The Pandemic in Retrospect
FountainBlue's October 31 Front Line Managers Online program on the topic of 'The Pandemic in Retrospect.' Please join me in thanking our panelists.
as a Product Leader - Sondra Bollar, Senior Director of Program Management, Oracle Application Labs (OAL), Product and Portfolio Center of Excellence (PPCOE) Oracle
as a Marketing Leader - Louise Lamb, VP, Marketing and Operations, One82 Inc
as a Scientific Leader - Leena Priya Makani, Scientist I (Gene Editing), BioMarin Pharmaceuticals
as a Legal Leader - Suchitra Narayen, GVP & Deputy General Counsel, North America Commercial Legal, Informatica
as a People Leader - Kerry Perryman, Senior HRBP, Samsung Research America
We were fortunate to have such passionate, experienced, articulate, resourceful, and wise panelists for this month's program. They were generous enough to share their wisdom and lessons from the pandemic and its aftermath. Below is a compilation of their thoughts and comments.
Our panelists began the discussion by asserting that we each come from different perspectives and experiences, but we all have something to contribute to the organization, the team, and its growth. Leaning into our differences will help us to adapt and grow through uncertain times, such as the pandemic.
Our panelists each shared stories of how their adaptability and flexibility helped them not only survive and thrive through their circuitous careers but also build the teams and products that support the growth of their organizations as a whole.
It was particularly inspiring to hear their stories of how their versatility helped them leverage past learnings, skills, and strengths to undertake whole new tasks, responsibilities, and roles depending on the organization's needs. The engineer becomes the program leader, the operations executive becomes the marketing leader, the executive becomes the entrepreneur, and vice versa!
As our panelists morphed from one role to another, pointers to common themes emerged. These themes included being strategic, creating measurable value, engaging a wide range of stakeholders, and being committed to a greater cause. Each panelist leveraged their strengths in these areas to navigate the myriad of challenges that arose from the pandemic, especially when everything was so uncertain and not normal!
This resiliency, hope, and faith kept each panelist engaged and helped them inspire and empower others to participate. It was certainly not all rose gardens and rolling meadows, but the incremental gains, the proactive and transparent, humble and forthright communications, helped our leaders keep it real, which led to increased participation and engagement from others.
Our panelists noted that the pandemic actually facilitated the evolution of business and technology into a hybrid, global, digital age! They emphasized the need to focus on delivering strategic outcomes, building collaborative networks, and providing exceptional customer and employee experiences.
The dynamic, far-reaching conversation also had a deeply human element. Innovation and leadership might have a team-wide and company-wide impact, but our panelists noted that focusing on one-on-one relationships is foundational to delivering these results and provided some inspiring examples of why and how to connect with others deeply.
As we ended our conversation, our panelists challenged us to 1) lean into each other as we navigate challenges and opportunities, 2) leverage scenario planning in collaboration with stakeholders to better strategize and plan, 3) incorporate technologies to manage and execute proactively, and 4) offer grace to yourself and others through challenging and uncertain times.
The overarching takeaway from this dynamic discussion was a challenge to reflect on how we can convert the challenges we face, even through a pandemic, into opportunities that benefit each of us! We hope that you are similarly inspired to undertake that challenge.