As a Group Chair for Vistage International since 1994, Allen Hauge leads four peer groups comprised of over 70 CEO and C-Level Executives meeting monthly to advise each other in an objective peers only forum free of competitive or significant customer/supplier relationships. Allen recently provided a collection of thoughts, titled “The Hero’s Journey”, for business owners and managers to consider during this time.
The Hero’s Journey
The most important thing that leaders manage right now is themselves. Many are asking whether their businesses will survive. Vistage Speaker of the Year, Dr. Meceda Eve, offers two resources to help you answer that question in the affirmative in a six-minute video.
- The first is a simple formula, “B—> B—>O,” for you and your team that will constantly remind you of the power you have.
- Second, the stories you tell yourself, and your team, are more important than ever. Dr. Meceda reminds us that the core of storytelling is what’s called “The Hero’s Journey.” (i.e. yours).
Learn more about “The Hero’s Journey” in her blog post (the first of several to come) “Will My Company Survive?” because now, more than ever, “The Hero’s Journey” is your journey.
A Good Crisis?
If you ask older Americans about the best times of their lives, many will point to a crisis of some kind that had a formative effect on their character and outlook.
Baby Boomers will remember that many of their parents talked about the Great Depression of the 1930s and World War II as the best times of their life because of the unity it created. Their accomplishments in the face of adversity led them to be called “The Greatest Generation.”
In his “No mercy, No Malice” blog Dr. Scott Galloway, entrepreneur (both successful and not) and now NYU professor offers a quick look at previous crises and offers some insights on acting, and reacting, to the times we find ourselves in. Check out “Our Generation’s Test.”
He challenges us “Aim to be the daughter, boss, manager, dad, a government employee who is action-oriented, organized, and disciplined during this crisis. You’ll be one of the people, calm under pressure, whose actions helped beat back this American generation’s biggest test.”
Bonus: If you’ve got some time for a challenging and entertaining video of Dr. Galloway discussing his book “The Algebra of Happiness: Notes on the Pursuit of Success, Love and Meaning” with MSNBC Interviewer Stephanie Ruhle. Galloway offers an entertaining and honest discussion of his mistakes and successes and extraordinarily direct advice and controversial advice for Millennials and Gen Z from a Boomer with experience broad and deep in life and business.
Watch “The Algebra of Happiness” with your older kids. (80 minutes and it goes fast!. Warning, Galloway can use some salty language at times!)
A WFH Bottleneck
“Working From Home: (WFH) is helping preserve companies and paychecks. However, your team may experience connection issues differently than when in the office.
Vistage Speaker and IT Security Expert, Mike Foster, warns you to “Prepare now for slow Internet speeds and dropped mobile phone calls. Some customers report that their remote workers experience slow Internet speeds. The sheer number of people working from home, and others watching videos at home, is causing the Internet to experience slowdowns similar to traffic during rush hour.”
A Little Fun: Just How Much Toilet Paper Do You Need?
There’s a lot to worry about right now, but are you really sure you have enough toilet paper? This fun article offers a calculator to let you know if you’re sufficiently stocked!
Econ Recon
The Corona Contraction: The efforts to “bend the curve” by social distancing and restricting commerce to essential business and effects on the economy and jobs has many wondering if the cure isn’t worse than the disease. In an extended Wesbury 101 video, economist Dr. Brian Wesbury provides an overview of what he calls the Corona Contraction. Take 11 minutes for his look at Corona and the economy.
EFH (Economics from Home): While you’re getting accustomed to “working from home” (WFH), why not take some time for some EFH (“economics from home”) with these blog posts from ITR Economics:
Management Objectives for Trying Times
Five Ways to Prepare for the Next Rising Trend
Time to Act
ITR Economics Methodology: This is a tutorial on a basic methodology ITR relies on that will serve any business well….and it’s easy for you to use.
