Erika Hayes James

Complacency or Reinvention: You Make the Call

Last week I spoke to a group of women at the 10th annual Women in Leadership Conference at Rice University in Houston.  The event was sponsored by the Jones School of Business chapter of the National Association of Woman MBAs (NAWMBA).  The conference theme was “Where to Next?  Reinvent Your Career”.  Having been a university professor for 15 years, I initially thought that I was an odd choice to serve as a speaker on reinventing one’s career.  Professors, after all, tend to be a stable lot and I did not necessarily see myself as an exception in that regard.

But in the process of preparing my remarks I realized that I have in fact made numerous transitions in my career and have reinvented myself on more than one occasion, all the while staying firmly rooted in the same profession.  For starters, I have changed employers four times in 15 years.  All moves I initiated and all were motivated by a desire to challenge and develop myself through new experiences and opportunities that accompanied each transition.  Each move became more complicated and more consequential than the ones they preceded, and with that came an element of fear: Fear of failure; fear of making decisions that would adversely affect my family; fear of leaving behind friends and colleagues and sense of comfort and familiarity for people and an organization that I knew less well; and fear of not living up to expectations. Read the rest of this entry »

Toyota: Too Little? Too Late?

This morning I saw the first Toyota commercial in which the firm not only acknowledged the problems in their vehicles that have resulted in not one, but two extensive and expensive recalls, but they apologized for not living up to their longstanding reputation for quality.  The commercial I saw was clearly an attempt to tug on the emotions of its consumers while also informing customers about the specific actions Toyota is taking to repair the affected vehicles and rebuild trust in their brand.  Unfortunately, the response may be too little too late.

In my work I have said that it is not always the crisis event itself (in Toyota’s case a faulty product), but it is the handling of a crisis that often most threatens a firm.  Toyota is the latest example of this. Read the rest of this entry »

Toyota: Leading or Folding under Pressure?

Last week a colleague asked me whether Toyota would become the next Johnson & Johnson in terms of being a pinnacle example of a firm handling a crisis well.  At the time, the jury was still out.  Toyota did seem to have moved swiftly and decisively in organizing a massive recall of cars across several product lines.  And, like J & J, at the time of the initial recall Toyota enjoyed considerable good will, trust, and customer loyalty.  On the surface, it seemed as if they could in fact weather the storm as a result of the high reserves of financial capital and consumers’ emotional commitment to the brand.

This week, however, things have completely unraveled for Toyota. Read the rest of this entry »

The Politics of Leadership

Like so many of us I am horrified by the devastation that plagues Haiti as a result of the earthquake on January 12, 2010.  The images of the collapsed buildings and the bodies buried beneath the rubble are agonizing to see, but it is the faces of the men, women and children who survived the earthquake that haunt me the most.  Although they are fortunate to have escaped with their lives, they are experiencing what can best be described as a living hell; and perhaps it is a life that only survivors of Hurricane Katrina, the Asian Tsunami, and other catastrophes can relate.

I am proud that the United States, and the Obama administration in particular, has demonstrated swift leadership for the people of Haiti.  I am more proud that countries across the world have put their differences aside to come together to work toward a common good.  Although rescue attempts and the provision of life’s necessities never seem to come soon enough, nor in adequate supply, it is clear to me that we have taken the lessons of Katrina seriously and responded to Haiti in a way that far surpasses our handling of previous natural disasters.

I have written academic articles, essays and now a book on crises, Leading Under Pressure, with a particular emphasis on the leadership needed to maneuver through crisis events. Read the rest of this entry »

Hope Is Not A Strategy

What better time to take stock of one’s state of affairs than at the dawn of a new decade.  As we enter 2010 I am reflective about the status of not only my own, but also acutely mindful of the status of the organizations (corporate, not-for-profit, and government) that drive so much of both the mundane and the extraordinary circumstances in which we find ourselves.  In the few years leading up to 2010 we witnessed numerous historic events.  We watched in horror as the U.S. economy, and many other economies around the globe, faltered.  We saw giants in the automotive, finance, insurance, and other industries tumble.  We saw natural disasters ruin the lives of tens of thousands and governments struggle to protect their citizens in the wake of those disasters.  We were besieged by horrific acts of terrorism, we witnessed lapses in ethical judgment that no one could have anticipated, and we had a front row seat as norms of civility and integrity that governed behavior of former generations were violated.

Despite these very disturbing situations, the latter part of 2008 also marked an historic moment with the election of President Obama, the U.S.’s first African American president.  His presidential campaign was earmarked by a belief —a hope—that there would be a better tomorrow, and that he was the man to lead us there. Read the rest of this entry »