Questions of Humanity in a Time of Crisis

Last week, I launched my podcast One Away -- a podcast where I interview business leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators. Each episode is focused the pivotal moments of their journeys. The one call, the one email, or the one moment that made the all the difference. 

The launch was a big moment for me because One Away is so much more than turning on some mics and pressing play. It’s a project that had been in the works since July 2019. I’ve spent countless hours emailing, scheduling, and recording just to get it right. Heck, I even hired an incredible audio/video engineer to ensure everything was really up to par and went the extra mile accompanying each episode with a video for both Instagram and LinkedIn along with a long-form article summary. 

To prepare for the podcast’s release, I created a launch group on LinkedIn comprised of over 150+ people. Here, we shared stories and ideas. We discussed the difficult issues. But more than anything, we all have built a platform for each other to grow. 

The group wasn’t just a way to ensure the podcast had a successful launch, it was an opportunity for me to elevate the voices of some of the smartest people within my network. 

In one thread, I posed a simple question: What questions are you navigating right now? 

The responses were fascinating, thought-provoking, and even inspiring. They were so good, I wanted to share them with my larger community. 

So I did. 

Below are some of the responses that really stuck out to me. 

Jake Goodman

Q: How bad can this situation get? What is the worst-case scenario with COVID-19? Some of us have had this thought, and others haven't. I'm not going to necessarily go there with this comment, but my question is, if this continues to worsen and we are in a desperate need for healthcare workers, where are we going to get them?

A: Three places that I can come up with.

1. Other countries- this isn't going to work because they are fighting their own battles with COVID-19

2. Retired Doctors and Nurses (Italy has already resorted to this)

3. Current 4th-year Medical Students, Nursing students and PA students in their final year. Why wait till for a virtual "graduation"? If we want tens of thousands of healthcare workers overnight, this would be the best route to go.

Irina Crigan

Q: How can I support my community, inspire them to create abundance and opportunities for themselves and others? 

A: Use writing as a form of expression to spread the message of unity, become a mental health advocate, spread resources and share tips on how we can all overcome this together. 

Josefina Maga?a

Q: How can we help our communities especially so they don’t isolate completely due to social distancing?

A: Technology is amazing and is helping us out very much, but we do have people that still learn through stories and visually they need either phone or face to face, I guess my point and sort of like question are we now relying too much on technology.

AJ Alonzo

Q: Have we really botched the work from home / remote work structure? With what's going on right now, it seems like we were being strict for tradition's sake.

A: Yes, I think so. Even though we're going through something scary and tragic, we can learn from it. And I think that on the other side, we're going to learn that the idea of making people come in to an office everyday is outdated thinking. We'll invest more in remote work and alter "work from home" policies so that traveling to an office every day no longer becomes a necessity, but an option.

Heather Sweeny

 Q: Will we look back, whenever this crisis has ended, and see that our viewpoint/perspective is changed in society in terms of the potential and opportunity for "intimacy" in the virtual/remote space? 

A: My short answer is yes. I believe there is room in the virtual/remote space to form intimate, trusting, lasting connections and relationships from a business perspective (as well as personal). That is evidenced in this new community Bryan Wish has built right here in fact!  

Cristina A. 

Q: How can I (we) find stability and “control” in these times of change?

A: If we focus on our values we can find that those have not changed and there are times in our lives when during transitions we have grounded and found stability by living into our values and prioritizing our lives accordingly. The reason for the change may be different but our approach to finding stability is most likely similar

These are only a few of the many incredible answers to the big questions we’re all grappling with at the moment. 

And if there’s anything I’ve learned here, it’s that the power of community never ceases to amaze me. There was no PR campaign behind the launch group. We didn’t have thousands of people contributing. 

But we still connected. 

We shared ideas and we wrestled with some of the toughest questions facing the world today. 

I want to thank everybody who took part in the launch group for your contributions. The success we saw with One Away wouldn’t have been possible without you. 

If you’re interested in joining the incredible community we’ve built, you can apply to join the launch team community here: Launch Team.