Staying Focused in Uncertain Times: Leadership Lessons from Holly Buckley of McGuireWoods LLP 4-15-25
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Who are the hosts and guests in this episode?
This is Scott Becker with the Becker Private Equity and Business Podcast. I'm thrilled today to be joined by Holly Buckley. Holly's one of the smartest leaders that I know. She works at the intersection of healthcare and private equity. She also manages and leads a department of tons of people. Just does a fantastic job. She's got a few topics today, and I'm going to ask her a couple questions today as well. Let me tee us up first with one of the questions I have, and then I'll let you get into some of the topics you're bringing today.
Sounds great, Scott.
How can leaders stay focused amid economic and political noise?
So, Holly, here's the question to start with, and this is a leadership question. There is so much noise going on in the world and in the markets between the tariff discussion, the trying to bring some manufacturing home discussion, the markets going up and down. It seems like there's so much noise. How, as a leader, do you lead people and help them to sort of keep doing what they have to be doing even when there's so much constant noise around everybody? How do you sort of either stay focused yourself or keep your team and your own teams focused? How do you think about those issues when there's just periodically so much noise in the news?
Thanks, Scott. I mean, I think it's an excellent question. And I certainly have been feeling the impact of the the greater world on my day to day. And I think it's hard both personally and as a leader to kind of put things in a place where you're able to continue to function.
What strategies help individuals regain control during uncertain times?
But I think I heard some good advice on a podcast and I saw the same advice repeated by my partner, Tim Fry, just last week in an email. And I think the best advice I could give and try and give to my team is to control the things that you can control. And I think a lot of the difficulty with what is happening right now is that everything does feel so crazily out of control and unpredictable. And I think by taking hold of the things that we can control and within our own orbit, it can make you feel more grounded. So by that, I mean... your day-to-day, how do you execute on the tasks that you have in front of you, sit down, build lists, keep focused, and not let some of the bigger things that are happening just overwhelm.
And I think in terms of the political side of things, for those people who are feeling just very rattled by a lot of the changes that are happening, I think the advice I heard that I really liked is, again, with picking something within your control, Pick a cause, pick a group that's doing things that help the thing that you're most concerned about and take some actual action yourself. And by doing these things, both in terms of your day-to-day, putting one foot in front of the other, as well as picking causes or groups that are supportive of the things that you care about, you can start to feel like you're regaining some of that control and feel like a normal person who's able to function again.
So that's probably the best I have right now, but it is certainly a very tumultuous time that we're in, and I think a lot of people are really feeling that.
How does Holly Buckley maintain personal and team focus?
But to your point, I couldn't agree with that advice more about trying to first center oneself and going back to the core, the basics of what works for you. Whether it's breathing, for me, it's drinking enough water, doing enough steps, doing just basic stuff to keep myself centered. And then how do you translate that to the group that you lead? Because you lead a group of 60, 70 attorneys. How do you translate that? And how do you translate that into how you communicate with clients who themselves are stressed as funding moves in and out of possibilities? As if you're representing private equity funds, they tend to get softer on doing acquisitions when there's lots of uncertainty. How do you communicate with your both client base, the private equity funds and healthcare systems, and then with your team of 60, 70 lawyers to keep on plugging along even as things go through peaks and valleys?
I mean, I think it's the same thing, Scott. It's helping people focus on the things they can control. It's giving people some tangible things that they can actually execute on and encouraging them to center themselves. I mean, you don't tell clients how you need to center yourself.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
Who are the hosts and guests in this episode?
0:00–0:31
2
How can leaders stay focused amid economic and political noise?
0:31–1:34
3
What strategies help individuals regain control during uncertain times?
1:34–3:20
4
How does Holly Buckley maintain personal and team focus?
3:20–6:38
5
How should leaders communicate with clients during market uncertainty?
6:38–8:42
6
What is the impact of tariffs on healthcare services and private equity?
8:42–10:39
7
How can advisors support clients through tumultuous economic times?
10:39–12:34
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Becker Private Equity & Business Podcast
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