What Ukraine teaches us about effective leadership in a crisis
In conflicts and crises, people look to both political and business leaders for reassurance, competence and calmness under pressure.

President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky visits Bucha, 4 April, 2022. Image: Dmytro Larin/Shutterstock.com
The conflict in Ukraine has devastated business there, with half of Ukraine’s businesses shut as a result of the war with Russia, and the World Bank predicting that Ukraine’s economy will shrink by 45.1% this year. What is more, that predicted economic contraction does not include the impact of physical infrastructure destruction, of which there is likely much more on the horizon.
Worse still is the huge magnitude of the humanitarian crisis; with millions of Ukrainians displaced, even where businesses might be open in principle there is no one to work in them with families separated, friends and family killed or injured, and many of those remaining in place facing extreme hardship and deprivation. Business will not be "as normal" in