Executive Interviews: Interview with Tamara J Erickson on Managing Troubled Times
March 2009 - By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary

Stewart D Friedman
Stewart D Friedman, Stewart Friedman, Practice Professor of Management Director, Wharton Work/Life Integration Project

Since 1991, the Wharton School has required that allMBA students take at least one course in leadership. It is mandatory. I believe this is important and that all business schools should follow the same policy.

• What according to you should be the role of organizations in nurturing and developing leadership talent within the company? GE has always been known as a CEO Factory. What should other companies do to improve their bench strength? And also is there any danger when too many leaders are developed with too few leadership positions (at the top) to be filled?
  My view on this is simple: The more leaders, the better. I’d much rather have the problem of having too many great people who are committed to serving my organization’s interests than having too few.

• Right now, companies across the globe are facing unprecedented times requiring them to fight many battles – excess employees, inventory piling up, growth conundrums, exchange rate setbacks, impatient capital markets, horrendous decrease in market capitalization and share prices and pressures on profitability. It seems that any solution to one problem leads to another problem. How should companies plan to come out of this vicious cycle? What according to you should be their priorities and how should they address them?
  This is a complex and difficult question. My short answer is that the best companies account for the interests of multiple stakeholders and creatively seekways of integrating the various interests represented by these stakeholders. To do this well requires that responsible executives maintain and cultivate means for healthy dialogue.

• What is your advice to all such people going through such traumatic times? What are the few things that they should keep a tab on and keep working on so that life, if not as it was, at least does not deteriorate? What is the role of leadership in setting and achieving such higher order goals during such troubled times?
  I’ve written a number of blogs on this subject. The short answer is this: now is the best time to take a cleareyed, serious look at what matters most in your life and then take action to better align whatmatters with what you do every day.

• You have observed in an interesting piece (Dial Down the Stress Level, HBR, December 2008) that, “The knee-jerk response in an economic downturn is to wring greater productivity out of your workforce by making employees work harder. But this can hurt more than help by fueling resentment and burnout” Why is it so?
  Themore control employees feel they have over their work and personal lives, the more resilient and effective they’re going to be in performing their jobs.

• As an alternative to this problem, you have suggested a smarter approach. Can you please elaborate on this for the benefit of our readers?
  My approach is to focus on the things that matter most to people and to find creative means for organizing that enable them to pursue these things in ways that benefit the organization and the society. My research has shown that when you account for the interests of the whole person, paradoxically, you get better results in your business.

1. Troubled Times Case Study
2. ICMR Case Collection
3. Case Study Volumes