he came in — a no BS, humble, very real guy. Not to mention the fact that he was hilarious and used his sense of wit and humor to relax everyone around him and get the best out of his team. When he found out my talents, rather than give me some typical marketing assignments, he basically molded the position around my abilities and then applied the right balance of pressure and release. I truly blossomed due to his coaching and approach to leadership. His door was always open and he was the first manager I’d ever had who would make the impossible possible for his people who in turn would run through walls for him. To this day, I try to embody the principles of realness he embodied and remember that a leader’s job is to serve their people first.

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?

The purpose of Intent Consulting is to empower people to live actualized lives by embracing servant leadership principles and eliminating toxic boss behaviors. The great thing about a start-up is you can define this WHY right from the beginning versus course correcting a million times.

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?

There was a key moment where my leadership acumen was significantly challenged. I was with my leadership team at a conference in Chicago when an all out crisis erupted due to something presented on our products in front of 10,000 top customers. I realized that my team would emulate my emotions and so I projected positivity and told them to do the same while they checked in with their customers. I was able to step up to the pressure of the moment and hold the line and instill confidence in my people when our world appeared to be crumbling around us. From this experience, I learned that your people are always watching and taking cues from you as a leader. And in moments of crisis — the ability to project calm and focus others on what you can control is an invaluable skillset.

Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?

I never considered giving up. I’m built in such a way that I rise in moments of crisis — I actually thrive! What sustains our drive is the need to take care of people and make sure that they don’t give up and stay motivated.

What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?

We live in a VUCA world — VUCA meaning volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. During challenging times and good times, a leader must keep the focus on the overarching objectives while prioritizing the fires that need to be put out and more importantly, empowering others to step up and lead as well.

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?

The future is always uncertain, but it is also somewhat predictable. I believe we manifest the future in the mindset, habits, and commitments of each day. By keeping people focused on what they control, which is the spirit of Can, Will, and Do — you keep an organization marching forward despite obstacles. “Can” is about the positive, proactive mindset. “Will” is about the discipline to stick to agreed upon norms despite external pressures. “Do” is about commitment and accountability. Successful leaders inspire, motivate, and engage by letting them know what is possible (Can), if they stick to the basics (Will), and gaining their strong commitment and accountability (Do).

What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?

The best way to communicate difficult news is honestly and transparently. Provide the context behind the decisions and describe what actions are being taken to improve the situation.

How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?

70% of all strategic plans fail according to some sources. Plans fail because of the people involved — they are either unprepared, apathetic, lack accountability, flexibility, leadership, analytical capability, and/or good judgement. Leaders can make plans by practicing the principles of “good” decision making and not being concerned with “right” decision making. Whether a decision is right or wrong will only be proven with time, so leaders should focus on making “good” vs. “bad” decisions.

A good decision is one that takes measure of all available information and basic facts, assumes and weighs relevant risks, considers contingencies, and drives toward a positive outcome. Examples of good decisions would be deciding to navigate toward your destination via a GPS app versus trying to find your destination without a map. Or deciding to take advantage of the calorie counter on the menu to select a meal option that fits within your dietary goals. Good decisions usually lead to good outcomes. Bad decisions are those that empirical evidence has shown have a very low likelihood of success. To make a bad decision usually involves ignoring one’s intuition or moral compass, not listening to advice, outright ignoring facts, and/or maintaining an unrealistic attitude regardless of what the evidence shows. The fallout from bad decision making is usually catastrophic and very difficult to recover from.

Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?

I like Jim Collins “20 Mile March” concept, which is all about maintaining discipline despite good or bad conditions or fortune. This means having clear milestones that need to be reached within reasonable timeframes, focusing the organization on hitting these milestones regardless of what is going on, and also not going beyond them just because you can. The discipline to operate within certain constraints is crucial. Objectives and Key Results or OKRs are how leaders operationalize their 20 mile marches.

Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?

1. They don’t take care of people first and foremost. We witnessed the companies that at the first sign of trouble during the pandemic resorted to mass lay-offs versus the companies that took care of their labor forces.
2. They lose sight of their north star. The best way to see if a company’s purpose is meaningful is to see how well they stick to it in good and bad times. So many companies ditch their WHY and go into survival mode and therefore disengage and demotivate people at the exact moment they need their highest level of capacity and productivity.
3. They don’t communicate effectively. It’s difficult to align people during good times — and so much more difficult when times are tough. The best companies are able to cut through the noise with their clarity and honesty about the current situation and what needs to happen to navigate through it.
4. They go into damage control mode. Some companies focus on the hard work of succeeding despite difficulty while many others focus on covering their back sides and blaming others instead of leading.

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?

Imagine you have a corn farm and are having a particularly bad season both in terms of maintaining supply due to environmental factors and drops in customer demand. What to do? Well, bad times such as these were only a matter of time, so I would already have built in contingencies on the supply side in terms of partnerships and investments made in other corn fields. If demand fluctuates, which is also predictable (although undesirable), having deep customer understanding and relationships as a focus point prior to the crisis and working to support and serve them will enable innovations to manifest. Finally, strong financial discipline in good times allows you to successfully weather the bad times without too much fuss. Ensuring that you stick to key milestones in investment, spending, cost reduction, and efficiency as a matter of course is fundamental. So, my playbook is about anticipating what could go wrong and planning for the most likely scenarios, building and enhancing customer relationships and understanding of evolving needs, and maintaining financial discipline.

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.

I have 3 for you.

• Make a list: The goal of this activity is to understand the pressures your organization is facing and to help prioritize action plans. Try to be as comprehensive as possible. Include worries, fears, and concerns — anything that can pull focus away from taking action for you and your team. Once the list is done, group like themes together to see the trends in the issues. Lastly, go through each theme and identify the degree of actionability as in — areas where taking action on your part can influence or potentially affect the outcome. Now you have a list of actionable areas you can work to prioritize action and level of effort against. You also have what I call an “empathy list” of all the issues people are worried about. The key as an effective communicator is to acknowledge the concerns but then return everyone’s focus to what is ultimately actionable, which are the aligned priority themes you’ve identified. This measure goes a long way to keeping your team moving in the right direction and helps you avoid valuable time loss debating issues that you can’t ultimately control.
• Stay Balanced: This is much harder than it seems. Even though you have now aligned a hit list of actions, the situation will remain volatile and unpredictable with each day bringing a new list of concerns and worries. In addition to constantly repeating the list activity, you also need to make sure that you as the leader stay on balance. Most of us have another gear we kick into when confronting a crisis. We forego sleep, food, exercise, and most healthy habits in order to dedicate every waking moment to trying to solve the myriad issues we are facing. One of the areas of control is what you put into your body, the amount of physical activity you are getting, and how much rest you are achieving. A crucial aspect of proactivity is also understanding and reinforcing the importance of providing your body, mind, and spirit, what is necessary to maintain clarity and calm no matter what you confront with each day of the crisis. Make sure you prioritize balance. Get a minimum of 6 hours of sleep each night. Eat at regular intervals and ensure you are getting the necessary nutrients in. Drink the right amount of water. Take a few minutes at the top of the day to move and get some exercise in to get the blood pumping and help reduce your anxiety levels.
• Practice Intentional Positivity: It’s natural to drift toward pessimism during a crisis. Things don’t move fast enough. Everyone is wrapped up in their own adjustments to the volatility. Sense of urgency may not be fully aligned. And news gets worse with each passing day. A leader’s role is to accept and acknowledge the brutal facts of the situation, but then create the feelings of compassion, stability, trust, and hope that people need to positively move forward. We’ve already discussed the need for empathy and acknowledgement of how your people are managing their stress and worries — this compassionate approach humanizes your leadership approach and lets people know you understand their challenges and are meeting them where they are. Stability comes with routine — setting up regular touch points and providing regular communications throughout the crisis goes a long way toward keeping people focused. It is tempting as a leader to absorb a lion’s share of the decision-making responsibility during hard times. But it is exactly this type of attitude that burns you out and doesn’t empower others to fully perform their roles. Trusting the capability of your team during a crisis is an essential step that demonstrates your confidence in your people and divides the workload so each person can maintain their balance throughout the crisis. Hope then comes from proactively showing each silver lining that presents during the length of the situation. Using historical context is a great way to provide hope — demonstrating that this situation will in fact blow over eventually and things will return to some state of normalcy. The fact is that most crisis are never as bad as they seemed during the heat of the moment. Maintaining calm and perspective about the situation helps people manage their worst fears. By categorizing worries versus controllable areas, maintaining balance for yourself and your colleagues, and practicing intentional positivity throughout the crisis, you will find that your attitude towards the crisis is assuredly impacted, you have consistent stamina to keep moving forward, and your people remain optimistic and proactive despite the external noise.

Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?

“No excuse is acceptable, no amount of effort is adequate, until it is effective.” This is the quote all business students at The School of Business and Industry at Florida A&M University must internalize. Basically, I interpreted it to mean more action, less excuses and used it to formalize my Can, Will, Do philosophy of leadership. It’s particularly important now in this age of corporate social justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion which is a business reckoning of enormous proportions. The more leaders focused on effective effort versus window dressing, the more progress we can make and potential we can unlock!

How can our readers further follow your work?

To book Omar L. Harris as a speaker or contact him about leadership coaching and consulting services, visit https://www.omarlharris.com/. Follow his updates on LinkedIn @omarlharris, Twitter @strengthsleader and Instagram @omarl.harris.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!

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Omar L Harris: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.