Now that we’ve had a week to settle into the uncomfortable, but necessary, changes that come with social distancing, it’s perfectly normal to want things back the way they were. Just wind back the clock like nothing happened, right? I hope that by the time you finish reading this, you’ll join me in thinking things won’t ever be that way, BUT I’m still fine with it!
I won’t minimize the stress the COVID-19 virus is putting on our lives with worries about our health, the health of our families, and our careers and finances—a fear of the unknown that we haven’t experienced since 9/11. I’m taking some direction now from “Never let a good crisis go to waste,” a quote first attributed to Winston Churchill, and then when it was later changed to a “serious crisis,” by Rahm Emanuel.
With a little extra time on my hands, I’ve had the opportunity to read and listen to many authors and pundits over the past week saying they don’t want to appear tone deaf to troubled times by simply droning on about their usual subject matter. Interestingly enough, there is a common thread from these diverse messages: The idea that out of great struggles from a crisis can come great opportunity.
Many conversations express some surprise at the speed the virus seems to have come front and center in our lives. That’s a matter of perception, of course, but there is little argument that our awareness lagged the reality for reasons there’s no longer a need to repeat here. For the short haul, the conversation is about survival, but soon (like now) the opportunity is to think about what you do the NEXT time, while still living through THIS time.
You likely use metrics every day to measure your performance, whether it’s business performance, sales performance, or personal performance (health, financial, etc.). Are the metrics, these “key performance indicators” that you’re using still the right ones or is it time for some fresh indicators of performance factors? We are living in the balance right now of searching for desperately needed messages of optimism, but know we need honesty and candor more than anything. I’m a bit of a contrarian, so I have always embraced the concept of what’s been called “listening at the edges.” Perhaps you do this as well. While of course I have my own opinions on topics, I very much enjoy listening to diverse points of view from people I respect and admire, even if, and when, they differ from my own. I find that this listening at the edges affords me the opportunity to hear thoughts and insights from others, and to sometimes reconsider, or at least reflect on more deeply, some of my own thoughts and feelings. I find that this form of engaging in listening, and often debate and discussion, around sensitive and sometimes critically important topics such as the issues we wrestle with today, helps me get centered. It also helps me adjust my thinking along the way so that I can be best positioned to make important decisions.
Perhaps your business, and your life too for that matter, could benefit from a strategy of listening at the edges, and a balance of courteous and thoughtful dissent might bode well for your future.
With the brakes slammed on everything right now, have you considered it might be the right time to execute a change you couldn’t have just a short time ago? A situation where everything is suddenly on the table may make what seemed unlikely a week ago suddenly have a better chance of coming to fruition. For example, I’m thinking that the next several weeks are a real chance to develop brand loyalty. Your clients are living the same problems you are living right now. They’re working from home, dealing with childcare issues, and share many of the fears you have. Whenever they begin to emerge post-Coronavirus, whatever that will look like, they are going to be looking to their real partners for solutions.
Empathy is never tone deaf. You might not be able to sell them lanyards, pens, and totes today, but they may still have the ones you made for the trade show they didn’t have, or the conference that was cancelled and not attended. If you weren’t lucky enough to have them order decorated hand sanitizer that ended up being just sent home with employees, check in with a prepared solution to repurpose other unused items. Offer to sticker them, embroider a patch, or even send them to their end-users as a reminder of a future event. I’m reminded of the time an agency suggested to me adding sunglasses or reading glasses with a “look forward to seeing you next time” theme. We are in this together, because well, we are. Making sure your customers know that can go a long way toward deepening your relationships with them.
COVID-19 is giving both employees and employers a chance to experience telecommuting. It’s inevitable that some of them will find out it works just fine, enough to even make it permanent. Opportunity awaits in every office supply, shipping box and envelope, piece of identity merchandise and branded apparel this new arrangement will require. Be ready with luggage, garment bags, duffles and tags to suggest, and of course, travel tech. You know this. You’ve got this.
Isaac Newton had to work from home during a pandemic. You might have heard about his work while using his time wisely, and even in 1665 had its own version of social distancing. He wasn’t a “Sir” yet, and he wasn’t sporting that cool quaffed wig, but in the “year of wonder” while he was sent home from school at Trinity College, papers he wrote were his earliest work on calculus. In addition, it was during that very hiatus that Newton developed his famous theory of relativity—you know the famous story, about the apple falling from the tree. Whether or not he was actually sitting under the tree and got bonked on the head remains most likely fiction, but his theory relativity, and easy explanation of how gravity works we know came from whatever happened there.
We all feel out of control right now, because, well, we are. That leads to fear. But don’t be afraid of making appropriate changes. Fear that leads to focus on what’s important will help you admit where you misplaced priorities. I know we don't typically like to talk about our fears. When we lived through 9/11, we thought we could put a face on an enemy. Today, our enemy is an invisible, insidious virus that we don’t know anything about, and which we can’t see, touch, or cure. I can’t think of a time in my lifetime where we need to depend more on others than we do right now. We are wholly dependent upon one another to do the right thing, even in instances where some they might perceive their personal risk factors to be low, while others are incredibly susceptible and highly at risk. Today, we must depend on the altruism of strangers and friends. Our healthcare system and the brave medical personnel manning the front lines are depending on that. Our brave first responders are depending on that. Our stalwart friends showing up to shifts at the local grocery stores, pharmacies, and transport authorities are all depending on that altruism and sense of doing what we can individually for the greater good.
People and businesses are rising up in amazing ways, embracing this unseen adversary, lifting one another up where possible, and figuring out ways to be the helpers that our world so desperately needs right now. That’s why I have hope that we will come out better off on the other side of this, because we need each other now than ever before. I have faith in people. I know that we will find the empathy we need within ourselves to face our fears and to help others face theirs. I have faith that we will work together to fight for our families, our livelihoods, our communities, and our world. And I have faith that we will come out of this challenge a stronger, kinder, more loving group of people than we were when this started. Challenging times have a way of bringing people together in really amazing ways. So, for now, stay safe, try to remain calm, and work for the greater good with whatever chances you’re given. We will get through this, it’s what we do.
Jeff Jacobs has been an expert in building brands and brand stewardship for 40 years, working in commercial television, Hollywood film and home video, publishing, and promotional brand merchandise. He’s a staunch advocate of consumer product safety and has a deep passion and belief regarding the issues surrounding compliance and corporate social responsibility. He retired as executive director of Quality Certification Alliance, the only non-profit dedicated to helping suppliers provide safe and compliant promotional products. Before that, he was director of brand merchandise for Michelin. Connect with Jeff on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, or his personal blog on Tumblr or jeffreypjacobs.com. Reach out to him on email at jacobs.jeffreyp@gmail.com.