The uncommon sense of MESSY leadership

2020 changed the world. The COVID-19 pandemic forced mass lock downs across the globe, causing economic volatility at a level not seen since the Great Depression. Businesses reacted quickly, closing offices and requiring thousands of employees to work from home. In many industries, revenues dried up. Demand for oil slumped.

For leaders, 2020 was messy. Without a way to predict the future, let alone what would happen in the following week, leaders were challenged by unprecedented rapid, continuous change. This meant leaders needed to respond to new issues more quickly than conventional logic would say is possible, and deal with a new level of emotions from nearly all their employees, ranging from fear to stress, anxiety, and deep sadness.

So how did leaders and organizations react?

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