Leadership Through Ups and Downs from The CEO Of Shopify | Emeritus India

Ups and downs are a part of life, personal or professional. Whether you’re a solo entrepreneur, a team leader, or a large-scale business owner, you’ll have to face ups and downs in your professional journey. New challenges will come and go, but they will only make you stronger and stronger.

The way you will respond and deal with the waves of challenges and crises will define your business’s success. So, how to be an influential leader through ups and downs or crises in your work environment?

Well, the best way to get this answer and learn from someone who himself went through phases of ups and downs – is Tobias Lütke, a.k.a. the CEO of Shopify.

The Journey of Tobias Lutke |Take Inspiration from the Ups and Downs of the CEO of Shopify

Tobias Lutke is based in rural Germany, where he spent most of his childhood in front of computers writing codes.

In 2002, he came to Canada to try his luck as an entrepreneur. He started small by opening an online snowboard shop. He realized that e-commerce software can really make purchasing simpler than ever. That’s when he came up with the idea of Shopify.

– From ‘Just Some Online Business’ To a ‘Billion-Dollar Company

At that time, buying online wasn’t the trend, and Shopify wasn’t as famous as it is now. He waited for a decade to see his company reach the epitome of success.

Today, Shopify is a billion-dollar company and one of Canada’s largest publicly traded companies. In an interview, Tobias shared some fascinating details about the ups and downs he faced to reach this point of success.

– The Realization of The Bigger Picture Ahead

He recounts how lucky we are that we live in a tech-based world where business can be done while you spend time with your kids at home.

He believes that Shopify has a huge role to play when it comes to hosting and supporting millions of small and medium-sized businesses and small merchants.

His company aims to help them survive in these difficult times when the world is just recovering from the pandemic, and worldwide inflation is on its way.

He said that local farmers and businesses can now sell their goods and services through the Shopify store, which makes him proud. Local delivery and helping the local business community have made the company feel that it’s actually doing something good for all.

– Businesses Shutting Down Amid Pandemic Affected the Shopify Retail Sales

He shared that the pandemic has affected thousands of small businesses. He said that so many businesses shutting down one by one is not good for the economy nether for Shopify.

The rising number of businesses shutting down means more people will lose their jobs. At the end of the loop, it will be harmful to Shopify too.

– Never Give Up!

Tobias said that Shopify somehow managed to surpass such hurdles and challenging times in the past too, and it will continue to deal with them even in the future.

However, such tough times shouldn’t make businesses or business leaders lose their morale and impetus, he added.

Wait! How Did The Shopify CEO Keep Up With Strong Leadership in Every Crisis Situation?

However, you may wonder what made Shopify survive every time it faced a crisis-like situation. Why hasn’t Tobias shared something about that? Take no worries, as we’ve got you covered.

After assessing several more interviews of Tobias, financial reports, and press releases on Shopify, we have concluded some crucial pointers that will help you implement strong leadership even through ups and downs. So, read the following sections with attention.

Decision-Making During Crisis: Take a Break to Evaluate, Anticipate, And Act!

During a crisis, you should avoid making the common mistake of waiting for the entire set of facts and data to arrive to decide what step to take next.

The fact that crisis comes with uncertainty means that relying on facts may not be helpful as they will mostly be unclear during that stipulated time frame.

To deal with such uncertainty, business leaders must keep acquiring information and see how efficiently their responses work.

As a business leader, you must stop crisis management, evaluate and understand the situation from different aspects, anticipate the possible outcomes, and then act.

The stop-evaluate-anticipate-act process must be continuous as it will help you keep your cool and prevent overreaction to any uncertain or unwanted information. Make sure you resolve the crisis with visible decisiveness.

Strengthening Connections Will Be Smart, Rational Decision

Establish and fortify direct connections to your business front line. In a crisis situation, you must have a precise, latest idea of what’s been going around on the ground.

Whether you’re a business leader at a supply chain firm, pharmaceutical company, or logistics company, you must receive detailed evaluations every now and then.

An effective way is establishing a network of local influencers and leaders who can communicate with in-depth insight into the crisis impact and the behavioural responses of the suppliers, clients, stakeholders, and employees.

These parties can be unified under one roof via technology. Consider internal wikis that captivate problems, queries, solutions, technological innovations, and ideal practices.

Learn More About Leadership Skills & Qualities With Emeritus India

It takes a lot to become a strong business leader who can help the business succeed, no matter the ups and downs in our dynamic business environment. Also, being a prominent leader like Tobias will take a lot of learning.

So learn, unlearn, and relearn about business and corporate leadership by developing future-ready skills and qualities with a course of your choice on the Emeritus India platform.