A Letter to My Fellow CEOs, Sales & Learning Leaders

To my fellow CEO, Owners, Sales & Learning Leaders, 

I’ve been at helm of my own enterprise since 1996 and this is my 4th economic shut down: Y2K, 9/11, the financial crisis in 2008, and now COVID-19. A catastrophic event occurs that’s never happened before, and everyone panics. We think, “No, this is different.” And it is. The unknown leads to fear and fear rules the day. 

However, I see this as an opportunity. An opportunity to:

1. Remember where my hope comes from (Psalm 62:5-7). Therefore, I will put my trust in God and continue to give 10% of profits away. It’s a reminder that this is not my business and that we exist to serve others.  
2. Invest in our people. When people are sitting around, checking the internet and distracted, is the best time to double down on my most important resource. 
3. Spend more time with the most important people in my life (for me that’s family – with 24 people in my immediate family, this is not a small thing). 
4. Develop new products/services to better serve my customers and help them through the crisis.
5. Lead our team to focus on the solution and not the problem. I chose not to participate in a recession. Even though my market may shrink, we just need to figure out a way to capture a larger percentage of the market. How? See #4.  
6. Be grateful. 
7. Remember times like these reveal who we are and what we really care about.
8. Pray.

Tom Stanfill

As Co-founder and CEO, Tom’s primary role is to create content that helps people live, sell, and serve more effectively. Find him on LinkedIn