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How to Lead in a Time of Crisis

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If you’d like to learn how to be an effective leader so you can influence people, sign up for the free 90-Day Master Class hosted by the founder of Addicted2Success.com, Joel Brown.


We have an abundance of information on leadership. We can learn how to inspire, manage, and develop a team; how to change an entire workplace DNA from the top down; how to deal with confrontation. But when it comes to crises, we’re often left in the middle of a winding road without direction. How do we lead in uncharted territories?

By definition, a crisis is unexpected, chaotic, and changes everything. It’s usually unprecedented or has different characteristics from the past, making you the pioneer of something novel. Most leadership has to do with experience and knowledge, but what if we are the first ones?

Imagine the great leaders of WWII and how they had to embark on their personal leadership journey. They had to use the resources they already had to navigate an unknown reality. They understood that to lead in a crisis, they would have to identify their values and core beliefs to create a leadership strategy for success.

When we face a new crisis, we have to depend on our core virtues to decipher the right plan.

1. Understanding The Two Eyes

The Samurai, Miyamoto Musashi teaches us about how we view things in the world. He speaks of the Observing Eye and the Perceiving Eye. The Observing Eye is seeing the reality of a situation, taking a step back, and seeing it for what it is. The Perceiving Eye, considered the weaker view, is when we see something and we invent our perception, opinions, and emotions about the situation.

The Observing Eye gives us the power to objectively study an issue for its reality and take action (we lead in the present). When we see a crisis with the Observing Eye, we equip ourselves to find the best solution without caving into anxiety and pressure.

2. Lead with Character

Talent might elevate us to success, but it is character that sustains us. Our virtues, core beliefs, and identity are what helps us navigate difficult seasons. Our character gives us the power to interpret situations and decide on the right thing to do, even if it might not make sense at the time.

When we face a crisis, we might be tempted to take the easy way out or to do what our peers are pressuring us to do. The right character will assess these variables and filter them through your leadership core views. This is incredibly important, considering you’ll be the one leading your team and need to stand strong on your decisions when times get tough.

Lead with your values. Use empathy, grace, confidence, listening, discipline, and other virtues to lead in an uncharted time.

“A leader is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – Nelson Mandela

3. Put People First

The most important component of every crisis will be people. Your team is the most vital difference between success and failure when there is a threat to your organization. When everything seems to be falling apart, it’s people that will put it back together. If we value people and put them first, we increase our chances of weathering the storm.

Each decision you make and each word you communicate will be remembered. A crisis is a vulnerable time for people. They are worried about their jobs and family. Everything that seemed secure is now threatened. If a leader makes this season harder through anxious words and toxic interactions, they hurt themselves, their team, and business.

The best way to put people first is by speaking life into their lives. Encourage them every day, not just for their accomplishments, but for who they are as a person. Uplift them in failure and show them how you appreciate what they have done. Listen to them and find out what ideas they have, what they are passionate about, and what concerns them. Listening is the best way to show that we value people.

During a crisis, we should over-communicate. People need to hear double encouragement and vision. Difficult times call for stronger teams and social security.

4. Be Resilient and Flexible

If you’ve ever led through a crisis, you quickly learn how everything moves very fast. You think you’ve found a solution, but it didn’t work or the crisis has evolved, and now it is obsolete. That’s why resilience and flexibility are so important.

Resilience allows us to recover quickly after a setback. Instead of thinking down on ourselves or analyzing it for too long, we brush off the dust and get back up. We keep trying. Flexibility is when we adjust our sails efficiently as we learn and find opportunities. We do not operate hesitantly when we have to change a process or strategy.

When we implement both of these virtues, we develop grit. We are ready to face challenges head-on and find our way through it.

“The key to successful leadership is influence, not authority.” – Kenneth H. Blanchard

5. Take a Step Back

Much like what the Observing Eye does for us, we need to be intentional to stop and breathe. Take a step back and analyze the situation.

I remember working at a fast-food restaurant in college as a new supervisor. When we had the lunch rush and stumbled upon some problems, I felt stressed. My trainer at the time gave me great advice.

He told me to ignore my instinct at the time, which was to jump in and get busy. I couldn’t assess the situation and wouldn’t be of much help if I just grabbed another cash register. He told me to step back and watch. While the front counter was packed, by stepping away, I realized the real problem was that the kitchen was behind on food. I was able to adjust my strategy.

When we stop to observe reality, we can find the best option. Instead of being busy, we can make strategic decisions that create a bigger output than what we could do ourselves.

When we face a crisis, it can be intimidating. We have very little examples in history to look to. But when we depend on our values and experience to develop a new strategy, we can overcome any challenge put before us.

9 Powerful Quotes That’ll Inspire You to Be Your Own Boss

What do you think is the most important characteristic of a leader? Share your thoughts below!

John Paul Hernandez is a copywriter and business strategist that provides value to companies and their customers. When he’s not writing, you’ll find him in Little Havana leaning by a ventanita, sipping his cafecito. You can connect with John Paul on his website at www.JohnPaulHernandez.com.

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Change Your Mindset

You Become What You Absorb: How Input Shapes Your Life

We let the world dictate who we spend time with and what input we allow in, rarely stopping to consider the effects it’s having on us

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How Input Shapes Your Life
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“Input” is anything from the outside world that influences your mood, mindset, and emotional state. It includes the media you consume, the books you read, the podcasts and music you listen to, and the movies and shows you watch. But it also encompasses much more: the environment you live and work in, the conversations you have, the people you surround yourself with, and the events, personal or global, that unfold around you. (more…)

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Success Advice

This Overlooked Skill Drives Real Business Growth

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In every successful leader’s toolkit, one skill stands out above the rest: the ability to listen. While good leaders are known for making confident decisions, great leaders understand that those decisions are only as strong as the information they’re based on. And that information? It comes from truly listening to their teams, peers, and even critics. (more…)

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Scale Your Business

Tired of Wasting Money on the Wrong Marketers? Here’s How Smart Entrepreneurs Are Finally Hiring Right

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truthmetric, burning money on marketing

If you’ve ever Googled how to hire a Facebook marketer or best TikTok marketing agency only to spend thousands on someone who couldn’t deliver…congrats, you’ve joined a very expensive club! For many entrepreneurs, hiring a digital marketer feels like more like visiting a casino and gambling with your runway, than it feels like securing a partner who’ll help build your business. Often,  it feels like you’re betting on a stranger to grow the dream you’ve poured your savings into.

And way too often, you lose that bet.

You don’t need another list of the “Top 10 Agencies” with five-star testimonials and polished logos. You need to know which marketer can actually drive results for your business. Not in theory. In practice.

This is where entrepreneurs are learning to pivot. And it’s why a new platform called TruthMetric.com is turning heads across the startup world.

Why Most Startups Burn Through 3–6 Marketers Before Finding the Right One

Here’s the hard truth: most startups don’t fail because of their product, they fail because they can’t get sales or sell it fast enough. And in trying to fix that, founders usually go through five or six marketers, burning tens of thousands before finding someone who truly knows how to convert.

You build your product, get your website live, maybe even launch an ad campaign. But when you search for help and look up how to “hire a YouTube ads agency” or “top Facebook ad expert for Shopify”, you get hit with a sea of shiny portfolios, “ninja” titles, and endless promises.

Three months later, you’re still waiting on your first profitable campaign, and you’re most likely out tens of thousands, feeling utterly defeated…and maybe grinning with an affinity for that upcoming boxing class with a picture of that marketer’s fac……nevermind.

If this sounds like you, it’s time for what one entrepreneur called a strategic shift to scale smarter, not harder.

Introducing TruthMetric.com: The Transparent Marketplace for Hiring Marketers Who Deliver

TruthMetric.com isn’t just another freelancer platform or agency directory. It’s the first hiring solution where you can see three years of real, verified marketing performance before spending a dime.

That includes:

  • Verified ad campaign performance
  • Actual return on ad spend (ROAS)
  • Industry-specific experience
  • Platform specialties (Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, Google Ads, and more)

Whether you’re looking for a Facebook ads expert, a TikTok marketer, or a YouTube growth strategist, TruthMetric.com lets you filter and compare based on what actually matters, results.

This level of clarity is something you won’t find on platforms like Upwork or Fiverr. And it solves what many founders know too well as the New York Pizza Problem: where every marketer claims they’re “the best,” just like every pizzeria in Manhattan says they’re #1. Often without showing you results, you get sucked into this dream of collaboration, until the nightmare commences the moment you fork that first invoice payment. Hence the deception that leads to many business owners losing their hard earned savings and budget to launch their grand idea.

With TruthMetric, you finally get the data to decide for yourself, BEFORE you hire. Now if only New York Pizza shops had the same transparency then maybe you’d finally find the best pizza in New York, perhaps the perfect post work out after a boxing sesh? I think so!

Why Founders Are Shifting to Results-First Hiring

Most entrepreneurs think they need to do it all themselves, until they burn out or burn through their budget. That’s exactly why this founder had to drop the Superman complex and hire a marketing genius.

What makes TruthMetric so powerful is that it turns hiring into a confident move, not a hopeful one. You’re no longer guessing. You’re choosing from proven performers. You know what vertical they dominate. You know their past client performance. You see the monthly results from the campaigns they ran, and the outcomes they achieved.

It’s not just efficient. It’s empowering.

Scaling Quickly Requires Automation and Eliminating the Noise

Founders who scale quickly understand one thing: growth isn’t just about hustle, it’s about systems. TruthMetric is the system for finding great marketers at speed. No more DM’ing ten freelancers or interviewing agencies feeling like you are asking the world of them to just see some prior results. Instead you get to see the information you need to make an informed decision and plug into verified talent, all ready to perform.

This difference allows for you to match perfectly with the right talent quickly. If you’re building your business to run lean and fast, this convenience plugged in with automation can help you scale your small business right alongside your new marketing hires.

Why TruthMetric Is Also a Boon for Marketers, Not Just Founders

This isn’t just a win for founders, it is a gift for great marketers, too.

If you’re a freelance marketer who’s been quietly pulling 10x ROAS for clients while being passed over for flashy agencies, you now have a stage where your results speak louder than your brand.

TruthMetric is a true meritocracy. No fluff. No sales tricks. Just data.

If you’re tired of being overlooked and ready to stand out based on what you actually deliver, this is your home.

The Secret Weapon for Investors and M&A Operators

There’s another angle here that some of our readers might miss.

Investors, private equity firms, and M&A advisors should be drooling at the thought of having a proven talent pool they can plug and play and the ability to use TruthMetric to revive underperforming companies. Imagine acquiring a business or becoming an active investor, then dropping in a verified operator with a history of explosive growth in that niche.

It’s plug-and-play. Scale on demand.

That kind of insight has never been available before. You couldn’t do this on Upwork. You certainly can’t do it through a friend-of-a-friend referral. 

And when it comes to attracting high-performing talent, here’s how to hire top talent and keep them around.

Let’s Really Drive This Home…

If you’ve wasted money on agencies or freelancers who couldn’t deliver, it’s not because you’re bad at hiring, it’s because the game was stacked against you. Trusting dreamy charismatic sales pitches over data was a doomed approach from the start. 

TruthMetric levels the playing field by showing you what no other talent marketplace does and that’s proof.

Real marketers. Real results. Real growth.

It’s time to stop guessing and start hiring based on data.
Visit TruthMetric.com and make your next marketing hire the one that actually works.

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Personal Development

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