It’s obvious the Coronavirus (Covid-19) scare has turned our worlds upside down. It becomes overwhelming grappling with the health and safety for our loved ones, school care, food and supply planning, business continuity, and so many more issues. In times like these we look for leadership and direction from our elected officials and our business and community leaders to see us through this by providing clear vision more than anything else.
We are all motivated toward the notion to save lives and get the economy going, but lately I’ve found myself debating with my fellow Kellogg alumni about the nebulous picture of what success ultimately looks like. What exactly are we desiring to achieve? What’s the goal? What’s the vision?
Is it:
To “flatten the curve”
To buy time until we increase the levels of PPE and other critical medical equipment
To allow enough time for a treatment and/or vaccine to be developed
To reduce deaths or new cases to an “acceptable” number or rate
To completely eradicate all traces of the disease for a few weeks’ time
Something else entirely?
I typically write on business principles, and this is no different. Leadership through this crisis is being played out with international implications, and each of our individual organizations are getting a reminder to act out of a clearly stated vision.
I’m not one to get into partisan banter, so this is no condemnation on any party. If anything, it is a criticism that we as a nation and ultimately as a global human body haven’t fully defined and communicated an ultimate vision and goal; and yet we have enacted so many tactics that go beyond the simple “stop the bleeding” initial activity. How have we moved into corrective action “stimulus” packages, but we haven’t defined what “normal” could look like?
We’ve put the proverbial cart before the horse!
Interestingly enough, my business blog post back in December was titled "Get Roller Coaster Insurance - Or Uncover Your Motivation." It just so happens that our stock market is looking like a serious scary roller coaster right now (mostly downhill). I believe this is emblematic of the lack of a coherent vision.
What might the definitive “mission accomplished” moment look like when we can return to whatever our new normal needs to be?
Business leadership requires the same as national and global leadership. The same questions posed in the earlier blog apply here just as well:
Where do you ultimately want to go, and
What’s the underlying reason you want to be there?
I implore the world leaders and us as business leaders to get out of “plug the leak” mode. Let’s stop talking about amorphous pandemic recovery dates and develop a cohesive Coronavirus recovery vision of what we are trying to achieve. The basic motivations to save lives and re-energize the economy are there. Let’s just crystallize them with goals we can all rally around. At that point I guarantee the roller coaster will be back on a solid uptrend.
This isn’t to say it will all be easy with a motivating vision. Recognize and accept that today’s plans can (rather, will) change particularly in an environment that is quickly developing. Keep in touch with more blog pieces and resources that will help you through risk mitigation and contingency planning at www.Level4Growth.com/blog . And simply subscribe below.