Tracy Nolan has led tens of thousands of people through defining crises (store closures, 9/11, a pandemic merger), and her through-line is always the same: jump in and put people first. In this episode, the Fortune 50 Executive shares the hard-won leadership philosophy that proves the human side of crisis leadership isn't soft; it's the only strategy that actually works.
What does it actually look like to lead people through a crisis — not just manage operations, but truly show up for the humans involved? In this episode of Leading Through Crisis, host Céline Williams sits down with Tracy Nolan, a Fortune 50 Senior Executive and global Board Leader with deep expertise in regulated industries, including healthcare and telecommunications.
Tracy has led through it all: the closure of 27 retail stores as the last executive standing, being on a plane landing at Newark on the morning of 9/11 while working for Verizon, and managing 14,000 Sprint employees through both COVID-19 and a simultaneous merger with T-Mobile. Her philosophy? Jump in (beyond the operational checklist, beyond what the job description says), and treat your people the way you'd want to be treated.
In this conversation, Tracy shares:
- Why most leaders fail at crisis communication (and what to do instead)
- How she ran "no-canned-questions" listening sessions that changed the way her teams trusted her
- The "CEO for a day" roundtable method she uses to stay connected to frontline reality
- Why feedback is a gift, regardless of your title
- A powerful trust exercise every leader should do with their team today
If you're a leader, executive, or manager who wants to build an organization that can not only survive a crisis but thrive through one, this episode is essential listening.
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Tracy Nolan is a Fortune 50 senior executive and global board leader with deep experience in regulated industries, including healthcare and telecommunications. She has overseen $6B+ in P&L's, led multi-billion dollar revenue transformations, and delivered sustainable value through M&A integrations, operating models redesigns, and risk-managed expansion.
Tracy currently serves as Senior Vice President, where she leads the Insurance sales organization and distribution strategy. Tracy has recently been named to the 50/50 Women to Watch for Boards list and serves as the Board Secretary for Dress for Success Worldwide. She is an advocate dedicated to "Inspiring Leaders to Lift while they Climb."
Connect with Tracy: tracynolan.com | LinkedIn: Tracy E. Nolan
Tracy Nolan: [00:00:00] Operations is important, but the people aspect to your point and the culture and being there for people in, in hard times is really what it's all about.
Judith: Welcome to the Leading Through Crisis podcast, brought to you by reVisionary. Exploring resilient leadership in a world of constant change. Every few weeks, Céline Williams — speaker, strategist, and trusted advisor to leaders navigating change — brings conversations that explore how to deal with the inevitable and perpetual shifts of leadership. These discussions reveal practical insights, thoughtful strategies, and stories of resilience to help you lead with clarity and calm.
Céline Williams: My guest today is Tracy Nolan, a Fortune 50 senior executive and board Board director with deep expertise in regulated industry, including healthcare and telecommunications. Welcome Tracy. Thank you for having me here today. I'm very happy to get to talk to you today, but before we dive into anything, and I know you have a ton of experience, we're gonna get into.
Um, the question I always [00:01:00] start with is, the name of the podcast is Leading Through Crisis. When you hear that phrase, what comes up for you or what does that mean to you?
Tracy Nolan: When I hear that phrase, the first thing I think about is, okay, jump to action. Because in a crisis situation, a lot of people freeze.
A lot of people run, but what you really need to do is jump in.
Céline Williams: Tell me a little bit about whether it's an example that you have of that or more about like what jumping in can look like, because I think that's, that's not a take I've heard often and I think it's really interesting because a lot of people do freeze and they don't jump into action and they question action and they hesitate.
And there's all of the, we need to know everything before we do anything that comes up. So I'm curious from your perspective. What does that look like, whether it's an example or just an explanation.
Tracy Nolan: You know, it's interesting. Through my lifetime [00:02:00] in working, I never really thought that I would be, considered a crisis expert or managing through crisis like that was not something that I thought I would want to be.
But it really started, for me back when I was working in retail and I was in upstate New York and I was working for a company that was called the McCurdy Company or Thefor Company, and it got. Bought by May, may Company came in and said, Hey, we don't want any competition in upstate New York. We're gonna buy you out and we're gonna close all your stores down.
And I happen to be fairly young executive, the, you know, as a female executive, first female executive, of the company. And I was the last standing executive as I had to close down 27 stores, and I learned really quickly through that. I thought, okay, I'm charged with going and closing down all these stores and letting all the employees go, but I needed to sell all the fixtures and, and sell [00:03:00] all the clothes and get ready to do it.
I started to get into action and when I got into action with the actual just doing what was, you know, told of me, I realized that I needed to jump in a little bit further. And what I mean by that is that, most of the employees had had grandparents or family members, and this was a coveted, you know, place to shop that people had family members who had worked there forever, that had been in existence for 30 years.
And I realized that I wasn't gonna be able to make it through this. By just doing the things the business wanted me to do. I needed to help the employees and really work with the employees on helping them through the transition, which is really jumping in. It's going a little bit further than just what the job says to do, but it's really about working with the people and.
This is back in the time before there was LinkedIn and I went out and I found these like [00:04:00] employees. I found ways to have people come in and start interviewing the employees so they could start looking for other jobs I listened to the employees and said, Hey, I need your help as we're closing down these doors, but let's have a celebration for all the years of service you put into it and brought us.
Touch of culture in a situation that was a crisis for many. But you can go through a crisis multiple ways by just doing the things that the company tells you to do, or you can take it or jump into the next level, which is really how do you engage the people in care for them about it as you're going through what you needed to.
And you know, that was my first really. Learning lesson about in a crisis situation as a leader, you don't have to just do or wait for somebody to tell you what to do, but how do you jump in and really care for people in a crisis situation? So I think that's [00:05:00] how it started. And then I, you know, throughout my career I've had other, you know, examples of that, that have played very well into managing through and leading through crisis.
Céline Williams: So I love that example, and it's one of the things that immediately comes up for me is, the opportunity for companies to consider the people and the experience of the people in those moments of crisis
was clearly untapped in that situation, right? Like you totally untapped went above and beyond to do that, to tap into it. But the focus as it continues to be in many situations, not all, but many, is on getting the task done. Here's the steps, here's the outcomes. You do these five things, or whatever the case may be, and that's what it is, and it isn't.
The people, the human element of it goes untapped and unconsidered to the depth that it should be. And it sounds like [00:06:00] that was something that you kind of naturally, you know, saw the opportunity in. And I don't mean that in a, in a manipulative way, but in a, this is, this should be tapped into, we should, this is where I can jump in.
And I'm curious how that has changed to what you said. You know, you've continued to. Deal with crisis situations, how that has influenced or changed your approach to, whether it's your own team or an organization across the board as a, as a senior executive?
Tracy Nolan: Well, I think, and I'll give you another example if I may, man this one, which was, well, there's two, but I, I'll go here.
So, i, I hesitate on this one 'cause it's just a harder one. But, nine 11, nine 11. I actually was on a plane flying into Newark, that morning at 8 46. I landed at 8 46 in the morning. And I was working for Verizon. And when I landed, I was there. It [00:07:00] was crazy. I was there. As a, you know, reward for performance of my region to play golf, which I'm not a golfer by the way, so I was nervous as anything to go.
But when I landed, what I realized was there was a major crisis. Like literally the airport was like, what you see in movies with, you know. Everything's shutting down, people running all over. And I had been, I had planned to be there for a day, like fly in and fly out. I'm in my golf skirt, I am there to play golf.
And I quickly got diverted and realized when I couldn't make a cell phone call to my husband and to my parents that we had a major crisis in play. And, over the next. Four days I spent, time helping, get phones, you know, in my clothes that I was in. For the same type period of time. I didn't bring [00:08:00] anything.
I was part of a task force to get phones from multiple states and back in those days you have to program each individual one and get them out for first responders and for police and firemen and for volunteers, so they could go looking. For loved ones, and missing people, and also at the same time try to get Wall Street back up and going because Wall Street was underwater from a telecommunications perspective.
So I think as we were tasking through what we had to do, we took a special approach to those, all of our employees across the country who had family members. Who lived in New York, and while we could have not looked at that piece and spent time on the task, we were trying to figure out how to help those employees who had family members get as much information [00:09:00] about those family members or about what was going on, including, you know, taking care of those who had immediate family members.
And so there was, as much as we were spending time on. Getting the, you know, operations back up. We, we doubled down on taking care of our employees and it could have been very easy to miss that step. Yeah, yeah. Because there was demands from the government. There were demands. I mean, it, you know, it was, it was a crisis mode scenario.
But again, that's where it was like when I called jumping in, it's jumping in beyond. The operational piece of it, jumping in and showing, you know, that care that you treating your employees as if you would want to be treated and even more, how do you take it to that next step? Always thinking about that next step and not just about.
What you see. And so, you know, I never, I never expected, nine 11, like I never [00:10:00] expected to be part of a crisis like that. Um, and, and then, you know, uh, and then I hit another one with COVID. So, you know, it's, it's, you don't know when these things are going to come and. Operations is important, but the people aspect to your point and the culture and being there for people in, in hard times is really what it's all about.
Céline Williams: Absolutely. And I can only imagine the weight of, of dealing with not only the operational, but the, the human element with nine 11, with people that were affected, with families that were affected. The weight of that, but then also COVID showing up, and it's another version. It's not the same, but it's another version of a crisis that in, I mean, there was not a part of the world that was not affected in [00:11:00] some way, shape, or.
Tracy Nolan: No. And at that for COVID, so I was with Sprint running all national sales and operations, so 14,000 people and we were in the process of being merged with T-Mobile and that was like a three year long scenario of just trying to keep people motivated to do what they're doing, knowing things are gonna change, and we're gonna go through this, which you could call not a crisis, but certainly.
Certainly a heavy, heavy, you know, transition, A transformational change in time. Yeah. But what happened there was, you know, I was, I got a call in January and it was like, Hey, there's this thing called some disease, and it's, you know, it's, there's senior an outbreak in Seattle where T-Mobile is, and oh, by the way, it looks like the merger's gonna go through in the next two or three months.
We want you to fly up, but we can't have you fly up because COVID is there. Well. On April 1st, 2020 is when [00:12:00] we merged, so I had 14,000 people. We had just shut down all our stores and operations across the country, but we were as an essential service, which meant I had 14,000 people that I needed to keep as many stores open as possible.
I needed to keep the employees safe and put in operational procedures in it. But also the customers. And so we had to reinvent and oh, by the way, we're going through a merger and you're all gonna have, you know, new leadership, we're gonna do things differently and all that, all at the same time. And we had to get super creative, like, hey, only one, customer in a store at a time.
We started to self-serve out in the parking lots, right? Like, you know, like, and had a, had to make appointments. But then for the employees it was like, how do I keep them safe? And it was, you know, in keep this operational thing, it would've been easier to say, Hey, just have everybody go home. We'll just shut down for this period of [00:13:00] time.
But as an essential service, government wanted us to stay open. So I was like, okay, we're gonna have to work people in pods of five. So five people go into a store, they work eight hours for four days in a row. Then I deep clean the store. And, and overnight. So then the next pod comes in because if any of that five go down, I couldn't have them around 27 people who could possibly be infected.
So you had to work this and then you had employees who had, you know, high risk people at home. How do you handle those? And then on top of that, you had people who had family members who were passing away, and just the whole navigation of that. Again, if I hadn't had that experience way back when about this people aspect and culture aspect of how you go through this, and as you said, many companies and many executives don't wanna get into this people [00:14:00] side, right?
Like that is, that is difficult. That is highly difficult. And, you know, takes a level of personalization that a lot of people don't bring to work. And, but it is, it's important to do and it's the, in my opinion, the only way that you can successfully manage a crisis and you're gonna do, you're never gonna be perfect at it.
But if you try, you can really make a difference in, and you can, you can actually help people thrive through. You know, transformation or a crisis.
Céline Williams: It's so interesting because I agree with you, a lot of executives don't want to deal with the people side of it. It's messy, it's unpredictable. People don't do what you want them to do just 'cause you want them to do.
You can't control people the same way you can control, you know, operational things or at certain elements of business. So they don't [00:15:00] wanna do it and they avoid it or they have a checkbox of culture, communications, hr, whatever it is that they check and they're like, well, we did it. So now everything is good.
Which kind of misses the point. And it is the, it is one of the very few things that helps leaders. Executives, organizations really stand out these days is when the people are cared for, thought of, feel like they are part of something and they have been considered. So it's, it's astonishing to me that more leaders and executives don't have that as a true priority, not just a checkbox.
Tracy Nolan: Because it's hard. You said it really well, you know, people are unpredictable, people, you know, have, [00:16:00] have feelings and just, you know, I, I do this thing where, you know, somebody may look so polished on the outside, but you don't really know what's going on.
And externally. And yes, you don't wanna cross that bridge of getting too personal, but just asking an employee how they're doing and showing that empathy and that caring and listening and. Is something so important. But you see a lot of leaders who are super smart, but they have no skillset, you know, or are or get super uncomfortable or don't wanna have those hard conversations, whether it be through crisis or be through anything.
And to me, the best thing you can do is to have those. Situations. They're not easy. They're not, you know, it's not our, you know, I once got on a call and I had a leader who just, I thought we were, you know, I was gonna tell her how great she has been doing and she just got on and bawled the whole time.
'cause she had something personal [00:17:00] going on and I thought, wow, this is a little uncomfortable. Right? But like she needed. For that timeframe. And then she was so embarrassed after and I'm like, no, no, no, I'm glad I could be there. And, you know, I could give her EAP, I could give her some, some, you know, resources to help because I would've never known on the outside that she had anything going in, you know, going on outside.
We all think that the others are, you know, like we just think that they come to work and everything's fine. And a lot of times that's not the case.
Céline Williams: Absolutely. And it's how you end up with. People who are burnt out or who are quitting or who, like, they don't see an alternative. And it's just unfortunate that we don't make space for people and we don't make space for compassion as much as we could.
And I think it's, it's a testament to. You as a leader that you were able to navigate, you know, that specific, [00:18:00] all of the situations, but that specific situation in the moment, because there are lots of people who, as soon as those emotions come out, they panic and shut down. 'cause it's like, I don't know how to be with discomfort or tension or whatever.
As opposed to just tension and discomfort are part of dealing with people full stop in whatever capacity.
Tracy Nolan: Well, and especially when you're dealing in a crisis situation and those, you know, my, I had three pretty extreme situations, but I've also had smaller ones. Right, of course. And, you know, okay, the numbers didn't come in like they were supposed to, or, you know, you're over in expenses and it may feel very crisis like in the moment.
Right. And. It's when you're in that you automatically just go to fixing the situation and forget about fixing and listening to the people. Right. And, and [00:19:00] especially when you're, you know, you're geared up. It's like you're ready to run the race and you're gonna do it. But like, jumping in beyond that to really look at how the people are handling.
The people can, you know, people, your employees are gonna tell you things that are gonna be highly, highly important to be able to get through that situation that maybe you're not even thinking about. And when they know you've, you've got their back and that you're working with them, or at least you're listening to them, right?
If you can't, you know, deliver exactly what they want, just knowing that you're listening, they're gonna work twice as hard to help you through that crisis.
Céline Williams: And this is where my question comes in, how that two-way communication, that type of communication where you are communicating effectively with people in times of crisis, which I, you know, unfortunately, I think communication often.
Falls apart in times of [00:20:00] crisis because we think, and I've seen this happen with clients many times where they think either we can only communicate when we already have the answer, and so we're not gonna say anything until we have the answer or which I, well, you know, that's a problem in and of itself.
Or they are communicating almost as a distraction. Like they're just saying things that aren't really. It almost comes, whether it comes across as toxic positivity, or they're just saying things that aren't necessarily what the people are dealing with or experiencing or thinking about, and they're just really disconnected from that.
And there's other examples, but those are the two that I see often. So I say this because I have seen many examples of how communication breaks down and becomes significantly worse in times of crisis and. It sounds like you have been able to navigate that differently, not only from what you're putting out, but also what you're hearing [00:21:00] and that two-way communication is a game changer, really.
And in the best of times, let alone the worst times. So. How have you navigated that and, and are there, whether it's lessons that you're like, here's some really key things that we've done, or here's some things to keep in, or just how, because I wish Tracy, I would love more leaders and organizations to really be doing that.
Tracy Nolan: Well, for me, I am like, I'm a type D personality, so I'm go, go, go, go, go. Which makes me not a great a listener, right? Like I love to communicate, but I don't always listen. But I've learned that early in my career that the part of communication people forget, and that's the most important, is listening. So for me, I had another example.
We were going through a merger and, it was highly disruptive to the group that we were, I was working with again. And it at that point was like, [00:22:00] things were changing around us. So I said, okay, I'm just gonna get on the phone. I'm gonna have an open bridge. And that open bridge, I'm, you know, most people do town halls, but they fill it with a bunch of stuff, right?
And now we're in crisis. We're going through change. And I said, okay, team, what we're gonna do is we're gonna get on, I'm gonna give 10 minutes of update, and then we're gonna sit for the next 50 minutes and do nothing and just take questions. And everybody's like, oh, we can't do that. We don't have the answers.
To your point. We don't have the answers. I'm like, it's okay. Like we will say, we don't have the answer, but thank you. We'll get back to you. And they're like, oh, we, that would show we're weak. I go, no, no, no. It's gonna show we're listening. So the first time we did it. We got on and I did the, you know, intro and then I said, okay, I'm open for questions.
The first questions were coming were all canned questions. 'cause I knew they sounded canned. So I stopped the meeting. I said, okay, put away all those canned questions your, your leaders told you to say now what's really on your mind? And literally we sat there in, I think we had like five [00:23:00] questions in 40 minutes.
Like not many at all. Yeah. And we sat in silence. So I kept doing this every week and you. What it was interesting 'cause at the end, you know, as we got going, questions started to come up. Are we going to fire more pe, are you gonna fire more people? Are we gonna lose our jobs? Is this department going away?
Um, my health benefits aren't the same. Like, we started getting really good questions and I said, I told the team, told everyone like, if I can answer it, I will. If Legal's telling me I can't, I'm gonna tell you I can't. 'cause right now I'm bound by legal or I'm gonna look into it if I don't have the answer.
And it got to the point where those hours were filled up with questions and no one judged us, the leadership team on not having the right answer. They looked at us as like we cared and we were willing to take questions. So one of the things I'd say is don't, to your point, don't wait till you have the answer.
Communication is a two way street. And really it's more about [00:24:00] listening than it is about communicating and doing it. And to this day, every time I've taken on a new role or something's come up, the first thing I do is I hold these types of sessions so I can start to get to know what's going on.
I do, round tables in a smaller setting where I invite, like, I do it every other week. I have a round table with a group of employees somewhere in my organization that is random that we just get on the phone and I said, okay, if you become CEO of the day, what would you change? And I just. I tell 'em like nothing is, whatever you say here is just really for me to learn.
And I actually have an email box that's chat with Tracy that anybody can send me a question any time of the day or any thought. Now, if it's hr, I'm gonna give it to hr, but other than that, I'm gonna answer them within 48 hours. And I am, you know, you know, with 4,000 employees today.
I am on that box and I learned some of the best things. So it's for me, you know, communication really [00:25:00] as a leader should be a lot more about listening and hearing out and understanding. And I did have leaders who said, Hey Tracy, we know what we need to do. And I'm like, I would ask you to go, when was the last time you actually sat with one of your employees in the call center or that you went out with one of your employees?
Or when was the last time you had a round table? 'cause. That's the connection and that is what that not only through crisis, but that is what makes a really difference in an organization. And you'll run a better run organization because you understand what is actually happening.
Céline Williams: Well, and I think that cannot be emphasized enough.
And there are many leaders and organizations who think they are doing that. And end up getting only those canned questions and end up only hearing what they wanna hear. And I think what you're talking about is creating something ongoing where it's not about you looking to [00:26:00] confirm your own opinion, you looking to confirm the bias or idea you already have.
I wanna hear all the perspectives because there are things that I am not gonna be aware of otherwise. And. When the leaders aren't aware of it, I hear this all the time in the work I do with organizations it is the, our leadership doesn't understand what's the day to day.
They're disconnected from what's going on. They're not, and they don't wanna hear it. And what you're talking about is disrupting that in an ongoing way so that trust is built.
Tracy Nolan: It's the only way I have, you know, people that I have found that you can really make substantial leaps in your business is to get there.
And I, you know, I have learned no matter what job I've taken, what role I've had, and people will always say, well, how do you take on these roles and how do you build your strategic plan? It starts with this. [00:27:00] This is how it starts. And it's not like I can write the, you know, a thesis in a great strategic plan, but if I don't have the communication and the backing of the employees, of building a really truly trustful both ways, as I say, they need to trust me and I need to trust 'em.
But it's a two way street like that. Open communication is. That's the start of it. They're not gonna love everything I do. And, and there are a lot of employees who would say, Tracy was really tough on us, but they will say that she did listen and she cared. Right. Yeah. And that's really what it's all about.
Céline Williams: Yeah. I absolutely, it's not, you don't ha nobody is going to ever love. Everything about you. Whether it's the decisions you make, whether it's who you are, whether it's how you, no, that's, that is not real. But if you can create, if you can establish respect and trust where they know that [00:28:00] whatever decision you've made, you haven't just made it in a disconnected way, that goes a long way with people.
Tracy Nolan: Yeah. Many times leaders today don't take enough time and energy in this piece of the business, which is so critically important.
Céline Williams: Yep. Um, before we wrap up, I wanna ask a question about this specifically, and you may not have an answer and I'm putting you on the spot and I fully recognize that and I'm gonna do it anyways if you have, because I can.
Um, if, if you could give leader executives one piece of advice, around, how to establish that trust. Especially if they're in a position, which a lot of them are where it's not a new role. They're in a, they haven't done it, you know, they're disconnected. One piece of advice to start doing this, um, what, what would that be?
What would you suggest?[00:29:00]
Tracy Nolan: I would start with thinking through, and doing what I call kind of a trust exercise. Think about the team that you have and not just your direct team, but the, you, you start with your direct, but then the rest of your organization. And think to yourself, do you trust everyone in your organization?
And if there's doubt in that, then you need to figure out how to fix that. And it could be communication, it could be getting to know them better, could be setting up round tables, whatever. But then do the self-assessment on, do you think that they trust me and open yourself up to do a 360 feedback? I know everybody rolls their eyes when they hear that, but feedback is a gift and we are all not perfect, and I don't care if you have a
C in front of your title or an S [00:30:00] or a V or a D, like you're not perfect like And feedback is a gift and you may not even know something you're doing that is eroding trust. And that feedback will be invaluable as long as you don't say, oh, that's just this one person who says that, or, oh, that over there, get some feedback or even ask direct, Hey, I am trying to improve as a leader.
What would be the one item of advice you would give me that would make me more effective for working with you? Right? And, and so. Those, we just put all this type of stuff on the side burner to deliver results, and this is going to making, building that trust level and getting that going is gonna make your job so much easier, and it's gonna make it more fun for you and for your employees, and they're gonna work even harder for your overall objectives.[00:31:00]
Céline Williams: I could not have said it better myself. Thank you, Tracy. Thank you for sharing so many stories so openly. I really appreciate it. Extremely insightful and I very much appreciate the time that you spent with me and the audience today. So thank you for that.
Tracy Nolan: Well, thank you. This was great.
And thank you for you having this podcast and inviting me to join you.
Céline Williams: Absolutely. and for anyone who is listening or watching. All these links are in the show notes, but you can check out Tracy. Her website is Tracy Nolan, T-R-A-C-Y-N-O-L-A N.com, and she's also on LinkedIn as Tracy e Nolan, the Tracy and Nolan spelled the same way.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me today, Tracy.
Judith: You’ve been listening to Leading Through Crisis, hosted by Céline Williams and brought to you by reVisionary. To learn more, visit leadingthroughcrisis.ca. Connect with Céline on LinkedIn, and explore the show notes for resources and next steps. Until next time, keep leading with courage [00:32:00] and clarity.