The Storm is Upon Us.

When the storm is upon you, autonomous behavior and muscle memory kick in. There’s no time for reflection and if you find yourself in a situation for which you are not prepared you can quite literally lose your business , your legacy or both.

The coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic depression have had their ups and downs. As more and more cities and states start their second round of shutdowns, make no mistake. The storm is upon us.

United Airlines will furlough over 30,000 employees. Delta has steered 17,000 employees into early retirement as it reports a $7 billion second-quarter loss. Millions of Americans are about to lose their unemployment benefits at the end of the month. Because our economy is built on consumer spending and mobility, these canaries in the coal mine are extremely ominous. Millions of jobs rely on travel. The resulting economic loss will be devastating.

European banks are setting negative interest rates, while JP Morgan just reported a $10 billion loss. The U.S government is running a $3 trillion deficit. Anyone telling you things will be just fine, without the caveat that it really depends on your amount of preparation, is either delusional, lying to you or both. There is no way to sugar coat it. Things are going to get a lot worse for a lot of people who are unprepared.

Hopefully, you’ve been paying attention and following along with the updates I’ve sent since the beginning of the pandemic. By now, I’m assuming you’ve urgently placed attention on your cashflow and overhead. I’m assuming you’ve been working on the “muscle memory” of enhancing the relationship with your list of patients, clients, customers or donors. I trust you have a contingency plan in place.

I sincerely hope you haven’t been distracted by all the new-fangled things your peers and competitors might be doing “in preparation for their rebound,” as the only thing that should be on your mind in the middle of a storm is how to safely navigate to harbor. You have zero time for distractions.

Just like a sailor, you’ll need all the tried and true tools of navigation, route markers and guiding lights that I’ve been teaching here for years. You’ll need to depend on this training and your grit in order to survive the next 6 months. You will get through this challenge. This is what you’ve been training for and why you are the leader in your organization. I’m here to help however I can.