Entire sectors adopted remote and hybrid working in a matter of weeks. However, as with many of the best-laid plans, things took some unexpected turns that changed my entire outlook.Ī global health crisis shook the world, halting business as usual and forcing major cities into lockdown. It was important for us to provide a sense of consistency and stability, especially given our previous CEO had been in the seat for over a decade. I had a plan in mind and a general feel for how my leadership style would translate to the new role. At the time, I never could have imagined the challenges we were about to encounter. That conversation stuck with me, and it was a lesson I lived through all over again back in early 2020 when I took on the job as CEO of LinkedIn. When I asked my dad why he’d cut out the line he told me, “Ryan, true character and success are defined not by how you act when everything is going your way, rather it’s how you act when everything isn’t.” My dad kept that Shakespeare quote next to his work phone for years, but it wasn’t until I was 10 that I suspected it wasn’t about boating.

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