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It’s Not Lonely It’s Leadership


they manage to keep their staffs motivated and forward looking?


It Begins with Communication


When Rossi founded his company, he gave it a name that means “forward” in Italian. Constantly moving forward is central to his leadership philosophy, based on the underlying character traits of persistence (“getting right up again when you get smacked down”) and perseverance (“weathering storms”). But to keep his staff moving forward throughout the pandemic, he learned that the most important skill of all was communication. During times of crisis, “everybody imagines the worst,”


Rossi explains. “So the more you can communicate, the better – let staff know what’s happening, whether it’s bad


or good. Have regular conversations, keep everybody in the mix. We focused on the positive and laughed as much as we could, given the circumstances.” Tose circumstances became particularly dark just two


weeks into the COVID-19 lockdown, when Rossi was forced to lay off 16 employees who had been hired the year before as part of a drive to diversify the company’s markets. “Tat was not fun,” he says. “It was the hardest thing I ever did as a leader.” But thanks to Avanti’s sales growth since the crisis


began, Rossi has hired back seven of those who were let go, some of them in positions quite different from those they had previously held. “Something we figured out in the midst of all this was the importance of having everyone in the right seat,”


ROBERT HERJAVEC


INVESTOR AND LEAD SHARK ABC’S SHARK TANK


January February 2021 47


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