Insights from Leading Entrepreneurs
Whether your business has remained open, scaled back, temporarily closed, or even ramped up during the coronavirus pandemic, there’s one thing we all have in common: Commerce as we knew it has—perhaps forever—changed.
The organizations that adapt their policies, processes and customer outreach to meet the needs of this new normal will survive and grow stronger. Those that don’t are risking extinction. (more…)
Categories: Crisis INNOVATION OPERATIONS PEOPLE/STAFF
At Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO), our mission remains engaging business owners at every stage with the tools, education and community necessary to learn and grow to new levels of leadership, in business and beyond. As businesses begin to implement new ways of working in the new landscape, we asked three EO members—from three industries and three countries—to share how they are moving forward.
Carlos Melendez is the co-founder and COO of Wovenware, a nearshore software services firm focused on chatbots and AI. As a member of EO Puerto, he’s also seen the company through the 2017 hurricane Maria. His organization has continued to work remotely.
Like businesses everywhere, Wovenware has had to drastically change the way we live, work and interact during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, being based in Puerto Rico, we’ve learned a lesson or two from Hurricane Maria about how to adapt to volatile situations that are out of our control. (more…)
Categories: BUSINESS GROWTH HEALTH INNOVATION LEADERSHIP PR/MARKETING
Tags: Brera Serviced Apartments Carlos Meléndez coronavirus COVID-19 EO Puerto Rico EO South Florida Eric Hoffer Hoffer Pest Solutions Matteo Ghedini pandemic Wovenware
Contributed by Ross Drakes, an entrepreneur and creative director based in Johannesburg, South Africa. He is the founder of Nicework, which helps companies to define their purpose and then deliver on it. He joined the Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) in 2013.
His firm compiled insights on factors surrounding COVID-19 and made the report available for free. Called “Finding North (Again),” it explores emerging trends and how to create opportunity from this period of chaos.
The last few months have been like nothing I have ever experienced.
I went from having a solid strategy, a decent pipeline and a great team to execute on it to being forced to stay in my house with my wife and son, my team working remotely (with our new shiny office sitting empty), and every project we were working on being cancelled or postponed.
Every plan or idea I had about this year was suddenly shattered. The efforts we had been toiling away at no longer seemed relevant. For the first time in a long time, I had no clarity.
The one thing that I am clear on is that lots of things are shifting. Whether it’s the markets collapsing or the measures put in place to contain the virus, people are behaving in radically different ways. (more…)
Categories: BUSINESS GROWTH INNOVATION LEADERSHIP STRATEGY
Tags: coronavirus COVID-19 eo south africa Finding North (Again) Nicework Rich Mulholland Ross Drakes
Written by Larry Prince, CEO of PrinceLeadershipTM. A version of this article originally appeared in New Jersey Business magazine.
The COVID-19 crisis is testing our leadership mettle in ways we have never experienced. We’re pressed to confront harsh business realities—how to keep the doors open, how to pay the bills, how to address staffing issues. But most importantly, how to make tough business decisions tempered with compassion for our people.
So, let’s take a look at key considerations when leading our business with our head and leading our people with our heart.
The journey forward begins by recognizing that our employees are our lifeline. (more…)
Categories: LEADERSHIP PEOPLE/STAFF
Tags: coronavirus COVID-19 crisis employees Larry Prince pandemic
Written for EO by Kalika Yap, an Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) member in Los Angeles. Yap is a thriving serial entrepreneur whose businesses include Citrus Studios, Luxe Link, and the Orange & Bergamot.
She recently attended a Facebook Live stream interview between EO Global Board Director Winnie Hart and Warren Rustand, co-founder of EO’s Leadership Academy in Washington, D.C. The conversation addressed the global pandemic, with EO members asking questions and Rustand providing insights on clarity of vision and certainty of intent.
Kalika Yap shares highlights from the presentation.
You’ve got this.
That’s the message about COVID-19 from Warren Rustand. Rustand has run more than a dozen companies during this career, most recently Providence Service Corp., a publicly-traded social service and transportation firm. He’s taken at least one through bankruptcy, and he’s lived through every crisis in the past 70 years.
In his office in Tucson, Arizona, he has a bronze sculpture of a cowboy in a long rain coat, head down, that Rustand looks to for inspiration. He bought it during that bankruptcy. (more…)
Categories: BUSINESS GROWTH HEALTH INNOVATION Inspirational LEADERSHIP STRATEGY WORK-LIFE INTEGRATION
Tags: Citrus Studios coronavirus COVID-19 eo los angeles EO Wonder Kalika Yap Warren Rustand
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