Leadership is easy when business is good.
When the numbers are trending upward, customers are happy, and your team is operating at full strength, it’s relatively straightforward to make thoughtful decisions and inspire confidence. The true test of leadership comes when the pressure builds—when information is incomplete, emotions are running high, and decisions carry meaningful consequences.
Few organizations understand that reality better than the New York City Police Department.
During a recent episode of On the Right Stack, host Jason Cohen sat down with former NYPD Chief of Department John Chell to discuss leadership in one of the most demanding environments imaginable. While the conversation naturally touched on law enforcement, many of Chief Chell’s insights had very little to do with policing and everything to do with leading people through uncertainty. Whether you’re responsible for an IT organization, a manufacturing operation, a healthcare system, or an entire enterprise, the lessons translate remarkably well.
Great Teams Are Built Before The Crisis
One of the first themes to emerge was that leadership begins long before a crisis ever arrives. Chief Chell credits much of his leadership philosophy to organized sports, where accountability, teamwork, preparation, and showing up for one another become second nature. Those experiences shaped the way he led thousands of officers over a 32-year career, but the underlying principle applies to every organization: people don’t suddenly become great teammates when the pressure is on. Those relationships are built over time.
Trust, after all, is accumulated in ordinary moments and tested in extraordinary ones.
Communication Is the First Casualty
Perhaps the most powerful takeaway from the discussion centered on communication. When Jason asked what typically fails first during a major crisis, Chief Chell didn’t hesitate. Communication, he said, is almost always the first casualty.
That observation should resonate with every executive.
Organizations spend countless hours developing disaster recovery plans, cybersecurity playbooks, and business continuity strategies. Yet many fail to establish equally disciplined communication plans. Information becomes fragmented. Different departments tell different stories. Leaders either say too little or far too much. Before long, confusion begins creating as many problems as the original crisis itself.
Chief Chell described the importance of “feeding the beast”—providing timely, credible information to those demanding answers without compromising the integrity of the work being done behind the scenes. While he was referring to the media, the concept extends far beyond public relations. Employees, customers, investors, and business partners all become “the audience” during difficult moments. They don’t expect leaders to have every answer immediately. They do expect honesty, confidence, and consistent communication.
Silence creates a vacuum, and vacuums are quickly filled with speculation.
Presence Cannot Be Delegated
Another lesson that stood out was the importance of visible leadership. During major incidents, Chief Chell explained that there are moments when command centers and conference rooms simply aren’t enough. People want to see their leaders present. They want to know the person making decisions understands what’s happening on the ground and is willing to share in the responsibility.
That lesson is just as relevant in the corporate world.
Employees notice when executives disappear during difficult projects, major outages, or organizational change. Conversely, they also notice the leaders who walk the floor, ask thoughtful questions, and remain accessible when the stakes are highest. Presence communicates confidence in ways that emails and video calls never can.
Accountability Without Losing Respect
Leadership under pressure also requires accountability—but not the kind that simply assigns blame. Chief Chell spoke candidly about demanding high performance during critical moments while recognizing the importance of bringing everyone together afterward. Once the crisis passed, he made a point of thanking his teams, acknowledging the intensity of the situation, and even apologizing if the urgency of the moment caused him to be tougher than usual.
That combination of accountability and humility is surprisingly rare.
Strong leaders don’t pretend pressure doesn’t exist. They simply ensure that pressure never erodes respect.
Credibility Is Earned in Advance
Perhaps the biggest lesson from the conversation is that credibility isn’t built during the crisis itself. It’s built through hundreds of small decisions that come beforehand—leading by example, communicating honestly, earning trust, and demonstrating consistency day after day. When people believe in their leader before adversity strikes, they’re far more willing to follow when uncertainty inevitably arrives.
Final Thoughts
Leadership will always be tested as markets change, cyber incidents occur, operations are disrupted, and public scrutiny intensifies. While few executives will ever experience the pressure cooker of leading the NYPD, every leader will eventually face moments when the path forward isn’t perfectly clear.
As Chief Chell told Cohen, the organizations that navigate those moments most successfully aren’t necessarily the ones with the best technology or the most detailed playbooks. More often than not, they’re the ones led by individuals who communicate clearly, remain visible, earn trust before they need it, and never ask their teams to go somewhere they’re unwilling to go themselves.
In the end, leadership isn’t measured by how people perform when everything is going right. It’s measured by how they respond when everything else is going wrong.