Even in an economic downturn–there’s potential for opportunity. As former Chief Revenue Officer at Okta Steve Rowland told True Builders host Josh Withers, a downturn is the right time for a business to slow down and refocus on what’s important.
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“Now that we’re in this environment, where things are maybe slowing down for a period… I think it gives us a chance to get regrounded on what’s important when it comes to leading and being a leader. How do you make sure that you’re building a high quality and high functioning team? And then how am I being a strong team member to my executive team and really getting back to the basics and that aspect.”
He also spoke about how executives can hire for distributed (remote) teams. “You have to have core attributes of people who are adaptable, who are naturally driven. I think you have to have people who are naturally curious. You have to have people who are highly collaborative, and a lot of those things you can’t teach… if you’re naturally curious, you’re gonna have a tendency to reach out to people more, and you’re gonna want to learn and make those connections. And so, those attributes are super important, in my opinion, for all roles, that kind of cut across the organization.” (More on that in our True Insight featured article, Remote Executives).
And Rowland shared some advice for executives working with founders: “There is no one in the company, no matter how hard you try, that will ever care as deeply as the founder.” So when working with a founder, Rowland says to have some “sympathy,” and understand the passions and visions driving them.
Listen to the latest True Builders podcast episode, “Effective Leadership in a Distributed Workforce.” Learn how to leverage the current economy to best serve your tech business.