As companies look forward, the first thing they need to do is look internally. In the aftermath of the pandemic, there will be significant lessons to be learned regarding the costs of overhead. The reluctance of many CEOs to allow their employees to work remotely, is currently being challenged.

The necessity of meetings, oversight and micromanagement have clearly become a thing of the past period. We are learning very quickly that people can be trusted to work remotely.

Additionally, CEOs should take a lesson from the massive changes to society that have been caused by Pandemic itself. when a CEO looks at his or her company, it is clear that the future will be very different. One of the reasons Amazon has survived is its great horizontal vision. When Bezos set out the form Amazon, he spread his net wide. He began as an online retailer of books -and ending up as the greatest retailer on the planet selling a myriad of goods.

A vision that wide is one that will last beyond the lives of the CEO, his employees and his team. It is my perspective that any company that wishes to be bigger should keep its vision big. That vision should be a unifying vision. It should be one that binds together each and every one of its customers employees and partners moving in a single direction toward success.

Amazon is clearly surviving through this pandemic due to the size of its vision, there are places in new normal for vertical goals as well. For instance, Zoom is becoming a household word whereas a few weeks ago, it was unknown to most people. The goal of zoom communications is “We strive to live up to the trust our customers place in us by delivering a communications solution that “just works.” Our goal is to make Zoom meetings better than in-person meetings.”

It is clear in this pandemic that single vertical upward goal of being the best with one product, is allowing zoom to emerge as a winner through this pandemic. The number of people that have tried zoom and found it useful, will clearly recognize that zoom allows for meetings that are more efficient and more time conscious than “in person meetings.” Zoom is a current example, but a vertical goal of best with a single product surviving its founder? That would be Apple.

Additionally, consider small businesses such as restaurants. Many local restaurants did not offer to go orders, but they do now. They are finding out that they can provide food for takeout with less staffing and less employees. Best Buy and Home Depot among others have opted to use curbside pickup. Many people have opted not to go into these large stores, but to order online and pick up.
These changes should be giving the CEO pause to reflect on his or her own business operations and determine how service in the future will look. It will be convenient. It will be efficient. It will change the staffing model and the overhead model for a long time to come.

So, it is not just the horizontal goals of Amazon to spread wide and cover many areas, this pandemic will foster companies that seek to be the best in one linear upward goal.

The time to act is now. Many companies are panicking about what to do next and what they should be looking toward in the future. The answer is within.

How big do you want your company to be tomorrow will determine your ability to survive this pandemic? What will be your Unifying Vision?