Question

Business leaders live by the calendar, attaching forecasts, projects and goals to a specific date or period of time. No one knows how the crisis will play out or even when state-issued mandates to stay at home will lift. For CEOs, it is like stumbling around in the dark. When Bahram Akradi, founder of the Life Time health-club chain, closed more than 150 clubs in 30 states, he recorded a video message to employees. He said Life Time could weather a two-week shutdown without breaking much of a sweat. After that, he’d have to get creative. It is a classic case of decision-making under uncertainty!

• Q1 - Why does the coronavirus pose such a challenge for top managers and decision-makers in corporations?
• Q2 - What makes this particular crisis different from other types of crises?
• Q3 - Why are CEOs not so well-adapted to this kind of situation?
• Q4 - Why do their habits and training not prepare them for the kind of decision-making needed in the week of the current crisis?

Answer 1

Q1. Coronavirus poses such a challenge for the top management and decisionmakers in corporations because it reduced the face to face interaction between people. The disease has caused enormous loss to business and economy and has affected the infrastructure of several businesses. It has also caused lockdown like scenarios in several countries that have negatively affected the several business and managers have no clue on how to handle such conditions.

Q2. This particular crisis is different from other types of crisis because in this crisis lockdown has affected business and it has brought trade and commerce to a standstill. It is important to mention that people coming in contact with an infected person is causing death to many people.

Q3. CEOs are not so well adapted to this kind of situation because it has not only just affected a single entity but it has impacted the entire human civilization with so many uncontrollable factors.

Q4. Even in training, the individual receives training to control certain parameters and factors. However, the current scenario poses a big challenge with so many factors that are beyond control. This poses a serious challenge in the process decision making which is unable to cope with multiple factors and parameters.

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