The Leadership Election ‘Excuse’

It’s why tech firms have held back on some hiring. It’s why supply-chain leaders have waited to commit to new partners. And according to a survey by the Federal Reserve, the uncertainty around the US elections is why nearly one-third of financial decision-makers have postponed, scaled back, delayed, or canceled their firm’s investing plans.

But once the ballots are counted—in a week, or maybe a little longer—that excuse may no longer apply. Indeed, experts say leaders will soon be unable to cite the presidential elections as a reason to delay decision-making. It’s about time, they add. “The election has been a big distraction,” says JP Sniffen, practice leader for Korn Ferry’s Military Center of Expertise.

While stakeholders have been willing to accommodate delays thus far, their patience could wear thin. “If you just keep waiting for outcomes for other people’s decisions, you’ll never get on with your own agenda,” says Anthony Goodman, a senior client partner and head of Korn Ferry’s Board Effectiveness practice.

In some industries, the election’s outcome (or its general drift) will allow leaders to activate a plan they’ve been sitting on. For instance, some energy- or industrial-focused companies will have crucial data points for a decision about whether or not to maintain major investments in climate-change-related technologies—investments which had significant support from the current US administration, but may not in a future one. “For a lot of industries, there have been two strategies, and one will get the green light,” says Cheryl D’Cruz-Young, founding member of Korn Ferry’s Sustainability and ESG Center of Expertise.

For others, the election results will end a self-imposed investment freeze. Barry Toren, a senior client partner in Korn Ferry’s North American Financial Officer practice, says many of his clients have been sitting on cash. “The floodgates will open. Once the election is done, the spending will start,” he says.

To be sure, experts say there won’t be a rush to announce decisions the moment the polls close, or even in the first few days afterward. Indeed, some analysts are predicting that court battles over the results may stretch on for weeks. Besides, even if certainty around a US policy is very important, plenty of uncertainty will remain for leaders to contend with—stagnant major economies across the world, two major wars, the development of artificial intelligence, and climate change, to name a few. “That brew will still be out there for quite some time,” Goodman says.

To some degree, it’s been understandable that leaders have held back on major decisions pending the election results and their policy implications. “For some leaders, there’s a potentially big cost for moving quickly and being wrong,” says Korn Ferry vice chairman Nels Olson.

Still, leaders who have been waiting to make major decisions may have missed out on multiple opportunities. Over the past year, the US economy’s bout of major inflation ended, and the economy grew steadily. Indeed, in the Federal Reserve survey, the leaders who reported delaying investments admitted that their firms will have lower revenue and employment growth in 2024 than firms whose plans aren’t impacted by the election.

The decision-making delays have also made reaching targets potentially more difficult for some organizations. Even as higher-level managers hesitated, lower-level managers and individual contributors had keep the business moving, often without support. “A lot of managers want to know how they are going to hit their goals,” Sniffen says.

Besides executing their major post-election capital and strategic decisions, many leaders should come up with plans to bring in more skilled talent and convince more individual contributors to become managers. Neither of those problems, which can be found in any industry these days, are likely to be solved by a new US president.

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