Waiting out the storm.

If you are a movie buff you will remember the epic The Perfect Storm. Remember the closing scene. The vessel was fighting to stay afloat and survive is surrounded by towering waves closing in from every direction. Monster storms converging from all compass points. The aerial camera image continued to gain altitude but keep the ship centered in the frame until it became a mere spec and finally disappeared under the turbulent dark cold waters. 

Many executive and business owners are experiencing this nightmare.

COVID pandemic hit. America virtually closed. Travel was blocked, business shuttered, citizens told to stay at home. Offices formerly bustling with workers were empty as a tomb. The economy was on the verge of implosion. Unemployment skyrocketed. Government doled out trillions of dollars. George Floyd died at the hands of the police. Mass protests ignited across the country. The Black Lives Matter movement was quickly hijacked by rioting, burning, and looting.

The pandemic, economic strife and the civil unrest became politicized on both sides of the aisle. Factions called for emasculation of police departments. Others supported the idea that the few bad cops were tainting the rest. The conflicts started to look like two sides of a civil war. Virus data was challenged as overzealous or inaccurate. A Presidential election barely over the horizon is driving both parties further apart blaming each other for not caring, poor policies, and bad execution of ineffective strategies. Meanwhile China was insisting they had not unleased the Corona virus on the world.

Yet business was supposed to figure out how to remain relevant and prosperous.  That ability was not possible for all. Businesses permanently closed in wholesale numbers. Those left are faced with uncertainty and fear of a similar fate.

The virus ruled the world. It was four months before there was any softening of the isolation imposed by governments. The conflicting information about the extent of the COVID 19 virus compounded the desperation felt by many. 

New strategies were born out of necessity. E-commerce sites sprouted like weeds in a garden. Many were created as a desperate attempt to generate revenue of some kind. Some of those have already disappeared for lack of exposure, inadequate funding, and sheer inexperience. The issue was not that there was no spending. The government support in part was to keep cash moving as people spent for essentials. The dollars did their job and allowed the economy to begin to heal.

The stock market has regained all of the loss from March and April, unemployment is slowly coming down as businesses call back workers. Government, despite political bickering and lack of compromise, has now executed multiple rounds of massive funding designed to sustain the country and the people. 

America has never turned away from a fight and will not this time. The mantra that we are all in this together could not be truer. We will need to coalesce as a country strong and purpose filled. United. Until that happens there is a very real danger that we will fail, and God help us in the aftermath.

Survival is in the balance for businesses of all types. Few have been able to experience anything that would be called normal. Pivot had become a buzz word meant to explain the process of changing business models, focus and selling methods. Virtual became the go to for events, meetings, networking and even award presentations. Live streaming has become commonplace. Video meetings on Zoom and WebEx kept employees working at home connected to the rest of their colleagues and managers. Webinars have experienced a renaissance. CEOs even adopted the online channels to be in front of their company.  

The point is that a successful recovery will depend on more factors coming together in positive ways. Employees will have to return to work to be paid real salaries, so they have money to spend and fuel businesses. Vendors and suppliers to businesses will need orders to function efficiently and staff fully. It is like a wheel inside a wheel. Every level depends on many moving parts. 

With some luck and the Grace of God the slow clearing has begun. As each positive ray of hope breaks through the clouds emotions are lifted, energy returns and we as a people come out from our forced separation and start the long climb back. We will prevail once again to fight this storm and whatever comes next.