The Art of Perseverance: Surviving the Pandemic

Foreign. Kawasaki. I'm the chief evangelist of Canva, a Mercedes Benz brand ambassador and creator of a podcast called Remarkable People. The topic of this video is the art of perseverance. Surviving the Pandemic at the risk of ptsd, I mentally revisited my stint at Apple when it was flailing and failing in the 1990s. Also, I've had many ups and downs with companies that I've led, advised and invested in. I used these experiences to craft this video. All this said, I haven't been through anything of this severity, and I doubt that most people have. This video isn't about pixie dust and unicorns. It's about grit, encourage and do or die decisions. We can't defeat a virus with bluster, machismo and fake news, but we can mitigate its impact by making wise, albeit tough, decisions. Here are my top 10 tips for persevering in this pandemic. Number one Run the right race. This is not a sprint. It's a marathon. It's not a hundred yards. It's miles and miles and months and months, perhaps even years and years. An even better metaphor is that it's a decathlon because it takes multiple skills to survive. Number two Focus on cash. Cash is king, queen, prince and princess. Perseverance is not about perceptions and images. Perseverance is about surviving. Think about this. The iPad that Apple announced a few weeks ago is now discounted on Amazon. Wrap your mind around that. Number three Cut deeper than you think you should. The rising tide floats all boats, but the falling tide affects big boats the most. My experience is that people in hindsight regret not reacting fast enough and tough enough. It's better to look back and say I cut too much and left money on the table. Then I should have done more. But I didn't. So we died. With the former, at least you're still in business. With the latter, you are gone. 4. Go direct. You cannot depend on multiple tier distribution. Imagine if Amazon decided your product wasn't essential and delayed fulfillment. Or if your resellers aren't even open to accept your product, much less sell it. You should be so lucky that your biggest problem is that your channel partners, assuming they're still around, resent that you did business directly. Number five Tap your customer base. The easiest people to sell to are the people that you've sold to before. If you have a good product or service, you can tap dance all the way to the bank. 6. Don't depend on white knights and silver bullets, especially politicians. Magical forgiven loans from the government aren't going to suddenly materialize. If you get a loan, hallelujah, Take it and run. But don't depend on help from the government. Unless you're a large restaurant chain, an investment bank, or an airline, a cogent business strategy is never and then the miracle will occur. Be transparent with your employees. If there was ever a time to be transparent with your employees, it is now. Because everyone is suffering. It's not like you're going to tell them something that they haven't read about or heard from their friends, families and colleagues. Also, lying and shading takes a lot of time and energy, and you have none of either to spare. That said, a leader can never have a bad day. A leader's role is to provide a calm, rational, honest and empathetic model, even if you have to fake it. I never saw Steve Jobs have a bad day. Number eight Give to get. You're asking a lot of your employees, so give. A lot of the currency that you have is stock. Using stock is not going to affect your cash balance. I hope you end up in a situation where you say I should not have offered so much equity because it means you're still alive. That's a lot better than owning 100% of a dead company. 9 Evaluate your supply chain. Stuff made locally doesn't need to be shipped. Robots don't get sick. Maybe paying a little more is worth not being subject to the whims of trade wars, much less pandemics. So examine your supply chain and see if you can simplify and control more of it. Number 10 do the crap that you never had time to do. Establish and document new processes and procedures, upgrade technology, learn new skills such as video conferencing, making videos, and remote everything. This is the time to do the yucky stuff that you never had time to do before. Number 11 is a bonus. Ask the question therefore what? What will this pandemic change and how will it create opportunities? Let's go back a little in history. Suppose that you came to the insight that people were going to have phones. These phones would have cameras, and these cameras would be able to take high quality pictures that you can share via the Internet. Therefore what? Therefore you create a photo sharing app such as Instagram. Now is the time for you to ask the question, therefore what? You know it's going to be a long time before we fly to large in person conferences, gleefully go shopping in crowded malls, learn only in physical classrooms, and sit in the reception areas of medical facilities. I have a fun example of therefore what? An animal sanctuary called Sweet Farm has created a service called Goat to Meeting Not Go to Meeting Goat to Meeting. This service enables companies to include animals such as a llama in your video conferences to provide a bit of levity and relief.

Hey everyone, my name is Nate Salpeter. Thanks for having us. Call in today to your Goat to Meeting. Hey Paco, say hi to everyone on the Zoom call.

To recap, number one run the right race. Number two focus on cash. 3. Cut deeper than you think. Number four do business directly with your customers. Number five tap your installed base. Number six don't depend on white knights and silver bullets. Number seven be transparent with your employees. Number eight give to get so use stock, not cash. Number nine evaluate your supply chain. 10. Do the crap you never had time to do before. 11. And what will enable you to thrive, not merely survive, is to ask, therefore what? I hope these recommendations and ideas can help you get through what's probably the most difficult business time you will ever face. And now I have a favor to ask of you. Please check out my podcast Remarkable people@logically remarkablepeople.com I have recorded the wisdom and inspiration of remarkable people such as Steve Wozniak, Jane Goodall, Arianna Huffington, Steve Wolfram, Steven Pinker, Sir Ken Robinson, Andrew Zimmern, and Christy Yamaguchi. I promise you that every episode will make you a bit more remarkable and help you survive this pandemic. Take care, be healthy, wash your hands and maintain at least a six foot distance from strangers. If they sneeze or cough, hold your breath and get away until next time. I hope that you not only survive, but thrive. One last piece of wisdom, Bad times create good companies.