Leo & Randy On Preparation (Season 2020 Episode 13)

Welcome to the What Anyone Can Do podcast with Leo Battari and me, Randy Cantrell. This show picks up where our previous show, Year of the Peer, left off, highlighting the simple truth that who you surround yourself with matters, and that if we enlist the support of others, give back to those who give to us, and pay it forward for the next generation, we can do anything. Author and keynote speaker Leo Battari and I talk with a diverse group of thought leaders who will share stories and insights that will help you succeed in business and in life.

How?

By doing the things anyone can do, but most of us never will.

Welcome back to What Anyone Can Do, the podcast. We are in the midst of COVID-19. Hey, as we hit the record button is April 9th, 2020. We might as well throw the date out there, right? For posterity's sake, we are going to look back at this. He is Leo Battaglia. My name is Randy Cantrell. California, Texas. The website is leobattaglia.com. L-E-O bottary.com. We're glad that you're with us today, and we figured that we would kind of talk, I don't know, just kind of whatever, but light at the end of the tunnel. And we're all assuming, Lord willing, that there will be light at the end of the tunnel. You know, we don't know where we're at exactly with this whole flattening, flattening the thing, but there are some decent indicators. So reason for us to have some hope. We've been battened down now for what, Leo, 3 weeks?

Oh yeah. Yeah. And, uh, yeah, I think it's worth a conversation about what's next, kind of what are we hearing, what's going on right now, you know, uh, for groups that I've spoken with and done virtual presentations, which, excuse me, I will tell you is always a challenge, especially when you've got people on the other end of that presentation experiencing such varying levels of distress and pain and angst. And, you know, for some who are able to continue their operations and have people work remotely and still somehow able to serve their customers and clients depending on what business they're in. And there are those folks who lead companies where they've literally just had to shut down and people have had to lay off 90% of their, of their people, and they're just trying to figure out how to keep it all afloat. So it's a, it's just a wide range, you know, out there. But I think, and of course we touched on this on the last show, that it's kind of interesting that on one hand, here we are being asked to social distance effectively, to stay away from other people so that we don't hurt one another, essentially. Yet at the same time, we are relying on one another in a more intellectual and emotional way than we ever have. Or at least these are the kinds of times where we tend to come together and do those kinds of things. And so this is what has been interesting about speaking to people who are either part of a group or just in an audience and trying to just find their way and contemplate what it is they're supposed to do here. And my whole thing really isn't about trying to sell, oh, go join a peer group to somebody at this time by any stretch of the imagination. However, I don't think it's bad advice. And if you're not going to join a group or that kind of thing, at the very least, find some people who are sharing your challenges and see what you can do to help one another, whether it's you get really strategic or tactical or financial or whatever kind of support you need, or just even the emotional support that, you know, we all need sometimes when we're going through these kinds of situations. I mean, we are probably looking at, you know, I would think, Here we are. We're going to be looking at the end of April. I think there's one milestone that people are going to be looking at in their minds because that's just how our brains work, right? That we're going to be looking at the end of the month. All right, end of the month. What now? And the calendar is not going to drive this. We know that we've got to follow what's happening out there with the virus. And before we started, This most certainly you're talking about some trends that are at least in the scheme of things showing some flattening of what's going on. Obviously, the death toll will lag behind cases when it comes to increases and all that. So we're still, I think, getting pretty rough news when it comes to the number of deaths in this country and around the world. It also appears that our— what we're doing with social distancing is working, you know, to some degree, and it's basically slowing things down. So then the question is, come the end of April, you know, what are we going to be willing to do, you know, from there? You know, how disciplined are we going to be to make sure that we don't get a resurgence of this by going back too early? You know, many companies, many CEOs I'm talking to already, I don't think are inclined to send their— even if the government said May 1st, everyone can go back to work, I don't think that's what's in most CEOs' heads right now at all. Partly because of the human toll of it, and part of it, I'm sure, is because they have their attorneys talking to them, talking about the fact that maybe a more measured way to go back makes a lot more sense and to be really prudent about doing that for everybody's sake. And, but yeah, I'm definitely hearing a lot of— there's definitely a lot of pain out there. What about you? I mean, you— I know you've been, you know, talking to a bunch of folks as well.

Yeah. It, you know, when this started back in— well, when it started in earnest somewhere around the 20th of March, I made a decision. I'd been working to kind of launch this first peer advantage group, as I call it, thepeeradvantage.com, of 8 small to medium-sized business owners. And when this hit, I don't know, I just thought, okay, this is not the time to monetize any— this is the time to just take, take all the friction out of this thing, to just try to, to help at least 8 business owners, uh, without any obligation. But I knew everybody was distracted, and so I got that. So the conversations, you know, there was no hard sell at all, was just mentioning it. But business owners— and this is, I was aiming strictly at business owners— just so, so horribly distracted. And I get it, I completely get it. so enveloped in, in their own problem and their own pain. And yet everybody knows that it's worldwide. And it's, uh, it's interesting, the whole disruption thing. Companies and industries may have tried to future-proof and plan for disruption, but nobody was planning for universal disruption where everybody's disrupted. And, you know, so that's a phenomenon all its own.

Right. I mean, you know, we were looking at, you know, breaking news coming in just before we started that the number now of people who have filed for unemployment since the virus began is 16.6 million people. I mean, it's just staggering when you consider what this has meant for individuals, people, individual people's lives. And, and I think part of what and how we have to start thinking about this too, is it's so easy to think about this and we get a lot of numbers thrown at us, you know, in terms of confirmed cases and who's recovered and what the death toll is and what the unemployment figures are and what all this other stuff is. And there are real human lives behind every one of these things that we, you know, have to, you know, recognize and not get so used to talking about these kinds of numbers that we don't recognize that this is a, this is a huge, huge deal for so many people, whether it's their health or the economic toll that it's taking. And, you know, again, however we can help our colleagues, our neighbors, our family members, you know, whatever we can be doing together, I think is just so essential right now to be And actually, it is amazing when you think about it. How many stories are we seeing out there, the creativity of people in terms of how they are either readjusting some of their own business to figure out a way they can give back, like with people making masks, for example. You know, even just people's creativity at home and wanting to share a light moment with folks on whether it's LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or whatever, that just puts a smile on somebody's face during these times. And yeah, it's, it is so pervasive in every area of your life.

You know, this isn't just a business problem. So it's not like these business owners are just sitting here wrecked about their business. Now add on top of that, you've got serious health concerns for your people. Even if you have shut your doors, you're presupposing, as I think you should, and be optimistic that you're going to open your doors again eventually, and you're going to want at least some of those people, key people. And a lot of these businesses are multigenerational. I mean, they've, they've had people that have been working for them for decades that they, they don't want to lose. And so now add on top of that, the fear that, am I, am I going to be able to get my people back, the people that I desperately need, you know, to run my business? And then the mental strain of it all. So it's just, it's just a wham bam, hits you from every angle. That I'm seeing people really struggle with. And I don't profess— I got way more questions than I do answers, but it seems to me from a problem-solving perspective, I don't know that there is a holistic— be interesting to hear what you think. I don't know that there is a holistic approach to this. I think you just kind of have to— it's like eating an elephant one bite at a time, right? You just kind of have to chip away at it the best you can. I know this, If we lose our mental edge, game's over. You know, so my conversations have really been focused to try to help people understand. I don't have the answers, maybe, you know, for your $200 million company and the fact that you are quickly running out of runway, but I know this, your mental health and your sanity your ability to think clearly, I know a group of people can help you do that. It's not a matter of people telling you what you ought to do, because everybody's got a big question mark over their own head, but just talking it through and releasing some of that pressure has got to have value.

You know, I like to think that, you know, for some, it's at least from a financial standpoint, it is more possible than others. But you think about that 16.6 million unemployment number. Think about how much higher that would be if not for the generosity of so many business owners and so many people who are doing everything they possibly can to keep money flowing into their employees' pockets, even if their doors aren't open. You know, it's really rather remarkable. And I think it shows loyalty going in both directions there. And I like to think that if we— and I don't mean it from a standpoint of employees. I mean it from just a standpoint of people, just recognizing our common humanity. And just if we think about trying to do the right thing for the people in our lives, our family, our friends, our coworkers, our employees, whatever that happens to be, that that just can't be a bad choice. That will come back to you in some way, shape, or form. And I don't mean— I mean financially, I mean in every way possible. And I think a lot of the folks are recognizing that, not doing it because that's their primary motivation. I'm not suggesting that. I think there's some genuine feelings out there about how can we do the right thing by everyone during this time. And if we're all doing the right thing for one another, we've got a good chance of coming back more quickly than— you know, now, you said, and you made a great point, of course, at the start of this, is that we get into this and it feels like we just fell off a cliff. Fright. I mean, this happened quickly. It won't come back as quickly, and we recognize that this is going to be a process of patience and discipline and a community really coming together to try to exercise that, you know. And the thing is, it isn't about, oh, I'm gonna start doing this, that, and the other because I'm not worried about me. Well, it isn't all about me. It's about the fact that I could be You know, among people I could, you know, be infected, have not the slightest idea and be hurting others inadvertently. And that's just not a choice we get to make.

I don't think. Well, it's certainly in the choice you want to have to live with. No, I wouldn't. You know, the business owners, uh, that, that, that I'm speaking with and the CEOs are just understandably completely preoccupied, don't know what to do. Cash flow admittedly is the elephant in the room for a lot of these people. And I'm getting some sense of a little bit of guilt, of complacency, not that anybody should have seen this coming, but of business owners that are kind of kicking themselves that I should have been prepared for something. And I, I, I get the sense coming out of this that there's going to be a tremendous amount of gratitude if and when people can get back on their feet, whatever that looks like, that, uh, there's going to be some big changes in behavior, not just for this virus and the health concerns, but for fiscal responsibility, you know, in their companies, companies that were running really razor thin and just sales were continuing to escalate and they were banking on those, those growth numbers. And when it goes south, you know, got caught very unawares. And very early on, I got a strong sense of Guilt's the only word that comes to my mind of people that really were kicking themselves that, man alive, I should have more runway.

Well, we've all— I mean, think about the fact that when you go through history and particularly in this country, I think what we are known for definitely as Americans is we can respond to crisis really well. We prepare for it really poorly because we, again, we get used to our everyday lives. It'll be— tomorrow is just going to be like today and yesterday, only, you know, better. And we don't think in terms of— this is not new that people have been talking about the possibility of pandemic. I mean, it's been for a number of years now and not just the last 2 or 3 years. I mean, longer than that. You know, inside of this decade, this has been one of those things that has been looming. And, you know, so I think when we come out of this, if there's a way that we can start imagining and maybe having some imagination around the idea of what if— and we've talked before on the show about asking the what-if questions, asking the what-if questions for our personal lives, for business, whatever. What if this happened? What if that happened? How would we be prepared for that? Because, you know, think about what happens, you know, in this case, right? There's a run on the grocery stores. There's a run on— there's all these items that people can't even find. And, you know, people are fighting over paper towels and toilet paper and hand sanitizer. And, you know, for a while there were no eggs. You couldn't find eggs anywhere. I mean, it's just— I mean, you know, it speaks to preparation. But I also think that kind of it goes into the category of a bit, you know, we were wanting to go with this conversation today, which is to really take stock of what we're learning from this experience. What opportunities lie inside this situation we're in right now? I think CEOs are learning a lot about their people. And I think for most of the folks I'm talking to, they're learning a lot of really amazing things about their people. The level of creativity, the commitment, the dedication to doing whatever they can do despite the fact that, again, this isn't just about what's going on at work. They've got family members. They've got all these things happening in their lives. And somehow, you know, people are pressing on and moving on. And I think there will be processes and ways of working that people are discovering right now, kind of forced on many companies and many leaders that will continue long after people are, quote, back to work. So I just think as we start imagining how do we learn from what we're doing here, How do we maybe build trust, you know, particularly among all of us in terms of being there for one another and what that looks like and how we can use adversity to, you know, create stronger bonds going forward, greater teamwork going forward. And I just think there's a lot of things from this that we should really reflect and imagine what good can we extract from it. So that we, you know, are able, you know, to, you know, basically to come out of this and thrive in the future and be better prepared for next time.

You know, going through a common adversity tends to always drive people closer together. From your vantage point, do you see that having any any lasting effect, just generally speaking, among, among business? We'll focus on business, businesses, CEOs, business kinds of people. Or do you think— I think it'll very quickly going to kind of forget it and it's going to be life, you know, our behavior. I mean, let's face it, it takes quite a lot. And this is a big deal for sure. This is the biggest deal. I think I said in one show, my dad's 96 and he's never seen anything like this. Well, That lets you know where the rest of us are. We certainly haven't seen anything like this.

You know, I often think about when back in the day, um, when I was involved in a lot of crisis communication, um, situations. So obviously, you know, you're responding in a manner that you're trying to care about your customers, care about your employees, care about people's lives. I mean, that, that becomes part of what you do. What's interesting, though, is you've got to have a way of responding that— because there are a lot of all kinds of threats and all kinds of things that happen, right? So you have to be able to respond to something in a way that if it happened again, you would actually, in many respects, have to respond the same way, right? Because it's not like— so here we are now. With this situation, pandemic, we have no choice but to be better prepared. We as a world can't be having to respond in this way, the way we have, if this happens again. I mean, we just can't. We've got to do better. So we've responded like this. And now we've got to really be thinking going forward, What are the things that we have to do now to be prepared for this? You know, think about— someone was talking the other day about how— what 9/11 did in terms of changing this country. And we had to prepare for a completely different circumstance, right? So it's why it changed everything we ever did at airports. It was security at office buildings. It was any number of things that changed. Our daily life here in the US. And, you know, of course it's been around the world. And so we've got to look now at, so what's next, right? How, what, what changes are we going to make or how is life going to be different after this so that we're not in the situation we're in right now next year going into next spring that we have COVID-20 or whatever it is that, you know, it might rear its head. And I think that's a big question right now. That's why I think there's so much to be gained from trying to learn from this experience, trying to figure out where we could have seen things earlier or what we need to be prepared with or how we can mobilize more quickly as a society in terms of what to do and how to respond. So this, I think, is— because if we let that go by, I mean, then yes, this is going to be a situation where once we get back to work and everyone's like, oh wow, that was, that was god-awful. Good thing that'll never happen again in our lifetime. Well, you know, we don't know that. So that's right.

Well, and this is such a monumental and global thing. I'm, I'm going to be curious to see what our collective response is. One of the first things that popped into my mind, being a guy that ran retail companies since I was a younger man, that whole just-in-time thinking, you know, and those of us in retail and even at the manufacturing, the whole supply chain, the whole logistics thing for decades has been just-in-time. I mean, it was a great It was efficient. We made tons more money. And it's curious to me now, you know, when you go out and you, and you see the enormous logistical problems, the supply chain problems that we've had, I've been curious to see what, if anything, will change from that. I get the economics of just-in-time, but unfortunately in the C-suite, it seems to me I could be wrong, but that whole just-in-time thinking in the supply chain has really applied to our problem solving. And to your point, future-proofing or thinking these what-ifs, because we don't want to think, we don't want to think about that. I don't want to think about that. No, no, I'm not having to think about that. Don't make me think about that. Uh, and here we are.

Yeah. Yep. Well, that's precisely right. So I mean, this is really where we are. This is— as every day that goes by, let's think about how we can lean on one another. How can we learn from one another? How do we reflect? How do we take stock of what's happening? How do we understand it that much better in terms of what's working, what isn't working? How early we have to do things or whatever it happens to be. I mean, it's easy, you know, everyone wants to throw a lot of blame around on this and they still continue to do that. And, you know, I'm not saying that there isn't a part of me that doesn't feel much that as well. However, bottom line is here's where we are.

So what good does it do?

Figure it out. I think the good thing about doing it, I think they are, you know, to our credit here in the US, I mean, basically, you know that already we are pretty much at a third of the global cases are right here, which is, I mean, the escalation of this thing and the speed at which it's happened in less than a month, basically, has been just off the charts.

So, Yeah, the value of the who you surround yourself with matters, kind of a tagline in the things that you've written recently and over at CEO World. The whole perspective, the whole point of view, the whole exposing yourself to people who may be thinking about it in a different way. I mean, before we close, I think there's value in that conversation to encourage our audience, no matter what sector you are in. It doesn't matter if you're in education or if you're in nonprofit, if you're in commerce, whatever, just surrounding yourself with people who may be looking at this and approaching their problems with this which are universally going to be pretty common to your own, but they may be looking at it completely different. And there's just value in that. There just is. It doesn't mean that you have to agree with people. I mean, all the sniping that goes on in social media and whatnot is— I've, I'm now in my fourth, other than this, I'm in my fourth dark phase where I'm just shutting the phone off, shutting the computer off, just not paying attention to it. Because it just drives me absolutely bat crazy.

Well, it, you know, getting back to, I mean, it's funny, it almost reminded me, I was laughing to myself because even our conversation has been kind of all over the place today, which I think is exactly, kind of reflects the circumstances we're in right now, you know. But one of the stories that I shared through video on LinkedIn just the other day was this story was Leo McGarry. It was from The West Wing. So Leo McGarry is talking to Josh Lyman. Josh Lyman had actually was going through some stuff and was talking to a psychologist, and Leo had waited for him at the end of the day. So anyway, Josh came out from the meeting. He says, oh, I can't believe you waited for me. He starts the story by saying, yeah, he thinks I have an eating disorder and a fear of rectangles. So he was just kind of making fun. But of course what he did was he admitted in that moment that he was having some real issues. And so McGarry looks at him and says, he says, you know, there was this guy and he got stuck in a hole and the sides of it were so big he couldn't crawl his way out. He said, so anyway, he was looking for anyone to help him. And he said a doctor came by and he said, You know, doctor, can you, can you help me get out of here? And, uh, he just took him, wrote him a prescription and threw it in the hole, right? And then he kept going. And a priest came by, um, basically wrote down a prayer, threw it in the hole, and kept going. So then all of a sudden, this is— other guys, his friend comes and he says, hey, what's happening? He's, hey, I'm down here, I'm stuck in this hole. So the friend jumps in with him. He said, what are you, stupid? He said, now we're both stuck down here. And he says, yeah, but I've been here before and I know the way out. And, you know, it's a great story, but it's also one that we don't need people necessarily only to give us the prescription about what we should take or what we should do, or people only to give us hope, but people who are willing to kind of dive in there with us and show us the way out. And there are a lot of people like that. And I think people are, by and large, willing to do that for one another, and they're doing it for one another every day, whether it's You know, the first responders, you know, and the people working throughout our healthcare system and the people who are helping from a business standpoint and everything else. I mean, I think people are being extraordinary to one another when it comes to just diving in the hole and showing people, you know, how to get out. But you have to ask. The guy in the hole just didn't let people walk by and think he was going to climb out all by himself. So I think if we ask for help and are willing to help others, then we're going to climb our way out of this hole. And, you know, we'll just kind of press on and hope to be prepared better the next time. But yeah, I think that's a good place to end.

It's a good optimistic way to end. And hey, we are still in the greatest country in the world. Pardon, pardon to you, you foreign listeners, but you know, we're, we're, we're a bit biased here in America. There's, there's some, there's some great work happening globally as well. And it's, it's the commonality of the whole human race. So we are all in this together. The website is LeoBottari.com. Give us a quick update on the book writing and we'll, we'll tease that a little bit more and take the last word.

Yeah, I mean, kind of, kind of, I think in the final, you know, week or two of getting all of the copy done on that, that's been really good. Shout out to Tech Canada, who I've been doing a lot of work with, you know, recently. They've, you know, been amazing in terms of what they're doing to try to remove barriers for prospective members to get involved in a group and try to gain access to the kind of help that people need right now, people who are going to jump in the hole with you and kind of show you the way out. And I think that organization— and by the way, I say I kind of call them out because I've been doing a bunch of work with them now. I'm quite certain that other organizations out there who lead peer groups are really trying to do the same thing right now, because if anyone recognizes how much we all need one another, I think it's organizations like that. So But yeah, no, Tech Canada has been a great, great team and just a great heart and a great spirit that they've shown throughout this to help, you know, anyone and everyone. And the things they've opened up that I think have given access to people who aren't paying members necessarily, but giving them content and resources and, that are really helpful to them. So shout out to them. Good job.

Good. We appreciate you, the audience, for clicking play. Hopefully we are a pleasant intrusion in your life, and we hope to give you at least some food for thought and some actionable things that you can do. Reach out to Leo at leobottari.com, L-E-O-B-O-T-T-A-R-Y dot com, and you can see all that Leo does. Peerinnovation.co will get you to the same place. Peer Innovation is Leo's initiative to kind of help you leverage the power of surrounding yourself with other people who are willing to jump in that hole with you. And we appreciate you listening and hope you'll tell a friend and reach out to us if we can be of any help or service to you. The contact page over at the website would be the best way to reach Leo. All of our social media contacts, those are also in the show notes for every episode. And that's it for me, Leo.

Well, thanks, Randy. Um, you be well and be safe and say that to everyone out there listening as well. And, uh, we'll see you next week.

To learn more about our show and what we do, to submit questions to us, and to subscribe to What Anyone Can Do Podcast, please visit our website, whatanyonecandopodcast.com. What Anyone Can Do Podcast is hosted by Leo Battaglia.

Sari and me, Randy Cantrell.

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