Leadership always plays a critical role in organizations in any type of situation. It is easy to display leadership during boom-time, where every move generally yields positive results. At the same time, it is very difficult to win over competition during this period. Leaders worldwide feel that it is both simple as well as difficult to manage organizations during an economic slowdown or recession. In the present scenario of worldwide economic slowdown and credit crunch, the focus has totally been shifted to the role of leadership and the type of leadership to be displayed by leaders to continue to survive and emerge as winners.

Theoretically, management researchers have developed several types of leadership styles. Depending on the style adopted by the leaders, they were classified into: authoritarian, democratic, participative, etc. Each leader acts in a unique manner and displays more or less any one of the leadership styles.

Economic slowdown and recession is a unique experience by itself. Probably because of its frequent occurrence it is experienced by all the leaders across the world. In fact, a very small number of leaders can be found in the present group of leaders who were a part of the previous economic slowdown. The world has seen many successful and emerging leaders during the last one-and-a-half decades. These leaders probably never anticipated that one day there would be a situation in which they will have to reorient all their leadership styles to a crisis, i.e., the situation of economic slowdown.

Hitherto, it has been a display of strategies to counter and win the competition. But, from now on, it will be a different ball game altogether for leaders.

Global CEO Magazine, Economic Recession, Economic Slowdown, Global Economic Slowdown, Decision Making, Procurement Strategies, Distribution Strategies, Promotion Strategies, Cost-Cutting Measures, Organizational Goal.