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Question: I am a manager working for a company that has recently been downsizing. Many of my coworkers have been laid off, and I am beginning to feel like the proverbial "last man standing." What can I do to keep my job?

Ah yes. Another manager joins the "last man" (or woman) club. Downsizing, cutbacks and corporate shutdowns have, indeed, made many managers feel like the last of a dying breed. Chances are you're lying low, taking care not to make waves, and hoping the ax-wielders simply won't notice you. But guess what? This is not the time to toe the status quo line. Now, more than ever, you must take a strong leadership stance. Those with the strongest roots are the hardest to get rid of.
To remain a viable, valuable leader for your company even in the worst of economic times, embrace the following guidelines:

• Develop a personal leadership philosophy. The personal leadership philosophy, or PLP, is a written document that includes your personal values, how you will carry out your responsibilities, what your priorities are, and what you expect of your people. My book The Leader's Compass: Set Your Course For Leadership Success, offers some hints on crafting yours. Make sure your goals and values mesh with your company's mission. (If they don't, perhaps moving on wouldn't be such a bad thing.) Then, share your PLP with your team.
  
  
• Model your personal leadership philosophy. Live it with passion. Your employees expect you to lead by example. If you expect your team to pull an all-nighter to meet a deadline, you must burn the midnight oil right along with them. Anything less will breed resentment and lose you the respect of your team. 
  
  
• Don't be afraid to make the tough decisions. Here's a key parallel between military life and business life. In the heat of combat, leaders must make split-second decisions that are literally matters of life and death. Likewise, the decisions you make at work really can affect the vitality-and in some cases, the very existence-of your organization. That's why you must make them with confidence and resolve. 
  
  
• Hold people accountable. When you are leading men into battle, their lives are in your hands, and yours in theirs. Everyone depends on the rest of the company not to let them down. Now, translate this principle to the "battlefield" that is the business world. When you're the leader, you owe it to your team to give 100 percent to everything you do. So does your team. Everyone's livelihood depends on this level of accountability.
  
  
• Build your bench. As a leader, you are only as good as your ability to develop others. The fast pace of today's business world and the flatter, leaner management structures mean that critical decisions must be made at lower levels than ever before. You must ensure that your people have the leadership ability to make these decisions.
  
  
• Don't be a lone wolf. And if you're a gray wolf, don't ignore the brown ones. If you can't delegate, you can't lead. But if you're like many leaders, you may favor those people who you feel most comfortable with-the ones most like you. That's a mistake. Sometimes people who are very different from you have exactly what your team needs to get a certain job done.
  
  
• Don't get stuck in survival mode. In anxious times, we tend to operate with tunnel vision, working fast and furious to meet our customer's needs. That's normal. But when things are a bit more relaxed-perhaps during a seasonal lull in business-it's time to step back and reflect on the big picture. Is your company ready to move in a different direction? Don't be afraid to adjust your PLP or your company's goals if there's a good reason to do so.
  
  
• Never, ever, ever stop growing. Life is change, and so is business. You must grow as a leader, every day. And your organization must grow as well. In successful organizations, the two will happen in tandem. Don't use an unsteady economy as an excuse to be static; don't be afraid to take well-thought-out risks. Actually, standing still is a risk, because that's when you get run over by the competition.

Finally, view this time in your career as an opportunity, not a liability. When things aren't going well, you have a chance to really make your mark as a leader. Think about it. When a company has high profits and lots of business, there's no incentive to try something new. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? Well, when it is "broke," there is a desperate need for someone to "fix it." Why shouldn't that someone be you?