COVID-19, strategies for managing the present and looking to the future

This document is the product of many years of experience of the authors and the weeks of seclusion we have experienced during the Covid19 pandemic. Many people have offered their advice, skills and talents during these weeks to help others.

With this document we join these initiatives. We, the two authors, are driven by the desire to contribute ideas to save and make viable as many companies as possible. The idea has always resonated in our hearts that the one who gives the most, is the one who ends up receiving the most. Our way of giving, in this case, is through our work of structuring in this document our own ideas and experience in case they are useful to those who lead companies in these exceptional times.

The two authors share not only a long-standing friendship based on joint projects carried out at Telefónica, but also a conviction that companies are the most efficient institutions for generating progress in society. Economic progress that respects all ESG (environmental, social and governance) postulates, which are nothing more than criteria that favor the best integration of the company in its ecosystem.

In this document the reader will find four units or chapters.

The first has to do with changes in the context in which businesses must thrive. Many previous trends have been accentuated by the crisis and are here to stay. These are changes that will increase the mortality rate of companies. Unless the leadership team acts quickly and intelligently.

The second chapter of the document is concerned with acting intelligently. The emphasis of the ideas in this chapter is on the short term. The ideas focus on protecting people's health and saving the company from going into receivership and/or liquidation.

The third chapter deals with looking to the future today. Our conviction is that in addition to acting decisively to save the company in the short term, it is necessary to start laying the foundations for new strategies, structures, ways of working and preparing to face potential threats and capture opportunities when they arise.

The pressure of the context will create companies that can become real diamonds, jewels of the country's economy in the future. Becoming a jewel in the economy is not a spontaneous process as it is in nature. It is the result of good leadership; of the transforming ability that is capable of making the pressure of the context a factor of embellishment and integration of the company's resources.

The last chapter, the fourth, is on improving webinars. One of the characteristic notes of these months of confinement has been the explosion of webinars, zoom meetings, etc. We thought it would be interesting to share our experience on how to make this vehicle for meetings and training more effective. In this last chapter, and in the form of an appendix, we have included 10 tips to make digital communication and training initiatives more useful.

We would very much welcome feedback from readers on the work we present to you. It would be great to be able to complete this document with concrete cases of what you managers are doing to save your companies and to look to the future. Our emails are bernardo@bernardoquinn.com and huete@iese.edu. We look forward to making these pages useful to you.