May 20, 2020

Hey Gang,

I’m pleased to release the results of our second Vital Signs Pulse Check. Please see below (note there are 4 pages). We first surveyed the market in late March, about a week after shelter orders. It’s fascinating to see which responses have shifted – and which haven’t. Most notably, there’s statistically no real change to the question, “Have you dealt with an exposed employee?” (25% Yes in March and about the same today.) But to the question, “Would you hire an executive you’ve only met virtually?”, 36% said Yes in March, and 60% said Yes today. That’s a pretty quick and dramatic swing! Nearly 90% of you are NOT planning layoffs (yay!). And how are you feeling? In March, you were really anxious and tired. Today, you’re mostly just tired.

So.

Damn.

Tired.

You’ll see on p. 4 questions you’ve asked the community. I’d love to connect with you if you have learnings to share with others on any of these topics (re-entry, team engagement and future outlook).

So, what do you think? Any surprises?

News & Resources

• Experts have jobs. They need to understand those who don’t. – interesting commentary and statistics from Fareed Zakaria on the COVID-19 class divide

• The Three Sides of Risk – sobering piece on why knowing the worst-case risk of an action is unbelievably important, even if the chance of it happening is small (back-country skiers, this will be toughest for you to read)

• Webcast: Last week, RRA hosted a webcast with leading experts from the Cleveland Clinic to provide leaders guidance on navigating a safe return to workplaces. You can listen to the replay here.

Food Fight – send me yours!

Today’s winner found a brilliant way to win a chili cookoff: Make both entries yourself! Thanks for the submission, Don Frail, recently liberated SVP, Research, External Science & Innovation, Non-Clinical/Translational Sciences at Allergan. (That title is longer than your comments, Don!)

Chef’s comments: “A standard hearty chili on the bottom and a vegan chili on the top to satisfy a divided household.”

A Little Levity

• SNL: Let Kids Drink – this is by no means my endorsement… but… some reasonable points…

• Man threatens to sue magazine for using his photo in article about hipsters looking alike, before realizing it isn't him – not a new story, but I remembered it fondly today and had to share

• Overturned tractor trailer covers highway in mac and cheese – making every kid’s day around the world… it’s like the mac ‘n’ cheese version of Candy Land!

Be well,

Jackie