Corporate Pep in the Time of COVID-19

Is everybody on the Zoom? OK, good. Who is the 347 number? Oh, hi James. Should we get started?

If you haven’t figured it out by now, it looks like we will be shutting down the office for at least another month. We are actively monitoring the situation and want you to know that your safety is our number one priority. Is Kate from the People team on the line? She can’t get on the Zoom? Can somebody Slack her the link?

With everybody working from home, it’s important that you maintain a regular cadence with your teams. Working from home isn’t an excuse to put on your favorite PJs and watch Netflix all day…there’s a lot of background noise — can whoever that is please go on mute? Thank you.

Kate has assembled a guide to working from home to ensure that you and your teams stay productive during these challenging times. Let’s double click on it for a moment. Can everyone see my screen? No? The Internet is a little slow up here in Westchester…what about now? Still no? OK I’ll just Slack it to you…there. Now everyone should have it.

Morgan, it looks like you’re trying to ask a question but you’re on mute…nope, still on mute. Ah, now I can hear you. Thank you for the question, and yes: even though I’m in Westchester, I will still be clapping for essential workers at 7pm every night until the end of the crisis.

But as I was saying, working from home is not an excuse to call all of your friends who are also working from home to talk about how crazy it is that you are all working from home. It’s not an excuse to spend longer in the bathroom than you would if you were at the office. You guys are athletes, and your OKRs are more important now than ever before. It’s imperative that you establish a regular cadence to hold you, your colleagues, and your teams accountable.

If anyone has questions about their OKRs, or wants to know why I keep using the word cadence improperly, I will be hosting virtual coffee chats every morning. I will also be hosting AMAs once a week for the remainder of the crisis. We will record them as podcasts, so please be sure to share them with all of your LinkedIn connections.

Jack Welch said, and I quote, “an organization’s ability to learn, and translate that learning into action rapidly, is the ultimate competitive advantage”. This crisis is a unique opportunity for us to improve our cross-functional hygiene, so that when this is over, we will go from good to great…who just joined?

Anyway, my calendar is up to date, and I’d recommend that you to put time in there for a recurring weekly check-in that we will cancel 100% of the time. In the meantime, don’t forget about our Zoom Happy Hour this Friday at 7pm. And shout out to DJ Zack, who will be providing our soundtrack. Remember, our unique culture is unique because we know how to party, especially during your personal time, when you would rather be doing anything else with anyone else. We can’t let COVID-19 take that away from us.

If there are no further questions, I just want to give each and every one of you a big shout out. We are going to come out of this stronger and better than ever. We are changing the future and it’s thanks to each and every one of…what’s that? You can’t hear me? What about now?

Never mind, it wasn’t important anyway.