Resilience Spotlights: Fireside Chat with John Hennessy

As the former President of Stanford University, co-founder of MIPS, and current Chairman of Alphabet, John Hennessy has a lot of leadership learnings and wisdom to share. We were honored to have him join us as a part of our Resilience Spotlights series. Below are a few of his key takeaways and a recording of the talk for those who weren’t able to make it.

• In times of crisis, leaders have to share a message of hope with their teams.
• Companies that get laser-focused on their mission and value proposition are those that will succeed on the other side.
• Hesitation in leadership is inevitable, but don’t hesitate too much – making decisions quickly is key.
• Boards should make sure management knows they’re on the same team, and help them get out of the trenches to see the big picture.
• This is not a time to stop R&D, but rather to be more selective about where you invest.

And finally, as a student of history, he encourages leaders to listen to FDR’s inaugural speech with the famous line of “We have nothing to fear but fear itself,” and learn from the case study of his decisive leadership. Thanks again to John for joining us.