7 Leadership Lessons for When the Storms Are Raging

I co-founded a Ukrainian company based in Kyiv. Since February 24, 2022, “business as usual” no longer applies to my company. It’s rather “learn or fail, and better learn fast.” That’s what our company has been doing: taking risks, seizing opportunities, adjusting to circumstances that change every day, and learning our lessons. I believe our experiences may be valuable for other entrepreneurs because turbulence seems to be a new normality everywhere in the world.

1. Believe in better; prepare for the worst.

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine started, no one was ready. Our employees had to decide what to do in a hurry. We tried to help them (for example, with evacuating from Kyiv), but everything was chaotic in the first few days. People left the city for safer regions within the country, and some went abroad.

In several months, many employees returned to Kyiv and started working from the office again. The summer was relatively calm in the city, but in October, the attacks on our civil infrastructure began. Fortunately, we learned our lesson. Now, our employees can come to the office any time and work for as long as they need because there are electric generators providing power, internet connection and heating. Today we are much more prepared for unpleasant surprises and sudden challenges.

2. Support your people, and they will support you.

My co-founder and I had to make decisions quickly. Some of the most important decisions were to keep the whole team, continue paying salaries and support our employees in various ways. For example, at the beginning of the war, we conducted group sessions with a psychologist at the end of every meeting. And now, we offer free sessions for employees suffering from stress or anxiety.

People have become closer and warmer in their relationships over the last nine months. Employees see that we really care about them, and it increases their loyalty. We considered ourselves a family long before the war, and now we feel like it even more.

Also, we’ve noticed that the team has started to work harder and more efficiently. Sometimes, employees even work overtime, although they are not required to do so. The team’s responsibility level has increased, and the results reflect that.

3. Communication comes in many forms.

A year ago, most of our employees used to come to the office, and some worked remotely but met colleagues offline from time to time. After the war started, we faced the challenge of managing an entirely distributed team. Our employees were in other cities, small Ukrainian villages, the EU, and distant countries. We weren’t prepared for it, but nevertheless, we had to work not just as efficiently as before but even better.

We resumed online meetings and continued communicating online. Luckily, our team was already in-sync, so remote work didn’t harm our productivity.

But then the next challenge appeared. Drone attacks on the civil infrastructure led to blackouts all over the country, and some employees couldn’t attend online meetings. We had to switch to asynchronous communication. Now we write more often than talk, take notes on every meeting, and share them with people who couldn’t come, along with recordings. It turns out that if the team is strong, it can perform exceptionally, even in difficult circumstances.

4. When life gets hard, it’s time to get creative.

Early on, we lost many customers in just a few days, and our profits dropped. We had to find new ways to earn money, and we did. After several brainstorming sessions, we collected a lot of ideas.

We decided to be brave and aim for a big target, create new products, and enter new markets. We’d been nourishing this idea for a long time but couldn’t get started. The war gave us a much-needed push, and we began to prepare for our “Indian inception.”

In just a few months, we created a new product and offered it to the Indian market. It required tons of work: We improved our learning platform, trained mentors, hired a local sales team, conducted free online events to promote our course, and completed many other steps. It was quite a ride! As a result, we gathered the first group of students and successfully started the program. Now, we are working on scaling the project.

5. Uncertainty is inevitable, so accept it.

The world is getting increasingly complex, and uncertainty is our reality, whether we like it or not. So, don’t fight it.

We learned to live surrounded by uncertainty and to deal with it. For example, we have a plan for at least two to four weeks ahead, but we also consider different future scenarios. We know what the main risks are, and we try to diversify them. For instance, I’ve bought all the equipment I might need to continue working without electricity or an internet connection at home, from power banks and flashlights to a tourist gas stove.

6. Don’t lose the big picture.

Times of extreme turbulence often force us to forget about a long-term vision. But I’ve found this is a big mistake because you can’t grow and develop if you focus only on short-term results and problems. That’s why it’s crucial to keep your vision and mission close—they help us remember why we continue our battle. For example, our goal isn’t just to earn money; we want to help a million people become Java developers and change their lives for the better. We believe in this vision, and it keeps our spirits up.

7. We are much stronger than we think. And you are too.

A year ago, if someone had told me what was ahead of us, I would have thought it would be impossible to go through. But we are here, and we aren’t some superheroes. We’re just motivated and resilient, and a huge part of this resilience comes from our recent experience.

So, embrace the challenges, and let the adjusting, strong human nature do the rest.

Also published here.

Lead image by Roman Melnychuk on Unsplash