In the first month of the pandemic (March 2020), I quickly became a fan of The Atlantic’s Ed Yong and his consistent and informative coverage of the coronavirus crisis. Yong would end up winning the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Reporting for his collection of 2020 work as the pandemic was unfolding, along with its healthcare system ramifications, its effects on the frontlines, and coverage of the historic vaccine development that followed months of trauma and uncertainty.
This past weekend, I re-read one of his first pieces on the pandemic (“How the Pandemic Will End”) and was struck by the below paragraph, which I had to read several times because of the striking mode of thinking that this would be in the rear-view by the time we hit 2022:
“It’s likely, then, that the new coronavirus will be a lingering part of American life for at least a year, if not much longer. If the current round of social-distancing measures works, the pandemic may ebb enough for things to return to a semblance of normalcy. Offices could fill and bars could bustle. Schools could reopen and friends could reunite. But as the status quo returns, so too will the virus. This doesn’t mean that society must be on continuous lockdown until 2022. But “we need to be prepared to do multiple periods of social distancing,” says Stephen Kissler of Harvard.”
And here we are, in 2022, dealing with another variant of concern that is causing record cases, overwhelmed hospitals, confusing CDC guidance, and continued ramifications for an evolving labor market. I don’t think Yong or any of us would have still thought we’d still be in this position, let alone wearing facial coverings in 2022. In fact, I vividly recall a conversation with my mother in the summer of 2020 in which she had called me after she saw an epidemiologist on television that had stated that masks would be part of our lives through 2022 and possibly beyond. “I can picture a scenario where we still have to,” I said, thinking of the then-Presidential administration’s utter lack of failure in containing the pandemic, “but I really think we’re only looking at another year of this.”
Well, I was wrong, as was everyone else. Because two years in and the pandemic is still throwing curveballs at us. Facial coverings are recommended indoors, even for those of us vaccinated and boosted. Talk of a milder Omicron means little if the United States is averaging over 800,000 cases a day and hospitals are overwhelmed. And it also translates into a need for something else that’s been oft-recommended since day one: business agility.
Back in March 2020, the world was in panic mode. Layoffs, furloughs, supply chain disruptions, workforce issues, etc. were all the norm. The businesses that were able to thrive were the ones that could respond dynamically to the real-time, real-world problems that that COVID-19 pandemic wrought on the world at-large. What does “dynamically” mean in this instance? Well, it’s a multifaceted answer, but one that is rooted in the very foundation of business agility:
- Pivoting to alternative supply and materials sources when supply chain issues immediately erupted (and are happening now as China imposes an Omicron-fueled lockdown).
- Engaging on-demand talent and incorporating the extended workforce into functions across the greater business.
- Moving away from “resiliency” and into true “adaptability” as the business continues to shift due to societal, political, and cultural changes.
- Integrating diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) into not just talent acquisition strategies, but the very fabric of how the business operates.
- Pushing empathetic and empathy-led leadership as a way to foster better relationships with (and, more importantly, retain) talent and staff.
- Leveraging digital workspaces to support the permanent move to remote and hybrid work, and;
- Blending elements of digital transformation with existing technological infrastructures to create a truly digital enterprise that can drive operational scalability when or how it is needed most based on corporate dynamics.
The Atlantic‘s Katherine J. Wu’s piece yesterday is the best way to approach the Omicron wave from both business and personal perspectives, and supports the criticality of agility in the months ahead. As continued uncertainty looms, it is crucial for business leaders to keep relying on the agility methodology that has helped them thrive over the past two years.
“What we can say is that the higher a wave crests, the longer and more confusing the path to the bottom will be. We need to prepare for the possibility that this wave could have an uncomfortably long tail—or at least a crooked one…But as the virus continues to trickle into more rural, sparsely populated parts of the country, that story gets more complicated: a smattering of regional peaks could slow and lengthen the overall decline. We tend to talk about “the peak” as if it’s one monolithic thing, but it’s an aggregate of asynchronous outbreaks…”
