Google’s Aastha Gaur On Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Uncertain & Turbulent Times
This post was originally featured on Authority Mag
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you tell us your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
I started my career as an Industrial Designer working for Ford Motors in India. I loved the human-centered thinking that Industrial Design requires, but I was attracted to the digital space. My passion was when I moved to the US for a Master in Fine Arts (MFA) at the California Institute of the Arts in Graphic Design. I started working in a design agency exclusively for non-profits and social organizations. At that time, we only did graphic design and marketing for them. I quickly realized that if we wanted to help them honestly, we needed to remove all barriers from donations. Many of them needed a digital makeover for their online presence. I built the User Experience practice there from the ground up to achieve this. My experience at the agency showed me I could use my human-centered design skills to create teams organized around a purpose — increase the impact of our non-profit clients in this case.
It has been said that our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about your funniest mistake when you first started? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
It certainly wasn’t funny then, but since our agency did everything from digital to print design, I was responsible for getting an ad published in the LA Times with the word ‘design’ misspelled as ‘desing .’I was horrified because you cannot undo a print mistake. My lesson learned was to check and cross-check everything after that forever, especially with new eyes, but more importantly, I learned an important leadership lesson with that. My boss, the design agency owner, was disappointed, but he did not say one word to me about this mistake. When I asked him why he wasn’t mad, he responded that he could tell I was already tough on myself, and he knew I had learned from the mistake and wouldn’t let that happen again. The leadership lesson I learned there is to know your team well, offer grace when mistakes inevitably happen and realize you don’t always have to add to every conversation.
We can only achieve success with some help along the way. Is there a person you are grateful for who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
Dustin Jackson, the SVP of Engineering at Celonis, is someone I attribute much of my growth and success to him. He’s been a constant mentor and sponsor, finding opportunities for me and helping me learn. Most importantly, he has never shied away from giving me tough feedback. When I started leading in an unofficial capacity on one of his teams, I could have done a better job filtering work done by other designers before it went to larger forums for reviews. He pulled me aside and told me he had asked me to lead them because he wanted me to ensure the work was high quality before it went in front of a larger group. If I wasn’t doing that, I wasn’t doing my job, and it ended up falling on him. I appreciated the straight, to-the-point feedback and immediately fixed the problem.
There is a phenomenon where under-represented minorities sometimes don’t get timely feedback because leaders handle them with ‘kid gloves .’This approach is harmful to us because everyone needs direct, kind feedback to grow. I am very grateful to mentors like Dustin, who had always looked out for me and invested in my growth, especially when that meant delivering robust feedback.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose-driven businesses” succeed more in many areas. When your organization started, what was its vision, and what was its purpose?
My team’s mission is to Elevate the Customers’ Experience. The mission sounds simple, but simplicity works well as long as it is applied in any team’s day-to-day. In our example, the customer experience isn’t just an abstract concept. My User Experience team works diligently to increase customer understanding and empathy within the larger organization, and we create measurement frameworks to baseline and improve the experience over time.
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or challenging times?
I was at Yahoo! News during a rough time when we went through four CEOs in less than eight months. This led to multiple changing directions, changing strategy, and numerous rounds of workforce reduction, all while we were trying to deliver the best user experience for Americans to stay updated on the general election (Romney vs. Obama, if you’re curious).
There is a framework I use for building and maintaining healthy teams, which is even more relevant when times are difficult. Four things a leader needs to do: Clarify, Empower, Grow, and Connect. Let’s break it down specifically for the situation I described above.
Clarify: We must provide as much clarity as possible. I understand we operate within constraints. For example, we were still determining if we would have fast CEO churn. It is helpful to not focus too much on areas outside of our control and instead refocus the team on what we can control. We did know the elections were happening no matter what happened to the company. We knew we had a roadmap; we could work fast to clarify how that roadmap might need to change based on higher-level strategic discussions.
Empower: How can we remove roadblocks from our team’s path, so they feel empowered to act, despite the circumstances? For example, can certain team members step up to fill the gaps? Can we simplify processes to let the team deliver on their goals?
Grow: This is easy to drop when things are rough, but the most important one is not to settle. A leader’s job is to grow people based on their career goals. While turbulent times are not when most people naturally think about promotions, growth takes many shapes and forms. Leaders should continue to think about the skills people want/need to develop and balance that with business priorities, even with tough times.
Connect: When times are tough, we must keep the communication lines open. Between the team and us and consciously create connections between team members. This connection manifests in various ways. Digitally, in-person where possible, 1:1 communication, 1: many communication, Etc. If a leader needs a comprehensive comms strategy, this is an excellent time to develop one.
Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?
It has yet to happen! I am purpose driven. I aim to create an equitable environment where everyone has an equal chance of succeeding. That sustains my drive and motivates me to continue through any challenges.
I’m an author, and books have the power to change lives. Do you have a book that impacted you and inspired you to be an effective leader? Can you share a story?
I believe in many tenets of stoic philosophy. My favorite book is The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday. The book advises us to focus on what we can control, let go of everything else, and turn obstacles into opportunities. The abovementioned also answers the previous question and how I approach challenges. We cannot control the past. The things that happened to us, however unfair they might be, are now in the past. We can control our response to them and how we move forward so we a) Succeed despite the challenges and b) Correct systemic imbalances so the past doesn’t repeat itself repeatedly.
A personal example of this was when I applied to grad schools; the program I got accepted into was a three-year master’s degree program for those who didn’t major in the same discipline in college. Even with loans, I could not afford the program. I asked the school if I could do it in two years instead. They told me I could try, and they would re-evaluate me after year 1, and if they deemed me not ready for my thesis, they would hold me back. The obstacle that I had to learn and deliver the same things in two years became a driving force for me, and not only did they approve of me finishing the degree in two years, but they also made financial aid available based on my performance. I look back on my time at grad school as a time of immense learning and advancement.
What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
Show up as your authentic self. Your team can read your energy. Challenging times are not the time to pretend. If you are scared, admit you are scared, then present the plan. If you don’t have a plan yet, admit you don’t have one, confirm you’re working on it, tell them the eta, and stick to the timeline. Find the silver linings and the things you are grateful for, and talk about them if you feel the team needs positivity. Whatever you do, don’t try to fake it.
What is the best way to boost morale when the future seems uncertain? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?
Returning to first principles, does your team/company have an inspiring vision? Is there a purpose people can connect to that motivates them? Is there a clear strategy? Ideally, these things would exist, and the leader can remind the team and reconnect their motivation to that of the company’s mission. This approach is a great peacetime activity that becomes an important tool when the going gets rough.
What is the best way to communicate difficult news to your team and customers?
With respect and dignity. People have different preferences for how they like to hear bad news. Ideally, a leader would know this about their team, but I understand it is only scalable at organizations within a specific size. In those cases, the process design is tailored towards softening the blow for the person receiving the bad news without BSing them. I appreciate the radical candor approach, which advocates for kindness over niceness.
How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?
Goals in Stone, Plans in Sand. Organizational goals mostly stay the same for companies. While the strategy often changes when the future is unpredictable, the company’s mission, purpose, and goal remain reasonably consistent. Leaders need to make plans to achieve those goals but be aware that plans might change anytime. As they say, Plans Are Worthless, But Planning Is Everything.
Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?
Valid for a company or a team — Go back to first principles, i.e., don’t assume anything needs to stay the way it has been in the past.
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during challenging times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
I have seen some leaders make mistakes — Sunken cost fallacy, i.e., not pivoting fast enough when needed; being reactive, i.e., pivoting too quickly to each external change; reducing communication with the larger team; and not taking care of your well-being.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.
Take care of your well-being: The adage of putting on your oxygen mask first applies here. If you are not healthy, happy, or centered, your team will be able to see it. No amount of faking it will cover it up. Do what you must to take care of yourself first to show up as a centered leader for your team. This means staying on my meditation routine when things get complicated.
Maintain long-term optimism: Long-term optimism is a must-have for any leader, especially when things are rough. Leaders need to find their Northstar for why they are doing what they are doing, what is that optimistic long-term view they are driving towards, and then authentically share that with their team.
Create clarity where possible: Lack of information breeds rumors. Leaders often need to do more to clarify information because they believe they are being repetitive. I once heard on a podcast that any leader’s first role is to be the CRO, Chief Reminding Officer. Especially when the times are uncertain, it is essential to repeat the core purpose and mission and provide clarity of the situation as soon as possible to the larger team vs. letting rumors circulate in a vacuum.
Be kind, not nice: Being kind sometimes means we deliver bad news in a way that is non-ideal for us. This kindness might mean uncomfortable conversations, and some leaders can either delay or avoid these altogether under the disguise of being ‘nice .’To be successful during turbulent times, leaders must continue to align with kindness vs. fake niceness, which might have long-term ill effects.
Make space for all feelings: All feelings are valid. People have different coping mechanisms. Leaders need to create a space where everyone can express their opinions, feelings, fears, hopes, and thoughts, especially when people might be going through a rough time. This does not mean the leader has to solve all the problems, but even providing space for people to air it out has benefits. The conversations will happen whether the leader wants it or not. We could create space for that to make informed decisions as we move forward.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future.” — Deepak Chopra.
This quote reminds me to try new things if I want new and different results. It is straightforward to get stuck in self-pity when the going gets tough, but the only way to move forward is to feel what we feel, process the emotions, then move through it toward action.
Thank you so much for sharing these critical insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
