i3 - July/August 2020 - 2

From the CEO

African-Americans, in our
national success. True
leaders rise in a crisis.

The
Pandemic's
Lessons on
Resiliency

5

1

For Supply Chains:
The most efficient, least
expensive, just-in-time delivery can devastate a line of
business if just one supplier
doesn't deliver. Companies
which benefitted from efficiency and higher margins in
good times suffered without
product and their retailers
turned to no-name competitors to fill demand.

2

For Distribution:
Many businesses wall off
their consumer and business
or professional lines. Yet,
2020's story is about growth
and opportunity in everything
home-related and a corresponding drop in business
and professional demand. We
saw it for printers, laptops,
speakers, microphones, displays and cameras. But other

2

JULY/AUGUST 2020

i3_0720_02_FOB_CeoLetter.indd 2

industries faced this challenge
as the consumer market grew
and other channels shrunk.
Milk, vegetable and chicken
producers dumped product.
With retail shortages, consumers scoring toilet paper celebrated, but institutional
producers could not shift to
the home market.

It is not the
strongest
of the
species that
survives,
nor the most
intelligent
that
survives.
It is the one
that is most
adaptable to
change.

3

For Work and Health:
In a few weeks, we moved
10 years in shifting how we
work and get heath care.
Telework and tele-medicine
are the new normal and
reflect technology-enabled
resilience, new opportunities
and enable a better, greener
world with evolving lifestyle
and societal changes.

4

For Leaders: In midMarch, executives faced
a new reality - a falling
economy, restricted travel,
home-bound employees and
changing customer needs.
Priorities had to change.
The late May Black Lives
Matter (BLM) movement
required another pivot. We
must commit to include all
groups, especially

Gary Shapiro,
President and CEO

Kathryn Schipper/Getty Images

The pandemic, sandwiched
between tariffs and China's
shutdown, and the recent protests, has changed us. It has
kept us home, stopped sports,
destroyed jobs and hurt
businesses.
But it has also taught us
that resilience matters.

As Humans: Since our
origin, we have been bred
for resilience. Our forefathers
and foremothers had to survive harsh conditions just to
bear and raise children. This
horrible pandemic is mild
compared to what other generations have faced with wars,
infection, disease, starvation,
thirst, weather and human
cruelty including slavery.
Resilience is about attitude
and adaptability. My 2020
mantra has been the Charles
Darwin summary that, "It is
not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the
most intelligent that survives.
It is the one that is most
adaptable to change."
In my 2019 book Ninja
Future I have a chapter on
resilience and refer to
Nassim Nicholas Taleb's fascinating book Antifragile
which declares resilience
against adverse events is not
enough. Rather you must
become the opposite of fragile as you face adversity.
This pandemic is horrible.
But it is making us better, as
people, as leaders and as users
of technology. We will be
stronger, more resilient and we
will survive and adapt more
easily to future challenges.

I T I S I N N O VAT I O N

7/10/20 3:18 PM
i3 - July/August 2020

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of i3 - July/August 2020
