Julio Quijano, managing partner of Panama based firm, Quijano & Associates, speaks with Richard Levick, chairman of Levick, in this transcribed installment of the In House Warrior Podcast series.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Corporate Counsel Business Journal's daily podcast, In House Warrior. With host Richard Levick, chairman of LEVICK, a global crisis and litigation communications firm.
Richard Levick: Good day. This is Richard Levick with In House Warrior, the daily podcast of the Corporate Counsel Business Journal. With me today is Julio Quijano, the managing partner of Quijano & Associates, which is based in Panama and eight other countries. Julio, welcome to the show.
Julio Quijano: Good afternoon, Richard.
Levick: It's great to see you again. We were talking pre-show about both the optimistic side of you and the pessimistic side of you. I know you've been looking at the pandemic. You've been at home now on lockdown for over two months. And you're looking at some of the positive aspects of the pandemic, which is often a challenge. What are some of those?
Quijano: Well, without a doubt, there are many negative things that derive from the current crisis. However, I believe that we can find certain positive spots. As far as the planet is concerned, without a doubt, I believe that there's less pollution and more clean air. The planet has been given an opportunity to reinvigorate itself. In addition to that, I believe that the fact that the lockdown and the economic downturn has slowed things down, I think we've had more time for perhaps better relations. I believe that doing or putting aside hectic schedules that we were used to, busy agendas, urgent meetings, now we have more time to spend time with our loved ones, family, friends. Albeit virtually, but nowadays we are basically dedicating more time to people that should be more important to us than only our job, our daily course.
Levick: What about the role of the business leader? How has that changed during this pandemic, and now as we enter, hopefully soon, a post pandemic phase?
Quijano: Well, I feel that these are very difficult or challenging times for a leader. I don't think no one was necessarily prepared to deal with these unexpected scenarios. It is rather easy to get bogged down managing the day to day of a crisis. But this is the time for leaders to become strategists. I feel that a leader has to understand that it is important that decisions are taken in a swift manner. Because whether you are right or wrong, the important thing is to convey assurance. People that follow you, your clients, your staff, your employees, et cetera, they need to feel that the leader knows where we have to go. So, although you might not be completely sure, I think it's vital that you basically portrayed an image that you know where you're going. In these types of scenarios, I feel that it's very counterproductive to delay decisions, although it might be the correct one. Because what is most important nowadays is to basically react rapidly.
Levick: So you're saying that one of the most important things leaders can do is make decisions and be more comfortable, that as long as you're right 51% of the time, it's that leadership that reassures and is more likely to resonate with staff than anything else.
Quijano: Correct. I think that if you project hesitation, people are not going to, basically, following you. So you've got to convince the group that you know where you're going, and although you might not be totally sure, I think it's better to make a decision than to stand still.
Levick: So your firm's been around for six decades plus, you've seen a lot in terms of cycles of crisis and challenges, what do you think of how governments, plural, governments around the world are responding to the pandemic, and increasingly, some of the post pandemic return?
Quijano: Look, like you said, our organization has been around for more than six decades. We've had offices destroyed by earthquakes, by hurricanes, by political upheaval, so I would say that we have a little bit of experience with crisis management. However, I believe that it's rather unfair for the public to demand that our governments, should I say, respond in extremely efficient ways to these very troubled times. I think this is a very complex scenario, and expecting the government, especially politicians, to basically be completely ready to extend a helping hand and to fix this headache overnight it's utopian. This is not realistic. Politicians have traditionally been in the business of solving economic and social problems, and not in the business of preventing illness outbreaks.
In the case of the U.S., I want to tell you that I find it a little bit disturbing that the zealot media is spending too much time trying to blame things on the president, instead of focusing on the fact that the lies, suppression of information, and censorship performed by the Chinese Communist Party is really the culprit of this pandemic that is going to end up killing millions of people throughout the world. I really would like to see, in media, that it's a little bit more, should I say, objective in these difficult times, because the time to play political games should be put aside.
Levick: Well, Julio, we're going to have to end it there. Obviously, you've just opened Pandora's box at the end of the show, but we're out of time. Maybe we'll try and have you back on the show, then we can get to some of these issues. Julio Quijano, it's so great to see you again. I'm Richard Levick for In House Warrior, the daily podcast of the Corporate Counsel Business Journal. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye-bye.
Speaker 1: You've been listening to the Corporate Counsel Business Journal's In House Warrior, with host Richard Levick.
Published September 11, 2020.
