The recent problems of bankruptcies and ineffective performance under the impact of the recession of 2008 - 2009 had raised questions about the importance of leadership in Vietnamese private enterprises. This paper presents the results of an empirical study that explores leaders’ decisions during 2008-2012 to help their business survive; their forecasts and expectations for when the recession was over and the competencies needed for successful leadership in times of recession. The survey sample was composed of 478 CEOs and 561 senior managers in Vietnamese private enterprises. The results indicate almost respondents of the surveyed leaders agreed about slow economic recovery and the moderate level of leadership and management performance were forecasted. Struggling with impact of recession, the surveyed leaders agreed that adapting to an increasingly complex and unpredictable business environment is essential and they must be more flexible. Especially, amongst the 14 factors, sustainability, working enthusiasm and willingness to take risk appear to be more responded in what leaders should do in times of economic downturn. Meantime, it also can be concluded from the survey of senior managers about leader’s needed competences that all values are under 4.0, which means no leadership competencies or skills is evaluated as good or excellent.