Sunday, July 6, 2025
  • Login
CEO North America
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Entrepreneur
    • Industry
    • Innovation
    • Management & Leadership
  • CEO Interviews
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • Environment
  • CEO Life
    • Art & Culture
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Entrepreneur
    • Industry
    • Innovation
    • Management & Leadership
  • CEO Interviews
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • Environment
  • CEO Life
    • Art & Culture
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
CEO North America
No Result
View All Result

CEO North America > Business > Management & Leadership > Don’t let COVID fatigue disrupt your recovery plans

Don’t let COVID fatigue disrupt your recovery plans

in Management & Leadership
- Don’t let COVID fatigue disrupt your recovery plans
Share on LinkedinShare on WhatsApp

The pandemic has now become “business as usual.” The prospect of a return to a more normal world in 2021 should spur leaders to learn from 2020, says PwC.

Article by Melanie Butler and Kristin Rivera

The COVID-19 crisis has now become, for better or for worse, “business as usual.” Despite the recent increase in cases in many parts of the world, the prospect of a vaccine becoming available in 2021 is quite rightly improving people’s outlook for the future. Over the last many months, we adjusted, cut costs, went remote, implemented new technology, bought sanitizer and masks, and reworked supply chains. And now we can start to make plans for a world that is not constrained by a pandemic.

One response we’ve noticed during the pandemic, however, is a new kind of corporate fatalism about future crises that we’d warn against. COVID-19 blindsided even many of those who thoughtfully engage in enterprise risk management (ERM). Their reaction: “What’s the point?” Much risk planning, the thinking goes, was irrelevant for COVID-19 and may continue to be in today’s uncertain world. Wouldn’t it be better just to focus on agility?

A successful business will have to do both. Studying the past to quantify and mitigate future risk is critically important, but this type of traditional ERM is most effective when paired with well-thought-through crisis preparedness, cyber resilience, and business continuity planning. There is simply no substitute for having a team that is prepared to rise to the challenge when the unexpected occurs.

We outlined seven key actions to take in a crisis in March to respond to COVID-19 and followed that up with what to do next. Looking back now, it’s clear that companies that prepare — and keep their preparation current — do better when faced with the unexpected.

Leadership plus agility

The best performers took control of the COVID-19 crisis quickly. They had a strong leader and a C-suite team capable of collaborating at warp speed, even when they had no clear playbook for ensuring the safety of their people, getting laptops ordered and distributed, or sorting out the supply chain. They succeeded because they had practiced for a crisis or had experienced one before and trusted one another.

Others were less prepared. Bickering in the boardroom at one company delayed key decisions. In another, leadership didn’t know which employees had a laptop or how they would get laptops delivered to those at home who didn’t. HR didn’t have employees’ work mobile phone numbers, and didn’t know if it was an invasion of privacy to ask them for that information (it’s not). Critical first weeks were squandered collecting data and shoring up the foundation.

Which is why we always stress the need to have the right data to hand. Scenario planning for different types of crises is a good way to gather the data you need. This information allows you to be agile and forward-thinking. For example, one company we worked with had planned for supply chain disruption, so when COVID hit, it knew that if borders closed, it would be able to keep the business going because its suppliers weren’t concentrated in any single country. However, the company leaders soon realized they had a key vulnerability: one distribution warehouse. They had a single point of failure, despite their efforts, and they set about changing that immediately.

Pivot or adapt

The ability to change strategy quickly is a product of strong leadership, agile decision-making, crisis planning, and good data. Companies in industries that require huge capital investments — for example, airlines and cruise ships — may need more assistance in the form of government support in order to rebound, but others can change direction rapidly, when required, if they are prepared.

We’ve seen companies that were in the surveillance business switch to monitoring employee well-being, for example, and many commercial real estate companies are now looking to adapt their offerings for social distancing and new approaches to working.

A crisis can be like a workout, to borrow an analogy from Nassim Nicholas Taleb’s book Antifragile. When you lift weights, you create tiny tears in your muscles, which heal back stronger and allow you, the next time you go to the gym, to lift more weight. We’re all a little sore now. COVID fatigue is real, but the news of the vaccines is hopeful, even if the virus is not going away immediately. There will likely be more lockdowns and restrictions around the world before the vaccine is widely available, and businesses will need to push through the interim period. There are invaluable lessons for leaders to learn and internalize now, because they will help you prepare for whatever disruptions come next.


About the author(s)

Melanie Butler is a partner with PwC UK, based in London. A forensic accountant by background, she leads PwC’s Global Crisis Centre. She led the firm’s response to the 2013–16 Ebola outbreak in West Africa; Kristin Rivera is a partner with PwC US, based in San Francisco. She leads PwC’s global forensics team of more than 3,400 forensics specialists worldwide.

Tags: AdaptCEOCEO NorthamPivotPwCRecovery plans

Related Posts

Ford’s Peter Stern joins Peloton as new CEO
Business

Ford’s Peter Stern joins Peloton as new CEO

1 in 3 workers frequently stressed by work
Business

1 in 3 workers frequently stressed by work

Few CHROs believe their performance management system works
Business

Few CHROs believe their performance management system works

Canada’s cost of living affected by shortage of trade workers
Business

Canada’s cost of living affected by shortage of trade workers

Walmart offers stock, higher salaries to retain managers
Business

Walmart offers stock, higher salaries to retain managers

U.S. workers seeking remote jobs turn to international companies
Industry

U.S. workers seeking remote jobs turn to international companies

Employers losing $1.9 trillion to disgruntled workforce
Industry

Employers losing $1.9 trillion to disgruntled workforce

Riot Games to cut 530 as gaming industry shrinks workforce
Management & Leadership

Riot Games to cut 530 as gaming industry shrinks workforce

Alphabet’s Moonshot X Lab announces staff cuts
Business

Alphabet’s Moonshot X Lab announces staff cuts

Citigroup to layoff 10% of staff
Management & Leadership

Citigroup to layoff 10% of staff

No Result
View All Result

Recent Posts

  • What makes the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo so special?
  • Beyond the Machine: Why Human-Made Art Matters More in the Age of AI
  • 7 Benefits of High Intensity Interval Training
  • Paramount CEO explains why company paid Trump millions in 60 Minutes settlement
  • SAS CEO announces Air France–KLM to become majority owner

Archives

Categories

  • Art & Culture
  • Business
  • CEO Interviews
  • CEO Life
  • Editor´s Choice
  • Entrepreneur
  • Environment
  • Food
  • Health
  • Highlights
  • Industry
  • Innovation
  • Issues
  • Management & Leadership
  • News
  • Opinion
  • PrimeZone
  • Printed Version
  • Technology
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

  • CONTACT
  • GENERAL ENQUIRIES
  • ADVERTISING
  • MEDIA KIT
  • DIRECTORY
  • TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Advertising –
advertising@ceo-na.com

110 Wall St.,
3rd Floor
New York, NY.
10005
USA
+1 212 432 5800

Avenida Chapultepec 480,
Floor 11
Mexico City
06700
MEXICO

  • News
  • CEO Interviews
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • Environment
  • CEO Life

  • CONTACT
  • GENERAL ENQUIRIES
  • ADVERTISING
  • MEDIA KIT
  • DIRECTORY
  • TERMS AND CONDITIONS

Advertising –
advertising@ceo-na.com

110 Wall St.,
3rd Floor
New York, NY.
10005
USA
+1 212 432 5800

Avenida Chapultepec 480,
Floor 11
Mexico City
06700
MEXICO

CEO North America © 2024 - Sitemap

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • Business
    • Entrepreneur
    • Industry
    • Innovation
    • Management & Leadership
  • CEO Interviews
  • Opinion
  • Technology
  • Environment
  • CEO Life
    • Art & Culture
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel

© 2025 JNews - Premium WordPress news & magazine theme by Jegtheme.