That’s how Peter Gwaltney, CEO of the North Carolina Bankers Association, described leading through the aftermath of Katrina while a young CEO of the Louisiana Bankers Association.

During this Wednesday night’s Magnificent Leadership® Executive Forum, I asked Peter if he would share the leadership lessons he learned that inform him during our current COVID crisis.

And I have to say, the entire group was spellbound as he talked about the carnage left in the wake of the hurricane and the struggle to do the essentials of business with no power or cell service or land lines.  Or mail.

IOUs were handwritten among banking competitors, money was loaned from parking lots surrounded by the National Guard, and, eventually, all of the banks that Peter led through the crisis went on to come out on the other side.

How does he describe relentless communication?

• Keeping information flowing, to members and to employees, even if that’s to report that there is no new information but that he’s on the watch for it
• Maintaining leadership confidence even in the face of the unknown, even when saying there’s no new news

What were some of his other leadership lessons from Katrina?

• Leaders need a safe space, a place where they can show their own concerns
• And, perhaps one of the most poignant, “We can get through anything as long as we can talk.”

If you aren’t communicating relentlessly, now’s the time to start.

And if you don’t yet have a safe space for yourself as a leader, a place where you can get input and sustenance, find one.

I work with CEOs and senior executives who are courageous, talented, successful, and want to make their mark.

Hosting a Virtual Conference or Event?  I’m speaking inside organizations like Caterpillar and Deloitte and at Summits and Conferences on topics ranging from Leadership Resilience to How to Effectively Lead a Remote Work Force.  See below for topics and information.

Webinar Topics for Your Virtual Conferences and Events:

New! VIP Velvet Rope Offering: Customized Roundtable Discussion for Your Select Attendees
You choose whom to invite, we craft a signature offering that can only be found through you, and I bring unique content and lead a discussion among participants

Reconnecting with Resilience and Leading Through COVID
The 4 key investments to make in yourself and your team to successfully navigate the future

Magnificent Leadership® – Keys to Success
Transform Uncertainty, Transcend Circumstance, and Claim the Future: Applying the 8 key factors

All Hands on Deck: Leadership Courage During Crisis and Volatility
How to forge ahead rather than follow during difficult times

Bringing the Outside In: Cultivating the Soil of Entrepreneurship in Your Organization
How to foster speed, grow innovation, and encourage hustle

Magnificent Leadership®: Building Self-Correcting Teams™
Forget high performance and instead build a team that can function without you

For more information on customized webinars for your event, write to me: sarah@sarah-levitt.com

New Opportunities for Working With Me Privately:

For Consultants, Coaches, and Entrepreneurs:

Indomitable: A Business Coaching Program™.  I’ve built two businesses from scratch and grown them to significant success.  The first I took from start-up to capturing 40% of the market share for North Carolina.  The second got me inducted into the Million Dollar Consultant Hall of Fame.  In addition to coaching in the elite Executive MBA program at UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School, consultants and coaches have historically come to me asking how to successfully launch or grow their practices.  And, now, as uncertainty inside organizations increases, I’ve created a full program for professionals taking the leap into entrepreneurship.

Designed for serious entrepreneurs who want to be successful and significantly shortcut their learning curve.  In addition to 6 months of active coaching sessions, this program includes: pre-work, weekly assignments, a strategic growth plan for your business, and my Indomitable Business Map™.  We’ll also identify and tackle any mental roadblocks hindering your success to create an entrepreneurial mindset that is indomitable.

Your return should be 10x, at a minimum.  For more information: sarah@sarah-levitt.com

Fee: $9500

For Executives and Professionals Inside Organizations:

Magnificent Leadership® Executive Forum
An elite group coaching program for senior executives leading through COVID 

In this unique executive group coaching program, select senior leaders from organizations across industry and size are represented — technology, biotech, manufacturing, higher education, science, banking, and professional services, as examples — to create a rich learning ecosystem that accelerates results.  Among an outstanding cohort of your peers, we’ll discuss your most critical issues, shared experiences, and hot-off-the-press learnings.  We’ll talk urgent and strategic.  In a trusted space where you don’t have to sugar-coat anything, so you can make the best decisions possible.  Success in these times requires bringing everything you’ve got.  It does not require going it alone.

In addition, members also have private coaching access to me.

Fee: $2500, Quarterly Membership

Deadline for application or nomination is July 20: sarah@sarah-levitt.com

In Your Back Pocket: Trusted Guide and Confidant Coaching Program™.   You’ve landed a new role and want to knock it out of the park.  Or you want to elevate into a greater opportunity.  No matter, you’re someone who is already successful and you want to ensure that you continue to take it to the next level, saying the right things in the right moment, not buckling under pressure, feeling confident to suggest and lead initiatives.  And you know that you want an outside, trusted, and confidential perspective to accelerate your trajectory.  This 6 month program gives you active coaching with me, including homework and pre-work to leverage your investment, as well as my proprietary assessments and inventories to accelerate your progress.  We’ll tackle what’s urgent, plan for the strategic, and accelerate your momentum.  For more information, write to me: sarah@sarah-levitt.com

Fee: $6500

For Executives and Professionals Considering a Career Transition:

The Reinventing Real Coaching Program™

If you are wondering what new career opportunities and paths might be waiting for you in this tumult, if you’re yearning for more meaningful and fulfilling work, if you’re trying to figure out which path might be the right one, if you want to use what has been dealt to you for the better, the Reinventing Real Coaching Program is about taking your destiny into your own hands, finding your path, and making your way.  You might stay in your current profession but change roles.  You might stay right where you are but change your perspective.  Or you might take a leap and embark on a new path.  This 6 month intensive coaching program includes individual, private sessions with me, the Magnificent Leadership® Career Map and Inventory for the assessment phase, a customized strategic plan for moving forward, and sustained support on exploration and execution.

This is the whole package.

No matter how disrupted and upside down things might be, the world will always need talented, brave, and resilient people like you.

To inquire, write to me: sarah@sarah-levitt.com

Rates begin at $6500