In this webinar, President and CEO of CARW, Tracy Johnson, sat down with four Milwaukee-based executives as they discussed both the challenges and opportunities that have risen amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Topics discussed include a comparison of what business looked like pre-pandemic vs. what it looks like today; the “Coronavirus Moment” in which the executives realized the need for business plans to pivot to adapt to the situation; as well as the decisions they’ve made to ensure the health, safety and satisfaction of their employees and customers. The Roundtable Event and Series is presented by Landmark Credit Union. The full video is HERE.
Here are a few key points from our panelists:
A Look at Business pre-COVID-19 vs. Today:
Ted Balistreri of Sendik’s Food Market provided insight on what it’s like to be an essential business owner during the COVID-19 pandemic, “We’ve continued to offer the same product we’ve been offering in the past. When the Safer at Home order went into place, the consumer had no choice but to purchase their food at the grocery store; therefore our business has seen quite the spike over the past couple of months. We’ve also been dealing with safety and health issues both for our employees and customers.”
Kane is a results driven, public relations and marketing firm that uses research to develop informed and strategic plans for clients. As a result of the pandemic, business at Kane has fallen into different silos. President and CEO, Kimberly Kane, explains, “Certain segments of clients that we’ve been working with for years have collapsed as a result of COVID-19. Many clients in the for-profit, business arena have halted their marketing and public relations plans and instead pulled us in to help with employee and internal communications. Rather than investing their dollars on external marketing and communications, they’ve asked us to help them create crisis communications infrastructures to communicate more with their employees. Some of our other clients, such as the larger nonprofits and government entities, are on the front lines of communicating the health and safety practices related to COVID-19. These clients have relied on us to help expand what we’ve done externally.”
According to CEO of Husco International, Austin Ramirez, fundamentally, little has had to change, “Who we are and what we do hasn’t changed, but the way we do business looks different. We have fewer people in our facilities and demand has come crashing down for the past couple of months. Despite the need to adapt and change to the new reality, we haven’t needed to change our business model. We still live and die by innovation and delivering our customers with proprietary high-value and custom designed products–we did that yesterday, we’ll do that today, and we’ll continue to do that in the future.”
With no choice but to close down the Miller Park stadium due to Safer at Home Orders, President of Business Operations, Rick Schlesinger, highlights how COVID-19 has affected business for the Milwaukee Brewers, “We’re in the entertainment business. We should be hosting the Giants in a night game at Miller Park and we should be in first place, but the reality is that our industry has come to an abrupt, screeching halt. It’s compounded by the fact that we’re in a league with twenty-nine other partners and we can’t independently operate our business. We need twenty-nine other teams to be working and every team and every jurisdiction is on lock-down. We have particular challenges and realize that this is going to be a different 2020 season if we’re able to resume under any circumstances. I’m optimistic because one thing we know is that the players, the coaches, the managers, the owners–we all want the games to be played. Despite having disagreements on the pathway, I think the ultimate goal and objective is shared strongly and equally by every constituent. Speaking with Governor Evers and Mayor Barrett- they want baseball to be played. We know that baseball can be an integral part of bringing the country together and providing needed distractions from our daily drudgery. We have to do things responsibly and safely, and that’s the trick.”
The “Coronavirus Moment” and the Realization of the Need to Pivot
Owner of Sendik’s Food Market, Ted Balistreri shared insight on what it’s like to adapt during a pandemic and adjust to the need of hiring new employees to meet demand, “A few months ago, there was arguably more of a labor shortage. Now, we don’t have really trouble finding employees; we’ve added over 150 employees. Most of that has been geared towards our online curbside pickup or home delivery businesses. As a leader, you have to be able to enforce the safety guidelines established by the experts and give a sense of calm and a bit of normality to your workforce.”
He highlighted Sendik’s Food Market’s identity as a servant leader organization which translates to its leaders are out in their stores working side by side with our employees, “As employers, we’ve got to allow people to stay home if they’re not feeling well, or somebody in their household is not feeling well. If we do those things, we will calm any fears that people have. One thing that we did almost from the get go, is we let everybody in our company know that if they even didn’t come into work, they would not lose their job. That’s a little bit daunting as an essential business, we had to keep our doors open. Allowing our employees to understand that their job was secure and we trusted them to make a self assessment as to whether or not it was the right decision for them to come into work. And whatever they decide we would accept that.”
His key message to other business leaders? “If you’re transparent, if you trust your workforce, and if you follow the guidance that’s been issued by experts, we can learn how to operate our businesses safely in this environment.”
President and CEO of Kane Communications Group, Kimberly Kane, recognized the gravity of the situation at hand when she noticed her employees’ fear, “In that moment I knew I had to let go of the business decisions and make a decision that is in the best interest of my employees. I was not a fan of the remote work setting. I like people in the office, I like to be in the office; so going remote was something I was hesitant about, but I had no choice at that moment. It’s been interesting for me and my team members because we work in such diverse industries from commercial real estate, to hospitality, to manufacturing, to social services, etc. Each one of these industries has been impacted differently. And I think how they’ve been affected and how they’re going to rebound is going to be different.” Kimberly also noted a commonality among all of her clients: the recognition that they have to communicate, “In these moments of crisis, the first thing that employees and our customers do is turn to them for answers. And if they’re not prepared, if they don’t know how to communicate with their employees; if they don’t know how to communicate with all of their customers, they run into some real challenges.”
CEO of Husco International, Austin Ramirez, noted how the impact of the pandemic didn’t hit until the virus began to spread on a global level, “We didn’t really pay attention to the impact the pandemic would have on our global operations until it began spreading rapidly in the U.S. around the world. I think the big question is, ‘What are the long term second and third order impacts of the Coronavirus on our economy and on our lifestyles?’, not just in the next six to twelve months, but next five to 10 years. I think the companies that can really understand how Coronavirus impacts how we live and work and play over the medium to long term are the ones who have a real advantage in the marketplace.”
Austin also made a connection between the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic downturn caused by other recessions, “Our mission as we navigate every recession or crisis is twofold. One, we have to get to sustainability quickly, we can’t have a financially unsustainable business. The faster you solve that, the faster you can move on to the second objective, which is to really protect your core assets, your core people, your core business programs. For HUSCO, it’s our core technologies. Unlike the 2008 to 10 recession or any recession in our lifetimes, the economic activity today has nothing to do with macroeconomic conditions, but has everything to do with the biology of a virus. That’s what’s going to determine what this economy does when we can get back to normal.”
Rick Schlesinger noted the distinct moment he realized “business as usual” would change for the Brewers. “The key moment for us was when the NBA postponed its season–that’s when we knew that within hours we were going to suspend spring training. I knew the minute we suspended spring training that we are in for a long haul, because unlike most other sports, you can’t shut down players and then get them back three days later or a week later. Pitchers take weeks to recover from an activity; the nature of our sport is so different. The reality is nobody really knows what, when or how we’re going to get out of it or when we’re going to get out of it. I remain convinced that we’re going to, we’re going to get out of this. As people, we are social creatures. We have created an entire social network of interaction of restaurants, of going to sporting events, of being with people. I think that human nature is going to reassert itself. For our business, we need that because we rely so much on a live attendance. And in particular, in Milwaukee, so much of our revenue is generated by people coming to the ballpark. We need that return to the social reaction in the experience of a live event. I think we will get there.”
A New Perspective Born from the Current Circumstances
Amidst the challenges that have surfaced due to the pandemic, our panelists also took time to recognize the opportunities it has brought with it.
Ted Balistreri noted, “The opportunity from our perspective is when you can see what is happening in other parts of the world and work on our own supply in anticipation of shortages like these.”
From the sports industry perspective, Rick Schlesinger described how the Milwaukee Brewers have been using this as an opportunity to make changes to the game of baseball itself, “Whether it’s rule changes or roster changes or changes to make the game more appealing to millennials.”
Kimberly Kane shared her idea on how she thinks businesses will change as a result of the pandemic, “As leaders, not only do we need to share information about what we’re doing and how we’re doing it, but we need people to change their behavior based on the information we’re sharing with them. When companies align their communications and business planning, they’re able to achieve business results a lot more quickly. I think one of the changes that we will begin to see is that companies will begin to see that communications is more of a core business strategy.”
Executive Recommendations and Resources
From Ted Balistreri – Owner, Sendik’s Food Market:
● Being a member of a Vistage group
● Trillion Dollar Coach: The Leadership Playbook of Silicon Valley’s Bill Campbell by Eric Schmidt
From Austin Ramirez – CEO, Husco International
Reading The New York Times
From Kimberly Kane – President & CEO, Kane Communications Group
Primal Leadership: Unleashing the Power of Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
From Rick Schlesinger – President of Business Operations, Milwaukee Brewers
His relationship and conversations with Commissioner Selig