Leading Through a Pandemic (while continuing frequent air travel) Three fundamentals of servant leadership that guided me through COVID-19

CHAPTER ONE – COVID-19 D-DAY

It was Monday, March 16, 2020.  As my Uber driver pulled up to the busiest airport in the world, and I woke from a light sleep, all he said was, “Whoa!”

At 6am on a Monday, Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson airport is typically one of the busiest places that you will find on the planet. Yet this day, we were literally the only car at the curb. 

I breezed through security with zero line, and took the plane train to my terminal as the only person in my train car. When I arrived at my gate, the banner on the bottom of the TV screen broadcasting CNN read, “America wakes up to massive shutdowns!”  

Like with any crisis, there are moments that you feel will be etched in your memory forever.  For my generation, the most likely being “Where were you when 9/11 happened?” For COVID-19, THIS was the moment when the reality hit me, and the crisis officially began. This was my COVID-19 D-Day.

Ironically, I had been dealing with COVID-19 before many Americans had ever heard of it. My position in my company is to oversee the sourcing, importing, and distribution of baby products.  Many of the products are wellness products, so our operation is essential.  Since we deal with suppliers in China, we formed a task force in late January to strategically manage what we suspected was going to be a substantial disruption in our supply chain. Of course, none of us fathomed the depth, breath, and globality of the crisis to come. Restaurant closings?  My beloved Barry’s Bootcamp shuttering?  Thirty million Americans unemployed in the course of six weeks?  Nah. That isn’t possible. This is a China problem, and though certainly an inconvenience for us in supply chain, that’s all. 

Well, we now know how wrong I was. That’s nothing new for me. I operate under the premise that if I only make one mistake a day, that it was a pretty good day. You may be familiar with common buzz words and phrases in business. “We are going to pivot!”  Or “We can navigate these choppy waters.”  But really, how were we going to handle this one?  This has no clear end date.  We have already underestimated its impacts, what else is it going to touch?  This is not geographically specific so we can’t avoid or run from it. In other roles, I had dealt with leading teams through hurricanes. Unlike COVID-19, hurricanes are pretty specific in both geography and time. Though catastrophic with its effects that can take months or even years from which to recover from its impacts, hurricanes' intensity do not last that long. COVID-19 started to feel like a hurricane that hit the entire planet and we had no idea if it would get stronger, weaker, or when it might dissipate. 

Disclaimer: If you are a reader who believes COVID-19 is either a conspiracy or a gross overreaction, that’s okay. Keep reading.  I don’t have a position on that. These principles still apply. If you are a reader that believes we haven’t done enough, keep reading. I don’t have a position on that, and these principles still apply. 

I’d like to walk you through my COVID-19 journey. Mostly, I will deal with it from a leadership and work perspective, but I’ll sprinkle in some personal anecdotes if they seem relevant or interesting. 

CHAPTER TWO – TRANSPARENCY 

As I clinched my fist and prepared for what I knew was going to be one of the toughest challenges in my career, I paused. I said to myself, “Blake, what got you to where you are today?  Well keep doing that!”  I sat down and wrote down three words: Transparency, Empathy, and Vulnerability. 

Rewind to February 27, 2020. Today was a big day. My wife, Karen, and I had decided that the weekly commute from Atlanta to Miami was no longer sustainable. We want to spend more time together, and while I absolutely love my job, the commute was wearing on us. We aligned that this was the day that I would tell my boss. We presumed that she would want me to stay for some time and design an exit plan. 

About an hour before my scheduled weekly meeting with my boss, she called me.  “Blake, I need you to make sure we turn off all systems access for Joanne.  I had to let her go this morning.”  Ugh! This could be a spoiler. Do I really want to break the news to my boss that I am leaving, after she just had to terminate an employee?  After some reflection, I landed on my default position. Transparency!  Selfishly, it was exhausting knowing I was departing, but hadn’t told her yet.  Plus, I was not doing her any favors by not being open about my situation. 

When our meeting time came, I apologized for piling on more bad news, then explained my decision to her. To no surprise, she was respectful and appreciative. As expected, she wanted me to work on a smooth plan to transition all my projects and day to day activities. 

As mentioned earlier, COVID-19 was already substantially impacting our business. Our supply chain was disrupted worse than we expected. At the same time, demand had significantly increased due to some panic buying and our awesome marketing team. Regardless, our task force had a plan in place that achieved inventory recovery timely, and the focus was now on execution of that plan. 

Fast forward now to March 16…my COVID-19 D-Day. After my surreal experience of traveling, I entered the Miami headquarters around 9:45a, and my boss abruptly hailed me to her office. “Blake, this is bad. Businesses are going to crumble. We are going to be fine, but how long can you stay to lead the operations team through this crisis?”  We aligned that if I could reduce my travel to Tuesday through Thursday, I would stay as long as needed. 

So just like that, I went from transitioning to a job hunt in Atlanta, to traveling weekly to our warehouse during the largest pandemic of our lifetime. This is when I had my fist clinching moment where I wrote down those three words. 

I had no doubt that my team from headquarters would shine in a work from home scenario. I’ve effectively managed remote teams for most of my career, so I had that covered, but the warehouse!  How am I going to effectively lead a team of essential workers during a pandemic? I had never done this. Heck, nobody has, so I couldn’t even get advice. I did know one thing for sure. I can’t have a Zoom meeting with that team asking them to put themselves at risk, while I stay quarantined at home. So… off I went to the warehouse. 

I don’t know how to describe what anxiety in the air feels like, but I sure as heck experienced it the moment I entered the warehouse. From the leadership to the hourly employees, you could feel the fear. 

The leader of the warehouse, Carissa and I met to discuss a plan. We decided that we would talk to the team in small groups about what steps we were taking to keep them safe. We let them know about our new sick pay policy, and we emphasized the importance of them staying home if they did not feel well. In each meeting, we stressed there were still many unknows, but as soon as new information became available, they would have it.  I explained that it was important to me as a leader, that I was open and honest with them. 

As a leader, the most important thing that you must establish with the team you lead is trust. If your team does not trust you, it is next to impossible to be effective. At times, you have no choice but to withhold information from your team, but in my opinion, that should be the rare exception. The more you can share, the sooner, and from your mouth directly, the more effective you can be. 

Despite the fear and anxiety heavy in the air, I could see the appreciation on the team’s face. Seemingly, no one knew a lot about the situation, but the team knew that they had leadership (myself and Carissa) that they could trust to communicate with them any facts as they became available. We had established this trust by exhibiting transparency. 

CHAPTER THREE – EMPATHY

While Delta normally flew ten flights a day from Atlanta to Miami, as the weeks went on in COVID-19, there were fewer and fewer flown flights each day. Booking my travel in advance, even by a day, became an exercise in futility. Whichever flight I booked, it seemed that a greater than 50% chance existed that flight would be cancelled. Also, pressure from friends and family to stop traveling was building. Frankly, many of them used words like “crazy” or “insane.”  One morning my wife and I debated the topic during my morning commute to the Miami warehouse. Eventually, as the pressure built, I almost broke down.  My voice crackled and I held back tears as I said, “Honey, I don’t know how to do this. Nobody knows how to do this! My people are scared.  I’m scared. But all I can do is try to be there for my people and let them know I will stand by them!”  I’m not sure if it was what I said, or if Karen detected the emotion, but, from there, she was able to proceed with the conversation with more empathy towards my situation. 

I’ve been accused more than once in my life and career of being too empathetic, and perhaps being overly empathetic may have ultimately led me to the wrong decision on occasion. Yet, in my opinion, I’m better off erring on the overly empathetic side versus the not empathetic enough position.

The three weeks after March 16 were touch and go. My work from home team seemed to have developed solid processes to deal with our growing inventory crisis. Each week seemed to get more and more streamlined. Before COVID-19, we always had inventory. Now, we performed a weekly detailed review to confirm what we had and had a substantive discussion about which customers received what. In the warehouse, tensions were still pretty high. Could we prevent someone from getting it?  If someone does get it, will we have an outbreak?  Though we had established protocols, following best practices in the warehouse, we knew it was impossible for us to control people outside of work. Three weeks (week of March 30) post my COVID-19 D-Day, while levels of anxiety were still high, we seemed to be coming down from the peak levels of fear. Still a tough place from which to lead, but if we had hit the peak, it would only get better from there. 

On Thursday April 2, as I packed my backpack to depart the Miami warehouse for my flight home to Atlanta, Carissa said to me, “Isn’t it crazy how your brain plays tricks on you. I swear I’m short of breath, but then I realize it’s likely in my head.”  I smiled, nodded, and said “Absolutely!  I’m having those moments as well. Hang in there. I think we might be getting to the other side of this thing. I’ll see you soon!”  Well unfortunately…no I wouldn’t. 

Friday morning, “Buzz…buzz!”  It’s pretty rare for someone to text me before I fully wake up, so when I heard my phone vibrate, I decided to check it right away. It was Carissa. “I can’t do this today. I was up all night with trouble breathing.”  I thought to myself, “Wow!  She is usually so calm and collected.  This thing has even the coolest cats freaking out.” Of course, it was pretty clear I had no choice but to show empathy here. I responded, “Thanks for letting me know. Get some rest and have a relaxing weekend. Do you have a fever?”  She didn’t, and never did. 

Week Four would start with no Carissa in place. She didn’t feel well all weekend and could not make it in. Week Four was also supposed to be Spring Break in Destin, FL with my wife, in-laws, and three children. Instead, it became Quarantine Spring Break in Atlanta, with me checking in with the warehouse Shift Leader daily. 

Empathy in Week Four would be put into practice with my children. Instead of playing at the beach, having fun meals out, driving golf carts around, etc., we would be at home. Karen and I put a schedule in place with input from the kids, and pretty much executed it flawlessly. Spring Break in quarantine will likely be one that we remember quite favorably. We filled it with a variety of fun family activities: walking, fishing, cooking, crafting, badminton, reading, outdoor movie night, and more. There were times the kids lamented that they missed their friends and missed the trip, so I made sure I listened and exhibited empathy. 

By Wednesday, Carissa was still not well. Our Human Resources team contacted me and said that they were arranging for her to get a COVID-19 test.  “That’s fine,” Dr. Blake said, “but she doesn’t have COVID. She has no fever.”  As I continued my daily check-ins via phone, all seemed to be running smoothly at the warehouse. Again, it seemed we were on the other side of the peak.  

Sunday April 12 via text, “Blake, I got my test results.”  I arrogantly watched the three little bubbles indicating Carissa was typing, knowing it would be something like, “It’s negative!  I’ll see you at work this week!”  

As I waited for the good news text, several thoughts raced through my head. I’ll be bringing the kids back to my ex-wife tomorrow and was planning to fly to Miami Tuesday morning ready to declare victory over this wave in the COVID-19 crisis. I’d be able to give my weekly pep talk with an even higher degree of confidence that everyone is avoiding the virus, and our safety procedures are working. We are proof that an essential warehouse can remain infection free!  While still needing serious caution, things were looking up. Tonight, I was cooking out with the kids, and it was going to be extra relaxing because I was winning the battle with COVID-19. Despite the inventory crisis, despite work from home, despite my traveling during a pandemic, we were doing really well. 

“It’s positive. The doctor said if I keep feeling better then I can return as early as April 21 since my first symptoms were April 2. Also, my husband has it. He didn’t get tested but the doctor said there is no point since I am positive, and we live together.  He has the exact same symptoms. I’m sorry about this.”

Again, pretty easy call, but this was a time for empathy as well, and not to dwell on the fact that I was once again completely and utterly wrong.  Much to my chagrin, I had not even processed the implications of the leader of the building being infected. I responded, “Don’t be sorry. I’m so sorry that you and your husband are sick. Please let me know what I can do. How do you feel today?”  

So, what the heck were we going to do?  It had been ten days since she was in the building and so far, no more people were sick. We weren’t past the magic fourteen-day window yet, but we were ten days out with no more sick people. That felt like a good thing. Then again, she literally had more contact with more people and surfaces than anyone else. As the leader, she was constantly walking around, opening doors, and speaking to the team (albeit socially distant). Should we close the facility for a few days, two weeks, indefinitely, or not at all?  

Ultimately the decision was not solely up to me. After some discussions with the executive team, we aligned on a plan. We would close for two business days, have a hazmat level cleaning performed, and resume operations with even more strict guidelines on social distancing, masks, gloves, etc. Literally, hours after our decision, I had to depart for the airport to catch the next flight to be in Miami to support the reopening. 

It was April 14.  As if the reality of the situation hadn’t already sunk in, now it slapped me in the face. Someone I had been working in person with daily had COVID-19.  Were others infected?  How in the heck was I going to message the reopening to the warehouse team?  What level of direct involvement would be needed from me?  How many people might skip returning to work?  

Everyone on the warehouse staff was contacted by Carissa personally, and asked to return to work April 15 at 9am, unless they were sick. Yikes… they started dropping like flies. Six people disclosed that they were experiencing symptoms. Six out of 23!  That’s a lot. 

As the day began, I was trying to maintain a balance of working with teammates from headquarters, while leading the day to day operations of the warehouse. Eric, the last person in the building with any sort of leadership title, Shift Leader, came to me stating he wasn’t feeling well. Seven! Now I had to shift to warehouse lead as my singular focus, and work directly with the team on tasks such as printing labels, assigning order picking priorities, ensuring pickups were scheduled, etc. 

A few moments later, one of the order pickers asked me who was in charge now that Eric was out. “You’re looking at him,” I stated as I started to walk away.  “But what’s next?” he asked with a clear quiver in his voice.  I paused, and I remembered the third word. Vulnerability!

CHAPTER FOUR – VULNERABILITY

It was March 11. Two weeks after I had given notice to my boss, and we still had not told my direct reports I was leaving. We wanted to sketch out a clear plan before we broke the news, and that was taking some time, as we were all individually over capacity addressing the inventory crisis caused by the coronavirus in China. We eventually agreed on a plan, so today was the day we were going to inform my team of four direct reports.

An hour before we were set to begin, my head started spinning, and I felt short of breath. I knew this feeling. It was the beginning of a panic attack. As I had experienced it once before in my life, during my divorce, I could tell what it was. From that previous experience, I knew the best way to stop it was to talk to a cool-headed person. So, I called my wife. “What do you think is causing it?  Is it this coronavirus thing, are you worried about your health compromised father contracting it, or maybe it’s anticipation of breaking the news to your team?”  Thoughtfully, I determined it was the later. After speaking to my team, I could feel the weight lifted. We had a 30-day plan, and off I would go to work in my home state. I was SO relieved. I still wasn’t excited about leaving such a good job, but I was thrilled to be able to spend more time at home with family

I called Karen that evening and stated, “Yep. It was telling my team that was causing the anxiety. I feel great now. I can’t wait to be home with you every night!  30 days!”  

“Not so fast,” said COVID-19. As you know, the following Monday would be my COVID D-Day. 

Now, on April 14, I have an employee with fear in his eyes asking, “What’s next?”  I thought I knew what was needed here. “Jose, you’re scared.  I understand. You know what?  I’m scared too. I’ve been in leadership positions for over 20 years, and I have never had to do anything like this.  There are mornings that I wake up, and I have to fight back tears because I just don’t know how to best lead you guys through this crisis. The whole world is scared. Yes, me included. I want this to be over just like you, but it isn’t going to just end one day. Together, we are going to have to learn how to work through this. Together, okay?  If at any time you think I am doing something wrong, will you do me a favor? Just tell me.”

Jose pulled down his mask so I could see his smile as he said, “Thank you for saying that.  We got this, Boss!”  As I walked away, I stood tall again.  It felt like I had done something really right. While transparency and empathy were key throughout this process, it wasn’t until I was vulnerable that I felt really good about my leadership. In the peak moment of anxiety, I flipped fear into a smile. It wasn’t my experience that did it. It wasn’t a pep talk that changed the emotions. By admitting my own fears and weaknesses, I helped a scared young man feel better about a very frightening situation. 

Week Six arrived!  All of the individuals who reported symptoms were tested and results were negative. Carissa would return to work on Tuesday!  She felt 100% healthy and was excited to return to work. We had a case of COVID-19 in the building, but so far, avoided an outbreak!  I knew this time not to declare victory. We would be more careful than ever to ensure the health and safety of the team. 

When Carissa returned to work, I could see that she was genuinely happy to be onsite. More importantly, the team was really happy for her to be back. All of the others that had felt sick were back as well. Normally, we would have had hugs all around…. instead you could just feel the positive energy. 

Weeks Six, Seven, Eight, and Nine each began to edge towards a little more normal. Though flights were drastically reduced, the schedule became consistent. Traffic gradually increased but was still far below normal. I settled into a routine that allowed me to work with the team at the warehouse assisting Carissa, while also leading my team that was working remotely. 

CHAPTER FIVE – A STORY TO TELL

On Thursday, May 7, 2020 (Week Eight) as I sat at my departing gate, my phone rang. It was Ronnie, our account manager with FedEx. We chatted about business, then he queried “So what’s it been like traveling and leading through this?”  This was actually the third time that week someone had asked me that question. I had a fairly lengthy reply. “It’s definitely been surreal. Funny, you are the third person to ask me that recently. Walking through an empty Hartsfield-Jackson is eerie to say the least. Planes are less than 25% full and half the people on them are pilots dead-heading home. There is no traffic on the roads, and the parking lots at the airport are empty. When I go pick-up my rental car, I am literally the only person in the entire rental car facility. From a leadership perspective, it’s the hardest thing I have ever had to do. When Carissa and Eric went down, I was the last man standing, and it felt like I was the only one holding things together. I have a lot of friends that journal. I’m not one of them, but part of me wishes I were. Because if I had been keeping a journal of this, I feel like I might have an interesting little story to write. The thing that I have been reminded of is how important it is, as a leader, to really stay grounded, and keep three things in mind during challenging times. Transparency, empathy, and surprisingly, show some vulnerability. When you let people know that you are feeling some of the same emotions they are, you are pulling them along the journey with you, not behind you.” 

“Why don’t you?” Ronnie asked. “Why don’t I what?” I responded. “Why don’t you write this down?  Just because you haven’t kept a journal doesn’t mean you don’t remember this. Blake, what you just said is perfect, and you have a really interesting story. You said I was the third person to ask you what it has been like. Obviously, you have a story that people want to hear.  And your perspective on leadership...Wow!  That’s amazing, man. You need to share that.”  

CHAPTER SIX – SOME CERTAINTY

So here it is.  The very end of Week Nine as I’m writing this article from a plane ride. I’m getting to the end of my story as it stands today. Karen actually joined me on my trip this week, and we are on a plane flying home. On Thursday, she actually asked to extend our visit until Saturday as she was really enjoying the change in scenery. My wife may be the least spontaneous person that I know, so this request was a huge and welcome surprise. Just another indicator of how odd the times are. 

Is the story over? No! Can I declare victory since we had a case, but not an outbreak? Definitely not!  Are we able to claim our business is pandemic proof? Not yet, but it is looking good so far. Can I state that I know how to travel without catching a highly contagious disease? Nope. Have we gotten to the cliche “new normal?”  I sure as heck hope not. Are these uncertain times getting more certain? Doesn’t appear so just yet. 

What is certain is this.  Leadership competencies are learned and improved upon over time, just like any skill. You can buy and read thousands of books on leadership. Every book will have its own perspective. In this piece, I have focused on transparency, empathy, and vulnerability. Of course, you need far more than these three noted traits to be an effective leader. I didn’t begin to dive into accountability, humility, structure, consistency, and dozens of other important leadership characteristics. I focused on the ones that jumped out at me in a time of crisis. Transparency was required, as it always is, because in times of crisis or loss, people need information and people need to trust you. Empathy was critical because anything else would have been inhumane. Those two traits are extremely important.  However, in the peak of the peak of fear, sharing my own fear was the difference between panic and calm. It was vulnerability that would ultimately reveal what type of leader I would be in this crisis.