Good leaders, as a general rule, don’t do fear. So it is refreshing to find business chiefs willing to admit that the financial crisis has them spooked. Rather than spreading panic, it shows they are in touch with the rest of us.

Jeff Swartz, president and chief executive of Timberland, is one leader who speaks openly about the harm the financial crisis could do to brands. Reflecting on the anti-capitalist G20 summit protests in London, in April, he says: “It scares the daylights out of people within Timberland.”

But although Swartz admits that he is worried by public anger at the financial crisis, he sees the global downturn as a huge opportunity for the company he has been at or near the top of for almost 20 years. He feels the crisis gives brands with a social message the chance to reconnect with disillusioned consumers.

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