Even though I call myself a glass half-full optimist, like everyone, I have mood swings during this wild phase. I had a roller coaster of a day yesterday, but did two calls in the evening and went to sleep very encouraged.
The first call was with Jason Blessing, CEO of Model N. He rattled off example after example of his life sciences and high tech customers who are running like crazy to come up with vaccines, therapeutics and other products to help fight COVID-19. As I was listening to him - watch the video here, I was thinking about the intensity at which these executives are working. Like all of us, they have elderly parents, children running around while working from home, and they are working on unprecedented projects and products. I worry about burnout - is their pace sustainable?
I got a calming answer in the second call which ended about 9 pm my time. It was a call with Cassandra Long at the Taronga Conservation Society in Australia. It was a call SAP facilitated and I hope to post an interview with her in the near future. What was striking was COVID-19 was actually the second "shock" they had to adjust to after the one of brush fires that tormented the country late last year. Burnout? She was high-energy on the Zoom call.
The morning had started with HP Enterprises CEO Antonio Neri describing acrobatics at his customers including the Nightingale pop-up hospitals which were set up in a mere 9 days at the UK NHS.
The afternoon continued with Bret Taylor, President/COO at Salesforce describing acrobatics during an analyst session. He talked about a banking customer as they handled the crush of emergency PPP loans and public health agencies as they tried early forms of contact tracing of infections.
These examples always inspire me.
I was a bit discouraged before my evening calls. Media and social media were highlighting the rise in infections in several US states which are opening up. Of course the numbers are discouraging, but they were not pointing out the June COVID-19 positives are very different from the March positives. They are much younger and likely much healthier and our hospitals have learned to change assortments of rooms and handle better surges in critical cases. I hate to be uncharitable, but I am reminded of Madame Defarge, the knitting lady who spends her day at the guillotine in The Tale of Two Cities.
Give me time instead with hard working people any time. They, in turn, are working their butts off to bring the large unemployed pool back to work again.
Which is why I was encouraged again this morning by Workfront's LEAP event with its theme of "Work Boldly". CEO Alex Shootman (see my interview with him about resilience during a crisis here ) and his team presented other examples of customer acrobatics. Particularly striking was the John Paul Mitchell "stimulus package" for beauty salons. This sector has been especially hurt by distancing requirements and they are offering a bundle of their products for free to stylists. We cannot forget those who work in brick and mortar settings.
That is why I am looking forward to a Cognizant webinar next week which will feature Harvard Public Health professor Joseph Allen talking about "Healthy Buildings" - register here. As I wrote recently, we cannot just talk Digital Transformation. The really smart companies are thinking Omni Transformation, including re-imagining their brick and mortar.
For eons humans have found dignity through our work. Many of our family names continue to honor our occupational legacy. In all our doom and gloom, I am finding many heroes that are showing us proudly the joys of work and work ethic.
