Lessons From a Virus, 2 Years Later

For some reason, the 2022 Super Bowl was a litmus test. If Covid-19 surged again, we were still in it. But it seems like numbers are holding steady and maybe even declining. Most of the leaders I work with are taking a collective deep breath. They’re also doing retros to see what sense can be made from the insanity of the last couple of years.

Covid-19 has been a phenomenal teacher. Some of the lessons came directly from the virus, and some came from our collective reactions to it. We were forced into what can be a spectacular evolution in how we lead and how we live. Let’s review what this teacher has brought to light:

Lesson #1. We are connected, and if one is affected, all are affected.

This one seems pretty obvious. Covid-19 infected and/or killed millions of people in hundreds of countries worldwide. Its origins in animals and its global migration clearly demonstrated the inextricable link we have to all life. The only way we protected others is and was by everybody doing everything possible to avoid contracting and spreading the virus.

Traditional leadership favors hierarchy and a fairly narrow definition of a team’s success. But success is not predicated on title and salary. It’s predicated on well-functioning systems. And each individual in that system is essential to its success. If one person is…