Description:  Now that people are putting their masks aside, company leaders are faced with a litany of operational and cultural questions about when and how to return to the office. Hanson Bridgett — a full-service, midsize law firm in California — began working on all that (and more) about 14 months before the pandemic began. The firm’s leadership didn’t foresee the crisis, but starting in 2018, they had been looking to reduce fixed costs and spend the savings in creative ways to become more competitive. In this article, I present four lessons from the firm’s successful shift to remote and hybrid work. As Hanson Bridgett has demonstrated, announcing a hybrid work policy does not mean immediate implementation. They’ll patiently work out the details, communicate carefully, achieve alignment, and then implement. Midsize companies would be well advised to do the same.

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Description: The pandemic has accelerated change that will significantly affect demand trends, and forward-thinking midsize companies must understand the change in demand patterns and adapt through innovation. One midsize company, Kern Oil & Refining Co., has an impressive track record of adapting to major changes in demand. They’ve been successful because of three main capabilities: investments in innovation, extensive external information-gathering, and a culture of collaboration. Midsize companies in every industry can have a big role in making the future better. But their work must begin now, fueled by systematic investment in those three areas.

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Description: Data shows that maintaining customer relations was a huge challenge for midsize companies in 2020. In-person sales is often a crucial differentiator for these companies, which have fewer resources to put into digital selling tools and training than larger firms. But some midsize companies have adapted to virtual selling and have not only held their own during the pandemic, but increased sales. They’ve done so by using online connections to humanize interactions, creating greater sales process efficiencies, and bursting out of traditional geographic boundaries.

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Leadership in Times of Fear and Uncertainty

Over the past week I’ve been talking a lot about how leaders must immerse themselves in the future to find hidden opportunities for their companies.  If you missed my webinar titled, Leadership in Times of Fear and Uncertainty, you should watch it for a full explanation.

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The fourth week of a flash survey of San Francisco Bay Area CEOs was taken on April 7. See the previously published week 1, week 2 and week 3 results. In week 4, we see that many CEOs project it will take another seven months until their businesses return to somewhat “normal,” an increase from week 3.   

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Nobody wished for this virus to descend upon the world. The harm, death and cost it is wreaking is disgusting and sad. Listening to the news in better times often seems negative and depressing, but in retrospect, the news six months ago was nothing compared to the news today.

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Thursday, April 9, 2020.   10:00am – 10:45am PT.

Leaders of midsized companies face an enormous challenge: keeping their teams (and themselves) energized and productive when the light at the end of the tunnel— even the location of the end of the tunnel— is uncertain.

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Three weeks into the Coronavirus crisis, what should you do next?

Written by
Ryan Miller
Principal, Critical Functions, LLC
Risk and Resilience Advisors
410-919-4894
ryan@criticalfunctions.com | https://criticalfunctions.com

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In the third week of a flash survey of San Francisco Bay Area CEOs, those reporting negative impacts grew only slightly, from 79% to 80%, while those who were extremely negatively affected declined from 30% to 22%.

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Handy links for US firms thinking to use the federal support just passed into law.

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