Sounding Off: Who is leading the leaders in recovery?

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

Capturing knowledge and experience from a mentor is an important part of leadership at any period in an individual's career.

But we're in a period in everyone's work life that has no historical precedent or playbook for anyone to learn from.

And that's a bit of problem as companies try to figure out what they need to do for their strategies and their staff.

Personal mentorship is one way of learning from those who have developed strategies over the years to help business leaders unravel the complexities of corporate life, generally, as well as when specific issues need addressing at a time of crisis.

Phocuswright has recently launched a mentorship program to address this area.

At a broader level, perhaps there is an oppprtunity - as we've suggested before - for a more collaborative approach to dealing with the crisis.

Yes, brands compete and the recovery will renew the intense rivalries that exist across the sector, but the wellbeing of the sector and its people can be achieved with cooperation and sharing of knowledge in a transparent and altruistic way.

It sounds rather Utopian, to some extent, but leaders, managers and others with responsibility for a strategy, operations or staff should consider such tactics for the greater good of bringing an industry along through the process.