Most Business Leaders are trying to lead in an environment that nobody has ever seen before. There are no patterns or best practices. The combination of being in a global pandemic at the same time there is accelerating inflation, global supply chain shortages, environmental issues, the “great resignation,” employees working remotely, and a despot leader in Russia threatening to start World War III is presenting leaders with unprecedented challenges.

One of the areas our Advantexe clients are seeking help in is helping develop environments and cultures of psychological safety in the midst of all this chaos. Psychological safety is defined by a workplace climate enabled by emotional intelligence that allows people to take risks, learn from mistakes, give candid feedback, and innovate. When your environment is not psychologically safe, people tend to keep ideas to themselves out of fear of being ridiculed, they don’t give candid feedback, and because they fear for their job, they enter into self-preservation mode. None of that is good for business.

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If you have started to get reacclimated to what you thought was the “normal world” before the COVID pandemic, you are in for many surprises. The new normal is not the old normal. Things are very different and many of the things you took for granted, like basic customer service, are mere ghosts of themselves.

One of the first places you will find things very different is airports. During the past several weeks, as I’ve been flying again to visit with clients and to deliver the live portions of our blended business simulation-centric learning solutions, the lack of customer service in the ticket lines, the restrooms, and the restaurants is astounding. This week alone I tried to eat dinner at a higher-end (not fast food) airport restaurant only to find it impossible. The first time I had to wait almost 40 minutes and my meal never came. The second time it took more than 45 minutes and I had to have my salad packed as a to-go meal.

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Its earnings call time again! One of my favorite times of a new quarter where executives share the results of their previous quarter and talk about the business outlooks for the rest of the year and beyond.

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One of the core features of Advantexe’s digital business simulation platform is its ability to capture data for review and performance analytics. The performance analytics from a well-designed business simulation can be used as part of capabilities assessments and career planning. For a recent business simulation workshop, we conducted for a top car manufacturer, we pulled all the simulation results from the last five cohorts which focused on four critical metrics of success including, revenue, sales expenses, operating expenses, and Net Income (profitability).

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When “it” happened, nobody really knew what to do. The playbook for doing business virtually during a global pandemic hadn’t been invented yet. As I think back to those early days of May, June, and July of 2020, it was surreal. Virtual meetings started to expand around the clock, the work accelerated as we all realized we had so much more time in a day thanks to no commutes and no travel. And the best part? People were so nice! There was an incredible sense of unity and purpose. The virus was after us all and we all came together to figure things out and keep the business world going. Some industries obviously had it a lot harder than others in terms of exposure and the closer you were to the actual supply chain of basics like food, water, and healthcare the more difficult it was. We at Advantexe had an interesting view working with clients across the global supply chain and despite the hardships, most people were still very nice.

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