Our Badass Call to Arms
We've all heard many things about COVID-19 at this point, and we are only now beginning to understand its financial, physical, social, and emotional impact on business-as-usual and life-as-we-know-it. Our great nation and our big world are in crisis, seemingly brought to our knees by the microscopic.
In times like these, it's important to prepare for what's next—and I’m not talking about stocking up on toilet paper.
I went through a similar situation in late 2007 as the Great Recession threatened and then roared through the global economy. My businesses were extremely vulnerable to macroeconomics, and we experienced an impressively negative impact. Fortunately, my Board and I fortuitously sensed the catastrophic problems approaching, and we got ahead of them with an agile plan that we could execute and pivot on with precision. It worked. We laid no one off, no one quit, and we never ran out of cash. We lived through dark times to rise and thrive again.
My intuition tells me we are facing an even more difficult time. The Great Recession came upon us over months. The current situation arrived in weeks. The Great Recession was a financial problem that had financial and economic fixes. The current situation has none of those. This is uncharted "Black Swan" territory, and as such, with almost overwhelming uncertainty at work and at home at the same time.
I don’t say this to alarm you. I say this to activate you.
Right now, we need—and are seriously lacking—damn good leadership and agile decision-making at the highest levels, precisely when we need it most. I'm appalled. It’s easy to be a leader when we’re surrounded by butterflies, rainbows, and pots of gold. Real leaders step up when the shit hits the fan. I cannot and will not stand by watching this happen. Deer in headlights get run over.
Not on my watch.
In the grand scheme of things, The Lions Pride is a tiny company making a tiny impact. But if we can move the needle somewhere somehow for someone like you, it's a damn sight better than what I see happening from the highest levels downward. Our entire team is in violent agreement to help businesses like yours continue to lead, act, adapt, and thrive in the face of uncertainty, whether you are an active Member of our Cohort or not.
Bottom line: we’re here to help you where you are and however you’d find value.
This is my call to action. This is a call to arms. No matter the size of your business, your impact lies in your ability to move forward through our current struggles. I am calling on you—and others like you—to grab your bootstraps and start pulling. To decide with certainty amidst unknowns and to calmly lead with confidence amidst chaos.
Business badasses do what most won’t, 10x as well, in half the time—because they are responsible, resourceful, courageous, and, most importantly, relentlessly adaptable.
And you are that badass.
Take it from someone who has been there. There’s ALWAYS a solution—even in the deepest and darkest of adversity. Continuing as is (doing the same), stopping all activities (doing nothing), and delaying decisions (waiting it out) are not options in a “business continuity” crisis like this. I’m here to show you how to turn thought leadership into results leadership, to address confusion, concerns, and constraints with thoughtful, decisive action, and to preemptively respond to what is to come with agility, grit, and grace.
As Verne Harnish said recently, “COVID-19 and panic are contagious. So is leadership.” We need leaders of character, strength, and talent right now. You are that leader. I ask you to join me in solidarity as we step up, step out, and step ahead.
We cannot, must not—and if I have anything to say about it, WILL NOT—let this fast-moving crisis crater our potential, our families, our communities, our companies, and our wonderful American economy.
Let’s wash our hands and get to work.
