Hope it’s been a productive and purposeful week. Here are some insights/opportunities to help you outlearn/outthink the crisis.

Excellent summit. Loved it completely. Took notes, prioritized action items, shared with friends and colleagues. Super pumped.
	Steve Siglin

Inspirational Story? Timberlane --
Rick Skidmore, CEO of Timberlane (wooden shutters) in PA. With his core business sales down 75%, he was looking at furloughing 60 employees. Now about 50% are making masks, intubation cases, soon 100% plus hiring more this weekend. Revenue is about $50,000 a day. Check out his website to see how he’s pivoted to medical supplies (along top of website).

1 Priority – Remain Ambitious
Noted Margaret Heffernan on yesterday’s virtual Summit:

Don’t lose your ambition. Situation is unparalleled. Many have the instinct to hunker down, think small. When economies shrink, there are opportunities you will never find any other time.

She went on to explain that you can get people on the phone and do deals you wouldn’t normally be able to do during times like this – so be bold and make things happen.

2 Videos – Get Lean (maybe a week too early)?
Made the tough decisions? Ready to move forward in a leaner way? There is no better time to get lean in everything you’re doing – time to prune!! And best if everyone pitches in during these times. It’s about seeing “waste” everywhere and eliminating it – so when we come back from this mess we’re prepared – luck comes to the prepared. Here are two outstanding videos by Lean guru Paul Akers who beamed in yesterday from Japan:

1. 13-minute video – see what a Lean Company looks and feels like – total flexibility
2. “Lean is Simple” – Paul’s video viewed a quarter million times – the best 97-minute training on Lean

Paul’s team does 30 minutes of training a day – start with Paul’s videos and create the right mindset around eliminating waste!

3 Complimentary “Must Use” SaaS Tools --
Support People – Emplify’s free employee health survey tool – 5 minutes to launch to survey and monitor the overall “health” of your employees

Support Execution – Align’s free priorities, data, and meeting rhythm dashboard for supporting execution

Support Cash – Cash Flow Story’s free Cash Stress Test – 3 minutes to enter six numbers from your financials and then play what/if scenarios with price, volume, A/R, A/P, etc. to understand the impact of COVID-19 on cash

 

 

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