Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to work with leaders facing extraordinarily challenging situations. I’ve watched executives navigate financial crises, major customer losses, public mistakes, and periods of intense uncertainty.
One pattern I’ve noticed is that adversity has a way of stripping away appearances.
During periods of stability, it is often hard to distinguish between leaders who look strong and leaders who are strong. When business is growing, the team is performing well, and few major problems exist, weaknesses can remain hidden for a long time. When pressure increases, leaders begin to reveal who they really are.
I work with one CEO whose company makes high-precision gearboxes for large industrial equipment.
Their products help run equipment such as air conditioning systems for hospitals, oil rigs, and other mission-critical machinery where downtime can be expensive and, in some cases, dangerous.
Inside the company, they have a standard they call 99 TSB.
It means 99 percent of the time they intend to be on time, on spec, and on budget. They take that commitment seriously. In the rare cases when something does not go according to plan, the CEO has another phrase everyone knows:Â Run To The Problem. And he does.
He is often the first one on site. The CEO does not make excuses or point fingers. He focuses on fixing the problem for the customer as quickly as possible. His behavior makes it clear that 99 TSB is not a slogan. It is a standard the company is expected to live by. Values are easy to discuss when there is little at stake. They become much harder to uphold when honoring those values comes with a cost.
People pay close attention to how a leader responds when the situation becomes difficult.
Those moments illuminate character in ways that normal conditions do not, and they leave people with a lasting picture of who the leader really is.
Organizations are expecting more from the people they bring in to speak.
A strong keynote still matters. But leaders are also looking for practical tools, planning support, useful takeaways, and someone who understands the pressure behind the event.
John Spence does not just walk on stage, deliver a keynote, and leave. He works with you as a trusted partner from the first planning conversation through the final follow-up.
