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:
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- Develop new products/services to better serve my customers and help them through the crisis.
- 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.
- Be grateful.
- Remember times like these reveal who we are and what we really care about.
- 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
