Hello!
The coronavirus has affected everything, from how we work and take care of one another, to how we shop, pay, and entertain ourselves.
To understand how the pandemic is transforming business, we recently asked 200 CEOs from a variety of industries in the US and beyond a three-part question:
How will the way you operate change because of the coronavirus? How will your industry change? And how will the world change?
You can read responses from the CEOs of companies like Walmart, AB InBev, Duke Energy, ViacomCBS, Sanofi, Zoom, PayPal, and more.
WHAT'S NEXT: 200 CEOs look into the future of business
I want to highlight three themes that appeared in many of the answer we received.
The future of work
Chief executives say the pandemic has pointed the way toward a near future of flexible work, a more relaxed work-life balance, and more inclusive cultures, Allana Akhtar reported.
"It's difficult to draw many positives from a crisis that has had such a significant human cost and that has created such dire economic circumstances for so many families," Lee Olesky, CEO of the financial-services company Tradeweb, told Business Insider. "I hope we'll use it as an opportunity to ask some tough questions: Do we need to adjust the work-life balance? How can we make sure the most vulnerable are better protected? Are we really getting healthcare right?"
From her story:
Aaron Levie, CEO of the cloud-content-management company Box, said the company would "absolutely" shift to a more "dynamic, real-time" work style, defined by working from home and flexible work hours. Todd McKinnon, the CEO of the software company Okta, said the future of work would likely enable employees to work anywhere without sacrificing benefits like healthcare and volunteer opportunities.
You can read the full story here:
Your job is never going to be the same again
The changing shape of the office
Alex Nicoll reported that because remote work will become more common than ever, fewer people will head to the office.
"We used to joke about meetings that could have been emails, but now we'll wonder why we can't just do them in our pajamas with our pets on video conference," Nancy Dubuc, Vice Media Group CEO, told Business Insider. "There's a balance of course because some work is actually more productive and better done in person, but it will never need to be 5 days a week, all day every day again."
As Alex reports, when companies begin to shift their business models to accommodate remote work, the office will change. They may cut back on individual workspaces and increase investment in collaborative spaces, turning the office into a cultural and training hub.
"This (more remote work) means adapting some of the office structure to help this way of working succeed, with even more video facilities and more flexible group spaces for brainstorming sessions," Luke Ellis, CEO of investment manager Man Group, told Business Insider.
You can read the full story here:
The office as we knew it is dead
The end of business travel
Madeline Stone reported that many executives are reevaluating business travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
"I think we're seeing that you can do a lot [via] video conferencing, and that's going to have a big impact on how often people travel for work," Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky told Business Insider. "Business travel isn't going to go away, but I think it's going to look very different in the future."
From her story:
"It may be the case that we can do less travel, but we can get more done, that we're more thoughtful about what the live meetings need to be," said Doug Ingram, CEO of Sarepta Therapeutics, a medical research company based in Massachusetts.
You can read the full story here:
Business trips could become a thing of the past as the pandemic pushes CEOs to ask themselves what warrants a flight and what could've been a Zoom call
I'd love to hear from you. Do you agree? How will the way you operate change because of the coronavirus? How will your industry change? Let me know.
Below are headlines on some of the stories you might have missed from the past week. Stay safe, everyone.
-- Matt
Power brokers of distressed credit: Meet 11 Wall Street stars trading busted bonds, bankruptcy claims, and other fire-sale securities
The finances of America's universities have long been a time bomb — and if schools can't prove the real worth of their hefty price tags, they might just implode
Google employees say the company culture that made it famous has almost entirely vanished, as it continues to be less transparent and more 'corporate'
Amazon has an elite group of execs who are guiding the company through the coronavirus chaos. Here are the 23 members of Jeff Bezos' 'S-team.'
Leaked email reveals that Glossier has continued to pay its retail employees through the shutdown, but hints at threat of layoffs at the end of May
Top PR firm Weber Shandwick started furloughs and layoffs as clients like Royal Caribbean and AB InBev cut spending — read the CEO's internal memo
After failed acquisition attempts, deep layoffs and executive pay cuts, newsletter company TheSkimm hangs in the balance
Leaked memo shows United is trying to convince some workers to quit ahead of layoffs, and it's offering up to 5 years of free flights as an incentive
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