Business in the Time of Coronavirus

Can COVID-19 help us diagnose underlying maladies in the culture of commerce?

Lend your voice to the project

If I had to choose a single image to symbolize the coronavirus crisis, it would be a row of empty chairs, prepared for a gathering that will never convene. Business culture is founded upon the value of predictability and planning, but our plans have come unraveled, and no one can reliably predict the future any more, even in the short term. We are lacking the common settings and experiences to bring us together and lend coherence to our work.

Let’s admit it: We don’t have the answers to the problems we currently face in business. Despite our powerful systems of data mining and information processing, we lack many of the most basic facts about our new reality. We don’t even know how many of colleagues and customers are likely to be infected.

A Time for Questions

The time for quantitative data analysis will come, but for now, without sufficient data to work with, we need to turn to qualitative, human methods of inquiry. It’s time for people in business to take advantage of the disruption of their ordinary workflow to use their own natural abilities observe, to ask questions, and listen to what others have to say — human to human.

We have the opportunity, now that the machinery of business is broken down without the prospect of quick repair, to engage in some more reflective labor. Finally, the excuses are are gone. We have the time to consider the meaning of our enterprises.

In pursuit of this objective, I am conducting a qualitative, open-ended study of the impact of the coronavirus project on the culture of business. It’s called Business in the Time of Coronavirus.

For the next couple of weeks, I’ll be interviewing business professionals one-on-one, listening to their experiences and reflections as the content with the strange new reality brought about by the rapid spread of COVID-19.

The material gathered through these interviews will then be analyzed for underlying themes, and be made available in both written and audio format, as a podcast, a presentation, a Living Room Lecture with the House of Beautiful Business, and a report, as a resource to help organizations adapt to post-pandemic conditions.

You don’t need to just sit and stew in isolation. You can help transcend the social distancing that’s draining the vitality from our networks of commerce.If you work in the business world, I want to hear about your experiences.

We can’t be together, but we can still come together. Lend your voice to the project — schedule an interview.