When uncertainty reigns and an economy shrinks, management may downsize. Typically governed by conventional management thinking, most such efforts are damaging to culture. Yet, the downsizing process can lead to long-term higher performance.
Read “Leading through Crisis: When Downsizing Results in a Standing Ovation” in People + Strategy Journal, by Robert E. Quinn, Ricardo B. Levy and Brad Winn.
Watch the video “Leading in Crisis: A Downsizing and A Standing Ovation” — Brad Winn interviews Ricardo Levy and Robert Quinn
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Published by ricardolevy
RICARDO B. LEVY is an executive and entrepreneur whose career spans more than three decades of founding and building successful businesses. Born and raised in South America to a European immigrant family, he completed engineering studies in the United States at Stanford and Princeton before returning to South America to run a family business. In 1969 he sold the business and returned to the United States to complete his PhD at Stanford in the field of catalytic chemistry. In 1974, after a number of years in the petroleum and petrochemical industry, he cofounded his first entrepreneurial venture, Catalytica, a research and development firm serving the chemical, pharmaceutical, and clean energy industries. The firm’s discoveries resulted in more
than one hundred patents and led to the formation of three companies, one of which became, under Levy’s leadership, the largest supplier to the pharmaceutical industry in North America. Dr. Levy currently serves on public and private corporate boards of directors and the advisory board of the Santa Clara University Miller Center for Social Entrepreneurship, a global incubator of social entrepreneurs. He is a lecturer at the Stanford University Chemical Engineering Department, where he teaches a course on entrepreneurship and new venture creation. Throughout his life, Dr. Levy has pursued a keen interest in spirituality and personal growth and has continually applied his diverse studies to his roles as a business leader, mentor and teacher.
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When uncertainty reigns and an economy shrinks, management may downsize. Typically governed by conventional management thinking, most such efforts are damaging to culture. Yet, the downsizing process can lead to long-term higher performance.
Ricardo Levy 
Ricardo
Thanks so much for sharing the very thoughtful article from you and Robert Quinn. You each added something special to the process of the answers. A great combo.
I also thought that you own deep sharing of your experiences with Tommy and the questions, doubts, etc that led to a finding of your authentic voice was a wonderful crafting of the story – the doorway to the cauldron.
Hoping that you and Noella are well, thriving and enjoying life in every way.
I have been doing a lot of high tech consulting for the past years but I am beginning to slow that down for another project. A few friends and I have been working for 10 months on a new website/app which is intended to organize all the wisdom of the psycho-spiritual world across time and traditions. We have been building the wireframe throughout this year, and expect to launch next year. It will be a mix of wikipedia, Linked in, Facebook, Shift, Gaia and a clearinghouse for global and local events. A pretty bold project that may take us a number of years to complete but we hope it will be a true long term resource for those who are pursuing a more conscious path – and we are trying to organize it in a way that works for beginners as well as long time students. As a result, I am decreasing my full time consulting work down to a fraction of what I have done over the last years.
So the craziness of 2020 is ended and hopefully we can take what we have created and bring it forward into the next year in a way that is received and impactful. A new administration, perhaps an end the the threat of covid and hopefully an economic recovery for the culture as a whole. It has been a remarkably challenging window of life.
Best to you always
David
David Surrenda PhD Executive Director, The Leadership Edge http://www.leadershipedge.org dsurrenda@leadershipedge.org 510-612-4321
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Thank you David for your comment. I will always remember fondly the team building the you led with our executive team which did much to establish our culture of openness and support. Ricardo
Thank you very much for your comment, David. I will always very fondly remember the team building you led for our company executive team which did much to establish our company culture. Ricardo