2020 Rewind: It's Still Time to Think Big About Your Business

Since the early days of the COVID-19 shutdown, I’ve been encouraging friends and colleagues to go on offense! The pandemic has caused a lot of stress and upheaval. Frankly, it would be easy to pack it in and give up in such trying times. While “defense wins championships” in the sports world, that mindset won’t help you survive the pandemic and it certainly won’t allow you to thrive on the other side of it.

Back in late April, I was featured in an Austin Business Journal article on this very topic. The focus way back then was on what leaders should do with their PPP loans. But most of the underlying points apply today. Here is the portion of that article attributed to me:

Kurt Wilkin, CEO of recruiting firm HireBetter, wrote in a recent blog post about this shift and the timing executives should keep in mind.

"What investments can you make now to come out stronger in the end? I think we recognize changes are happening that will impact our lives, our economy, and our businesses," he wrote. "These changes present tremendous opportunities to innovate and even fix broken business models."

Instead of just pocketing federal loan money and figuring out how to keep the business alive for the next two months, the time is ripe "to invest in talent, technology, or to innovate your business," Wilkin explained. At least for those that can afford to think longer-term.

Interviewed later, Wilkin said the pandemic could provide a silver lining for scrappy startups, as large competitors struggle to adapt during these trying times. In other words, COVID-19 may be a great equalizer.

"You don't have to have an expense account where you can spend $1,000 on dinner," he said. "Everybody is on a level playing field.”

Let’s focus on a couple of things that still ring as true six months into COVID-19 as they did in the first six weeks. First, I encourage business leaders to take advantage of the talent transfer that’s happening all around us. Many very talented people still find themselves out of work. Maybe back in February you couldn’t afford or attract that super star CFO or VP of Operations – well, now you might be able to!

Next, I believe the pandemic has been a “great equalizer” for businesses. This was true back in April, when very few of us knew what the hell we were doing. Now, we’re seeing that companies who have adapted to Zoom life and virtual sales pitches are fast-tracking their road to “thrival”.

Check out the full article here, and let me know how you think things have changed over the past six months.