I recently spoke to the Association of Corporate Counsels on the topic of how to develop and advance an environmental, social and governance (ESG) program. ESG is one of the hottest topics for lawyers and C-suite leaders right now, with investors and employees pushing organizations to become better corporate citizens in the broadest possible sense. 

From the moment we take our first test at school, we’re told by parents and teachers that we should go with the first response that comes to us. Our gut tells us the right answer, according to popular wisdom, and changing our mind is counter-productive.

There’s nothing like a global pandemic to accelerate change in the workplace. COVID-19 forced companies and other organizations to quickly put infrastructure in place for working from anywhere (WFA). While many of these organizations have been pleasantly surprised that technology has made WFA easier than they thought, there remains little consensus around what should happen next with returning employees to the workplace. 

How we interact with others has changed dramatically since the onset of Covid-19. Holiday gatherings are occurring on Zoom, weddings and graduations are limited to immediate family only, and texting has replaced dinners out with our best friends. On the work front, for most employees, there are no in-person team meetings, town halls or catch ups in the hallways. Days are now filled with virtual sessions facilitated by Zoom, Microsoft Teams and WebEx and collaboration tools like Slack, InVision, GitHub and others. Instead of being stuck in conference rooms, we’re glued to the computer.

Tough though the pandemic's social isolation has been, it has provided an opportunity to catch up on some of the TV that has eluded me over the last couple of years of entrepreneurialism and fast-paced strategy and communications. 

At this time of year, we’re bombarded with news of friends who have decided they’ll be running a 5K by February or are going to start a weekly podcast about crafting. Resolutions generally come to a sorry end shortly after the metaphorical ink has dried. For businesses though, it’s time to think of revolutions not resolutions as you enter a critical year for the organization. Here’s a few things to consider ahead of the return to work:

Someway, somehow the Human SARS coronavirus (aka Covid-19) will eventually take its place on the ash heap of history. Maybe it will be through modified behaviors, a scientific miracle, or some astonishing intervention by Nature, but we will prevail – and we will all have changed as a result. As we mend grieving lives, as society returns to more normal rhythms, and as we get back to work to restore a devastated global economy, how leaders lead and how they communicate will need to change as well.

Former Tennessee Valley Authority and NCR communications leader joins leading strategy and communications practice.

Boldsquare, one of the Southeast’s leading strategy and communications practices, announced today that Janet Brewer has joined its senior team to further enhance its service offering to CEOs and C-suite leaders across the world.

I’ve worked in many different sectors through the course of my career, but none of them has given me a greater ability to navigate crisis and complex issues than my time in the music industry. The many years I spent working at the intersection of business and popular music were better than any degree I could have studied for, and provided me with knowledge and real-life experience that I still use every single day in my professional life.

One of the most powerful ways to connect is through listening. It’s a lesson I learned from my parents who ran a bakery where the customer was king. “Listen to what they like by what they actually buy,” Mom used to say as customers admired the delicate pastries but went for the chocolate chip cookies. Smart businesswoman, my Mom.