Last man standing. That phrase could well apply to CEOs running major companies and individuals running entrepreneurial start-ups during Covid-19. Companies have been tested to the extreme.
A world turned virtual
The litany is well known. A world turned virtual when not every business can operate in a virtual fashion, when not every employee can do his job correctly in a virtual fashion. Supply chains disrupted. Above all the struggle to find customers with unemployment the highest since the Great Depression. And those still employed cringing to spend even a penny, uncertain of the future.
So, in my many interviews regarding how CEO’s see themselves re-building after Covid-19, I was chasing two different threads of insight that intrigued me both from a marketing perspective and equally from a writer’s perspective. Certainly, I am looking for insights, ideas, revelations, intelligent thinking that would blow away the fog of the post-Covid-19 future.
Will there be a new normal?
What will the new normal look like? Will there in fact be a new normal? Will people, being people, revert to their old, familiar normal that gave them comfort? Or will the shock of Covid-19 send them spinning off into a whole different rhythm of life? Changed values. Changed wants. Changed purposes.
The consensus so far seems to be that there will be changes. Some believe drastic changes others believe less so. All believe that post-Covid presents opportunity for some, threat to others. Rather than go into the specifics, I suggest you read the many interviews already published. https://medium.com/authority-magazine/@charliekatz
The mind and character of a CEO
The other thread of insights I was chasing is that special something that enables CEO’s to take the Covid-19 blows and not throw in the towel. What is within their character, their outlook, their faith that gives them the strength, the courage if you will, to forge ahead?
The easy, superficial answer would be to quit would be awesomely painful financially. But there’s far more. There is something they nurtured within themselves that won’t let them bow to Covid-19.
The tale of Meryl Kennedy
Meryl Kennedy, CEO of Kennedy Rice Mill, gave an interesting peek into the mind and character of a CEO, determined to not allow Covid-19 to knock her and her company to the canvas.
“The ability to never stop running, never give up, never stop no matter how bad it hurts. This is the story of my life. Since I was a child, I was never the best athlete on the team. In fact, in many cases, I was truly the worst, but in almost every situation the coach would use me to encourage the strongest athletes.”
There’s more and I believe her words will provide valuable insights and encouragement to be the last man standing in the brutal Covid-19 battle.
