There are the 6 stages of grief, and then there are the 5 stages of businesses surviving coronavirus. According to McKinsey, they are as follows:
1. Resolve. We’ve put crisis-response efforts in motion and deployed large-scale public-health interventions.
2. Resilience. McKinsey analysis suggests that the “shock to our livelihoods” of this crisis might be the biggest in nearly a century. Resilience is the next essential step.
3. Return. It’s not as simple as “back to normal” behavior. Returning to the old style, pace and scale of business will require every company to rethink strategy.
4. Reimagination. Knowing what we know now, how can we better prepare ourselves in the future? Likely this won’t be the last pandemic. Businesses need to learn from this one.
5. Reform. Company behavior, government oversight, the healthcare system, educational institutions — all of these may need scrutiny in order to move forward.
The aftermath of the pandemic will be a great opportunity for all of us to learn and innovate. I am excited about what the future holds for my clients at Newcastle Associates, and for industry in general.