The following is adapted from a WSJ column by Bill George, author of 'True North' and former CEO of Medtronic.

    Here are seven lessons for leaders charged with leading their organizations through a crisis:

    Lesson 1: Leaders must face reality. Reality starts with the person in charge. Leaders need to look themselves in the mirror and recognize their role in creating the problems. Then they should gather their teams together and gain agreement about the root causes. Widespread recognition of reality is the crucial step before problems can be solved. Attempting to find short-term fixes that address the symptoms of the crisis only ensures the organization will wind up back in the same predicament.

    In order to understand the real reasons for the crisis, everyone on the leadership team must be willing to tell the whole truth. Leaders can't solve problems if they don't acknowledge their existence.

    Lesson 2: No matter how bad things are, they will get worse. Faced with bad news, many leaders cannot believe that things could really be so grim. Consequently, they try to convince the bearers of bad news that things aren't so bad, and swift action can make problems go away.

    This causes leaders to undershoot the mark in terms of corrective actions. As a consequence, they wind up taking a series of steps, none of which is powerful enough to correct the downward spiral. It is far better for leaders to anticipate the worst and get out in front of it. If they restructure their cost base for the worst case, they can get their organization healthy for the turnaround when it comes and take advantage of opportunities that present themselves.

    Lesson 3: Build a mountain of cash, and get to the highest hill. In good times leaders worry more about earnings per share and revenue growth than they do about their balance sheets. In a crisis, cash is king. Forget about earnings-per-share and all those stock market measures. The question is, 'Does your organization have sufficient cash to survive the most dire circumstances?'

    Lesson 4: Get the world off your shoulders. In a crisis, many leaders act like Atlas, carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders. They go into isolation, and think they can solve the problem themselves. In reality, leaders must have the help of all their people to devise solutions and to implement them. This means bringing people into their confidence, asking them for help and ideas, and gaining their commitment to painful corrective actions.

    Lesson 5: Before asking others to sacrifice, first volunteer yourself. If there are sacrifices to be made and there will be then the leaders should step up and make the greatest sacrifices themselves. Everyone is watching to see what the leaders do. Will they stay true to their values? Will they bow to external pressures, or confront the crisis in a straight-forward manner? Will they be seduced by short-term rewards, or will they make near-term sacrifices in order to fix the long-term situation?

    Lesson 6: Never waste a good crisis. When things are going well, people resist major changes or try to get by with minor adaptations. A crisis provides the leader with the platform to get things done that were required anyway and offers the sense of urgency to accelerate their implementation.

    Lesson 7: Be aggressive in the marketplace. This may sound counter-intuitive, but a crisis offers the best opportunity to change the game in your favor, with new products or services to gain market share. Many people look at a crisis as something to get through, until they can go back to business as usual. But 'business as usual' never returns because markets are irrevocably changed. Why not create the changes that move the market in your favor, instead of waiting and reacting to the changes as they take place?

    以下內(nèi)容節(jié)選自比爾•喬治(Bill George)的博客，他著有《真北：125位全球頂尖領(lǐng)袖的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)力告白》(True North: Discover Your Authentic Leadership)一書，曾任美敦力公司(Medtronic Inc.)首席執(zhí)行長。

    負(fù)有帶領(lǐng)公司走出危機(jī)之責(zé)的領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人應(yīng)當(dāng)記取的七大教訓(xùn)：

    教訓(xùn)1：領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人必須面對(duì)現(xiàn)實(shí)。現(xiàn)實(shí)從負(fù)責(zé)的人開始。領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人需要審視自身，認(rèn)識(shí)自己在引起問題方面扮演了何種角色。然后他們應(yīng)當(dāng)集合自己的團(tuán)隊(duì)，就問題的根源達(dá)成一致意見。普遍認(rèn)清現(xiàn)實(shí)是問題得以解決的關(guān)鍵步驟。試圖找出應(yīng)對(duì)危機(jī)表象的短期解決方案只會(huì)讓公司最終又回到同樣的困境。

    要了解危機(jī)的真正原因，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)團(tuán)隊(duì)中的每個(gè)人都必須愿意說出全部的事實(shí)。如果領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人不承認(rèn)存在問題，就無法解決問題。

    教訓(xùn)2：不管情況多糟糕，它們都會(huì)變得更糟。面對(duì)壞消息，許多領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人無法相信事態(tài)真的這么嚴(yán)重。結(jié)果，他們會(huì)試圖說服傳達(dá)壞消息的人，說情況其實(shí)沒那么壞，只要迅速采取行動(dòng)就能讓問題消失。

    這會(huì)導(dǎo)致領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人解決問題時(shí)力度不夠。結(jié)果，他們最終采取了一系列措施，但沒有一個(gè)得力到可以糾正不斷惡化的形勢(shì)。如果領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人能夠預(yù)先考慮最壞的情況并搶先解決，情形會(huì)好得多。如果他們從最糟糕的情況出發(fā)對(duì)成本結(jié)構(gòu)進(jìn)行調(diào)整，一旦經(jīng)濟(jì)好轉(zhuǎn)，公司就會(huì)處于良好的狀況，也能夠利用擺在面前的機(jī)會(huì)。

    教訓(xùn)3：積累大量資金，越多越好。在世道好的時(shí)候，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人更多地?fù)?dān)心每股收益和收入的增長，而不怎么擔(dān)心資產(chǎn)負(fù)債表的狀況。但危機(jī)之時(shí)，現(xiàn)金決定一切。別去想什么每股收益和所有那些股市指標(biāo)。關(guān)鍵問題是：你的公司是否有充足的資金以度過最嚴(yán)峻的形勢(shì)？

    教訓(xùn)4：不要什么都一個(gè)人承擔(dān)。危機(jī)之時(shí)，許多領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人都像大力神一般，獨(dú)力承擔(dān)整個(gè)世界的重負(fù)。他們與外界隔絕，覺得自己能解決所有問題。事實(shí)上，領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人必須得到手下人的協(xié)助才能想出解決方案并付諸實(shí)施。這就意味著要讓人們有信心，向他們尋求幫助和建議，并取得他們對(duì)實(shí)施棘手矯正行動(dòng)的承諾。

    教訓(xùn)5：在要求其他人犧牲之前，自己先作出表率。如果需要做出犧牲（肯定會(huì)有這種情況的），領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人應(yīng)當(dāng)首先站出來做出最大的犧牲。每個(gè)人都在看領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人會(huì)怎么做。他們會(huì)不會(huì)身體力行自己所說的價(jià)值觀？他們是會(huì)屈從于外部壓力，還是直面危機(jī)？他們會(huì)受到短期回報(bào)的誘惑，還是會(huì)做出暫時(shí)的犧牲以修正長期局面？

    教訓(xùn)6：永遠(yuǎn)不要浪費(fèi)危機(jī)的大好機(jī)會(huì)。在世道好的時(shí)候，人們不愿意進(jìn)行重大變革，或是試圖通過小打小鬧的調(diào)整勉強(qiáng)對(duì)付過去。危機(jī)給領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人提供了平臺(tái)，可以做到一些本來就必須做的事，并給人一種緊迫感，從而加速實(shí)施。

    教訓(xùn)7：在市場上積極進(jìn)取。聽上去也許有點(diǎn)不合常理，但危機(jī)是讓形勢(shì)朝著對(duì)你有利的方向發(fā)展的最好機(jī)會(huì)，可以推出新產(chǎn)品或服務(wù)，奪取市場份額。許多人認(rèn)為需要捱過危機(jī)才能令業(yè)務(wù)回到跟平常一樣的狀態(tài)。但“跟平常一樣的狀態(tài)”永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)回來，因?yàn)槭袌龅母淖儫o可挽回。不要只是坐等變化發(fā)生后被動(dòng)地應(yīng)對(duì)，為什么不去創(chuàng)造一些變化，令市場朝著有利于你的方向發(fā)展呢？