Twine CPO Letter: This crisis will be proving ground for CPOs
Note: This was originally written for our community of Chief People Officers @ Twine. We’ve decided to publish it more broadly here.
Key quote: “80% of companies will end up worse off given the COVID crisis. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see why […] But 20% of companies, through sheer ingenuity, resourcefulness, and hunger, will come out of this situation far stronger. It’ll take optimism and creativity to pull it off, but they’ll look at the challenges in front of them and see them as opportunities.”
Dear Twine Chief People Officer community:
It’s incredible how much the world has changed in the 30 days since we last spoke:
We’re witnessing a global pandemic, leaving entire nations scrambling.
In the work world, we’re seeing an unprecedented rate of change. Evolutions we were gradually embracing (teleconferencing & remote work) became the de facto paradigm overnight.
In the last month at Twine, I’ve had to personally make the hardest decisions of my life as a founder/CEO. I can only imagine what each and every one of you are going through. CPOs and CHROs have been thrown into the spotlight, right at the center of these seismic workplace shifts.
Our offer to help:
So first things first — if there’s anything we can do, just reach out. You’re welcome to email, call, or text (NOTE: my phone number is redacted from this public post, but feel free to message me for it).
Our Chief People Officer community, previously only open to customers, is now accessible for every CPO in the Twine network during this unprecedented time. We want to connect as many community members together as possible.
If you haven’t signed on already, feel free to request access to the Twine CPO Hub. We watched 100+ folks come onboard in the last week. Through our offline / online communities, we’ve been able to:
- Link up countless CPOs to exchange templates and advice for dealing with COVID-19
- Find new homes for recently laid-off employees
- Connect CPOs and other HR execs with new opportunities
We wanted to create a space for CPOs to anonymously share their strategies and benchmarks on approaching tough topics like RIFs, salary cuts, managing in a remote work world, and more. Here are some quick stats from the community — happy to share others if helpful:
We’ve also put together 120+ COVID-related discounts, benefits, and resources that hopefully make your life easier — whether it’s a free Audible subscription to keep your kids entertained, or complimentary Nike Training access, or lists of companies who are currently hiring. Thousands have since used, shared, and contributed.
Looking towards the future…
However grim the current situation, there can be a bright side to all of this.
Two bright sides, actually.
First, at a business level, what’s happening in the world and the market represents an unprecedented opportunity.
I was talking to a fellow (much more experienced) founder/CEO last week — one who’s been through multiple downturns, and built and IPOed companies in their wake.
We spoke about something that stuck with me: 80% of companies will end up worse off given the COVID crisis. It doesn’t take a lot of imagination to see why.
But 20% of companies, through sheer ingenuity, resourcefulness, and hunger, will come out of this situation far stronger. It’ll take optimism and creativity to pull it off, but they’ll look at the challenges in front of them and see them as opportunities.
Years later, they’ll look back and be amazed at how 2020 made them:
- Build the feature that became the product that helped dominate their market in 2022
- Evolve their go-to-market strategy to account for a remote-first world
- Develop the financial discipline that would serve their company for decades to come
And much more.
Here’s to wishing every single CPO on this list here — across the thousands and millions of others who are all experiencing this new world order together — fall into that 20%.
Second, at a personal level, CEOs and companies are coming to realize what I’ve believed for a long time: that an incredible people leader is the single most important partner to a CEO during these times.
The recent Economist article captured it beautifully:
When the financial crisis rocked the business world in 2007–09, boardrooms turned to corporate finance chiefs. A good CFO could save a company; a bad one might bury it. The covid-19 pandemic presents a different challenge — and highlights the role of [the CPO].
They must keep employees healthy; maintain their morale; oversee a vast remote-working experiment; and, as firms retrench, consider whether, when and how to lay workers off. Their in-trays are bulging.
I am confident that the companies that emerge stronger and more secure out of this crisis will be the ones driven by strong People teams who are adapting to the seismic shifts in their industries with empathy, compassion and data-driven people leadership.
Stay safe out there. As always, you can reach me by email or phone. Happy to share everything I’ve learned, and exchange new ideas.
Thank you for being a part of this journey. It means a lot.
Sincerely,
Joseph
Closing section: CPO feature of the month
One last fun thing — we’re bringing back the “Twine CPO of the month” feature!
We always love highlighting Heads of People who are doing incredible work. This month we’d like to highlight Dipti Salopek @ Snyk.
I met Dipti far before she joined Snyk, where I was blown away by her energy, her vision of where the people function was going, her intuitive grasp of Twine’s vision, her passion, and her insanely fast email response times (measured in minutes, if not seconds) :)
A lot of those positive attributes have manifested in the way she & her company have responded to the COVID-19 crisis. We wanted to highlight some of that great work here:
In this post, Dipti writes about adapting to a fully remote work environment. She elaborates on this in our friend Lars’ podcast here: Ep54 [Coronavirus Response Special coverage] Snyk VP People, Dipti Salopek
We’ve been similarly impressed with the way Snyk has responded as a company. They’re offering their product free of charge for six months to global organizations that are hit hardest by the pandemic (companies in the healthcare, hospitality, travel and entertainment industries). And they’ve open sourced their internal docs for public reference:
- Pandemic Response_public
- Employee Guide for Full Remote Working in Quarantine_public
- Manager Guide for Full Remote Working in Quarantine_public
Enjoy! And tune in next month — we’ll keep highlighting CPOs / HR execs doing great work. And please nominate anyone you think deserves the spotlight :)
