Amat Victoria Curam

The virus hit all countries, all industries, all of us. No exceptions. 

Were we surprised?

'Yes and no' – this is what most of us would say, right?

We were all reading the news coming from China and commenting on the measures they were taking, predicting if they would be able to stop it, etc. But it somehow looked quite distant and we were subconsciously placing the responsibility of stopping the spread of the virus in somebody else’s hands: with scientists (who could find a vaccine or a cure quickly),  with governments ( whose job it is to keep all of us safe and secure the basics of our prosperity), with the Ministry of Healthcare, with the Police…  you name it… But what did we do to get ready ourselves, if/when…?

 Some years ago I was appointed CEO of an incumbent telco in a country I had never been to before and where two 'unexpected' events took place – a world financial crisis and a war in a neighboring country. 

The smell of a crisis was in the air but nobody in the region and the HQ of the Company I worked for believed it would hit us  – it was an 'American' financial crisis that had nothing to do with us.  See any similarities to how the virus crisis played out? 

That threat was relatively straightforward to deal with – I prepared an action plan, got the 'go' from HQ, appointed people to quickly implement the needed measures, and we set out to save as much as we could. In fact we were the only country in the portfolio that delivered 98% of target, when my colleagues were at 70-80%. 

The smell of military activity in a neighboring country was also very much in the air. Like everybody else, I was thinking that the likelihood of a real war was very low; after all we all believe that our politicians are in their sound minds, right? Any similarities to how we got to where we are with the virus?

Still – I formed a team of senior people with military background and permission to access  classified information in order to deal with the threat. Our biggest issue was connectivity with the rest of the world – we only had one solid fiber channel capable of carrying our international voice and data traffic, and this channel was passing the territory of said country.  The back-up channel was, let's say, not live. So initial analysis was as simple as: 

·       if yes (as in if there was war), there would be no international voice and data;

·       if no – business as usual. 

Still, what if yes? How were we to serve the Government, our Customers, and our own needs with a war situation next door??? I had to issue an order to revitalize the retired teleport station and agree to very high prices and limited throughput with a satellite company in order to secure the sanitary minimums. Unfortunately, our worst fears took place very soon -  a war next door, fiber channels blown, the Government requesting secured communications channels, colleagues that needed to be evacuated from the war scenery… A true nightmare indeed. But we managed to provide services thanks to the pre-emptive actions taken.

What saved us in that situation was the time we spent analyzing, planning and preparing for the worst. And the fact we acted as planned when the time came. I am to this day extremely thankful to everyone involved and especially to the people who were pushing me to act and were waking me up several times a night with analyses, reports and requests for approval. 

While that situation has little to do with today’s Covid-19 pandemic, they both boil down to the same essence. Both show that we, as leaders of companies, need to act immediately! We need to move in many directions, at many levels, with confidence, discipline and respect. Because as part of those who are in charge, we can make a difference. 

Victory Loves Preparation!