A Conversation With: Dr. Vince Molinaro, Leadership Expert

The coronavirus continues to have dire effects on businesses across the country, and the franchise industry is no exception. Franchisors across segments are strategizing new ways to support their franchisees, keep customers satisfied, help local communities and come out stronger on the other side of this crisis.

To that end, 1851 Franchise publisher Nick Powills and Charles Internicola, founder and partner of the Internicola Law* Firm, are covering the coronavirus and its impact on businesses through our A Conversation With webinar series.

In today’s afternoon webinar, Powills and Internicola spoke with author, speaker and leadership expert Dr. Vince Molinaro about what leaders can learn from the COVID-19 crisis. 

Here are some of the key insights from their discussion.

What it Means to Be a Leader Right Now

Throughout the COVID-19 crisis, what it means to be a leader is being redefined everyday. Business’s stories are playing out in real time as we see who is stepping up and who is falling behind.

The best way to survive in this environment is to serve — be there for people and help them step up in ways they may have never been able to before. 

Certain aspects of leadership are in greater focus now. For example, the need to be mentally flexible and adaptable is essential in order to envision what the future will look like and discover new opportunities. Not everyone is in that future-oriented head space right now, but leaders must be. 

The personal nature of leadership is one of the most challenging aspects. Now, all of our emotions are intensified. For those of us lucky enough to be healthy during this crisis, we have an opportunity to pause and work on ourselves. There is a reason sports have off seasons. 

How to Pivot Businesses

Resilience is not enough — we have to do more than survive. Leaders need to find an inner resolve to inspire themselves so they can come out of this stronger than ever. This crisis may have simply lifted back the curtain and revealed vulnerability that was always there. If we simply go back to normal, it is a missed opportunity. 

Business leaders are in a prime position to innovate. There may have been certain fundamentals that business owners overlooked before this. For example, many brick and mortar businesses are realizing the benefits of serving employees and customers virtually. 

For many leaders, this could be the moment to really step up and do what they were born to do. Ultimately, leadership is not just about leading teams, it is about finding strategies to position businesses for the future. Leaders are the ones who have the confidence and courage to think about creative ways to come back stronger. 

Seeing the Bigger Picture

While it is often hard to find perspective in the midst of a crisis, from a business standpoint, leaders need to take a big-picture approach to succeed. Leadership is always a function of context. Leaders need to understand where their business fits in the world at large. 

This crisis may show that many of the things we used to worry about are actually not that important. Now, everyone is on the same playing field. There could be a blessing in the fact that this is helping us all reevaluate what’s important. 

Most business owners have never had to deal with issues at this scale. The leaders that are realizing that they need to come together are the ones that will prevail. Community is essential. 

When franchising works, it is leadership-driven for both the franchisee and franchisor. A leadership culture is essential for businesses to be sustainable — the organizations that were already building this through core values will be at a major advantage.