The Coronavirus is having a significant and potentially devastating impact on the world’s health and the health of the business world. During the last couple of days, it’s become a lot more real. And painful. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has dropped almost 2,000 points in 48 hours and businesses are cancelling orders, laying off workers, and are announcing plans for the “worst-case scenarios.”
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Over the past week, several fascinating global elements of the day have converged into my world that have left me wondering and thinking about the futures of both business and learning. As a leading designer of award-winning Business Acumen, Business Leadership, and Strategic Business Selling learning solutions, I have this unprecedented opportunity to travel around the world working with the best companies, the best people, and sometimes the best leaders on the planet helping them to get better at what they do so their companies perform better. This has already been a busy week in terms of travel and deliveries, and I am preparing to return to the United States after being in Europe since Sunday. During this time, the work has gone extremely well while interesting distractions and requests for more work have filled up my inbox.
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The recent tragic and historic outbreak of the Coronavirus once again reminds us all of the frailty of the human condition and the delicate balance of our new global business world. Just 20 years ago when the Avian Flu (H5N1) reached maximum impact in Asia, many people around the world could look at the map and think they were “safe” or it “can’t impact me” because there was limited access to China and other parts of the region. We all forget that full and direct access to the mainland via daily direct flights was only achieved with the last 10 years.
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The R&D professional who had just completed the R&D business simulation had a strange look on his face. When I asked if he was ok, he simply said, “If I knew then what I just learned, I would have saved the company hundreds of millions of dollars. Wow, I get it now.”
He was referring to an experience he just completed utilizing a customized business simulation workshop which was focused on teaching R&D professionals business acumen skills. In the simulation, small teams take over the role of Executive Vice President, R&D for a global consumer packaged goods company and have the opportunity to relaunch a cleaning product used on and inside home cleaning robots. Oh, and the year is 2030 so people don’t think the business simulation is unrealistic. Some of the decisions learners are required to make include the configuration of the cleaning fluids including their packaging, form, viscosity, fragrance, rust repellent levels, color, and much more. In the relaunch they must think about capital investments, market potential, and of course competitive analysis. There are different case studies within the business simulation that focus on different segments and challenges such as how to relaunch the brand for a completely online customer segment or for consumers who shop exclusively in big box stores like BigMart (the simulation world’s equivalent of Costco.)
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When asked for their top challenges in leading organizations, many executives and managers will share, “a lack of urgency and a lack of a culture that feels a sense of urgency” at the top of their lists.
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