Do Something That Scares You

Ten years ago this week, I embarked on what would become a more than 2 year professional and personal journey unlike any other in my life to date.

I think of my time on my international assignment often, and about the people, work, environments, interactions, and adventures that made it an incredibly fulfilling and insightful learning experience. Not to mention the food, which I’ve certainly shared plenty of times before.

I didn’t know what to expect when I signed the contract to transfer to Tokyo, Japan, for work, but I did know that I was a full combination of excited, terrified, and optimistic about what the experience would be like. I also didn’t know how long I would be there, nor did I expect that at the end of two years I would be heartbroken to leave and return to the U.S.

As I reflect on the entire experience a decade later, I am able to see and appreciate much more than I knew at the time. For example, I vividly remember the thrill of signing the international assignment contract, borrowing our then-CEO Brent Saunders’ desk for the occasion. What made for a good photo op at the time later became a happy memory of Bausch & Lomb and its great leadership team before it went through the transaction with Valeant Pharmaceuticals, which ultimately changed the company forever.

Signing the international assignment contract
Signing my international assignment contract on September 29, 2011 in the Bausch & Lomb building in downtown Rochester, NY

I remember the sharpness of the words in the contract indicating that I would be on a one-way flight from Rochester to Tokyo, and that my return would be “discussed and arranged at a later date”. The gravity of that statement did not really hit me until about 3 months later when I was actually on that one-way flight and realizing in the moment that it is a surreal experience to be on a trip with no known plan to return home.

Which all brings me to the theme — do something that scares you.

After sliding the signed contract back into the envelope and submitting it to the senior management team who made it all possible (a tremendous thank you to Pete Valenti, Susan Denman, Hideyuki Ashikaga, and Steven Robins), my mind started racing with some of the basic questions: where would I live? how would I adapt to the [vastly different] work culture? how can I learn the business to be most effective in my role? do I need to start learning Japanese? what about my personal things in Rochester?

From that fear came a new sense of purpose, one that would keep me motivated to make the most of the experience.

And that is the moment when the excitement shifted to what I might describe as straight-up fear that I had made a very wrong decision. But from that fear came a new sense of purpose, one that would keep me motivated to make the most of the experience. I thought to myself, “millions of people have relocated like this before, whether for work or for personal reasons, and they all turned out OK. Why should my experience be any less successful?”

Professor Andy Molinsky wrote about the topic a few years ago in a short piece in Harvard Business Review entitled “If You’re Not Outside Your Comfort Zone, You Won’t Learn Anything“. While his commentary is about public speaking, networking, and communication, the underlying premise of how we challenge ourselves to learn, grow, and adapt is very relatable.

Fast forward to the end of 2011 just prior to my departure for Japan, and my cognitive cocktail of optimism/fear/excitement/curiosity/energy mixed with only a few weeks of Japanese language and culture lessons was just the fuel I needed to pack up my things, step on the plane, and start achieving some immeasurable professional and personal growth.

If I could, I would do it all over again, and I hope you take the chance if offered, too.

Societal Shifts Due to COVID-19

At this moment, most of the world is under threat from COVID-19, the disease caused by novel coronavirus / SARS-CoV-2, which is dramatically altering social behavior in ways that we may not fully appreciate. Several countries have initiated physical distancing protocols (“social distancing” is a potentially dangerous phrase psychologically, but more on that later), which have slowed or completely stopped most economic and society activities. It’s this last point that could mark a major shift in how we operate as a global economy, and in particular how the U.S. emerges as a very different player in that economy.

After observing a near-complete shutdown in major U.S. cities such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, I am starting to see four emerging trends in what our world will look like when COVID-19 moves into the rear view:

  • Changes in how we think about cleanliness
  • Rise of contactless payments
  • Continued surge of video conferencing
  • Slow demise of dine-in restaurants

I know there will be many other changes, especially in how we think of healthcare delivery and management, and I invite those thoughts and comments below as they may spark future posts. But let’s start discussing these four, in order.

1. Changes in how we think about cleanliness

There is no way to sugar coat the fact that we’re all washing our hands incredibly incorrectly. From overall duration, to worrying too much about type of soap, to not even washing at all in certain situations, each of these poor hygiene habits is being pressure tested with the rapid spread of coronavirus. 

In the first 2 weeks of COVID-19 in the U.S., back when the reported case number was only two digits nationwide, I recall seeing the hand soap, household cleaner, bleach, and portable cleaning wipes sections of the stores completely decimated. (I wonder what everyone was using to clean themselves and their homes before coronavirus?) It was a signal that the paranoia about cleaning everything was just beginning to set in.

I do hope the hand washing guidance becomes ingrained in memory, as that’s just good practice always. And while I believe bleaching your home frequently is overkill in most situations, it makes sense to keep commonly-touched items such as doorknobs clean. Therefore, this first category is a fairly easy prediction to make.

2. Rise of contactless payments

With increased cleanliness in retail locations – Target is one great example – there is a sense of hesitation during the checkout process when the consumer hands the cashier a credit card, a stack of currency, or any other form of payment. That payment is handled a few times over during the transaction, and with what we know from the New England Journal of Medicine about viral resiliency on surfaces, even if you put it in a cash drawer or your wallet, the virus stays alive.

This could be the watershed moment for contactless payments that economists and bankers have been hoping for years. By simply waving your phone, Apple Watch, or similar device, you can pay for all your items without needing to touch a contaminated surface or potentially receive a contaminated piece of currency.

3. Continued surge of video conferencing

Zoom recently went public, attempting to unseat the dominant players in video conferencing: WebEx, GoToMeeting, and Skype. And so far, that seemed to be happening even before COVID-19. But what is amazing from a market perspective, Zoom’s stock continues to rocket higher even as the broader market is down significantly. Not a single data point has been formally released as of the time of this post, but investor conjecture says that employees being forced to work from home are flocking to Zoom, WebEx, GoToMeeting, and other video conferencing software packages to keep in touch.

Like most economic shocks, this is easily one that could abate once everyone returns to their in-office workdays and doesn’t need to rely on video conferencing as much. But there are two macroeconomic trends afoot here: 1. Remote work may become more commonplace as companies quickly learn that their employees’ work can get done even if they’re working remotely (thereby improving employee satisfaction and saving precious fixed costs like office space), and 2. The global travel industry is undergoing a near-universal shutdown at the moment, and video is stepping up as a viable replacement to some in-person meetings. (It pains me to write this, as I’m one of the people who far and away prefers an in-person meeting vs. a video call, but the data about employee adoption of video calls don’t lie.)

4. Slow demise of dine-in restaurants

While many industries are being rattled as a result of COVID-19, the restaurant industry was among the first to feel the impact (along with event management and travel), as shown through the precautionary closings before country and state mandates which were swiftly followed by orders to close anyway. It is heartbreaking to see family and friends without jobs, especially when there is so much uncertainty as to when the industry will return to “normal”.

What makes the situation even more interesting is the fact that some restaurants are still open and catering to take-out and delivery orders, with many of those orders being served by the gig economy of DoorDash, GrubHub, and a variety of other 2-word mashups. Some restaurants need to follow distancing and crowd management protocols, and delivery services satisfy both those requirements. Much like contactless payments, these delivery services have catered to a subset of the mainstream consumer, but never really had their moment to shine. Now they are the only option for obtaining food conveniently, and the restaurants who have embraced those services will continue to generate cash flow to fuel their full reopening.

The interesting hypothesis that arises, though, is whether consumers will start to prefer getting the same food and enjoying it at home, generally at a lower cost (less gratuity, less spent on drinks, etc.)? Restaurants are a mainstay of our global social fabric, so I don’t see this changing rapidly, but with each generation comes a new way of thinking of the world, and COVID-19 may be the catalyst to change how restaurants operate.

Until the next post, I hope you and your loved ones stay safe and healthy, and be sure to wash your hands!

Daryl Donatelli

This Is Just The Beginning…

Conversations while I am on an airplane typically go one of three ways:

  1. Exchange some pleasantries, discuss a mundane topic, and then politely go back to my own business
  2. Talk for two minutes and then realize I’d rather gouge my eyeballs out with the passenger safety card than continue talking
  3. Engage in a few deeper discussions that often reveal some interesting insights or perspectives on the world and make me a more enlightened person

To be certain, options 1 and 2 represent approximately 90% of the conversations I have on planes – if I ever do begin conversing in the first place. But sometimes, option 3 appears and it is like a wave of positive emotion that washes over the entire flying experience.

While on a lengthy overseas flight this past weekend, I was seated next to a 69-year old gentleman who was returning from a vacation with his bride of 50 years. They were split up between rows (hey, take the first class upgrades however you can get them!) so it was just the two of us in our row. Shortly after we sat down, it was obvious that she was his caretaker, and I’d have to pitch in some of those duties (moving things around, getting out the tray table, etc.). I really didn’t mind at all.

Somewhere in the middle of the flight, he wanted to relax a bit and watch a movie, so asked for some help. He was navigating the touch screen menus with relative ease, despite the language barrier getting in the way. He then paused, looked right at me, and said “this is just the beginning.” Interested to know more, I asked what he meant by that. He said, “technology has evolved so much during my lifetime, but this is really just the beginning. There is so much future innovation that is yet to happen.”

EHANG184 at CES 2016In January I had the privilege of visiting the Consumer Electronics Show, “CES” to those inner circle-types, and couldn’t have been more amazed by what I saw. The show displayed everything from connected homes and appliances to wearable health technology to cars that apply intelligence to your day to all sorts of flying objects like the EHANG184 Autonomous Aerial Vehicle pictured to the right. If you’re not familiar with the show, it is 2.5 million square feet (232,000 square meters) of hands-on immersion experiences, keynote speeches, and discussion panels across many subsections of technology. Visitors get an exclusive look at what is on the market today, and a glimpse of what is coming a few years down the road. There is more on display than can possibly be viewed during the show hours.

The gentleman next to me on the flight was absolutely correct.

Daryl Donatelli

Blockbuster SCOTUS Week

Only a handful of times have the actions of the Highest Court in the United States created such anticipation about heavy, contentious rulings within a few days of each other. This week was one such occasion, including a key ruling about the Affordable Care Act and capped with a rare Friday ruling on same-sex marriage.

Looking beyond the headlines, these rulings are intertwined with the heat of ongoing debates among Americans about weighty topics. The Supreme Court itself is inscribed with ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ across the transom, though that has been called into question time and time again. Whether a group of nine people can truly represent the opinions of 330 million-plus is an ongoing debate within itself!

However, today was, I believe, a true step forward in the court playing the role it should: Ensuring all Americans have equal treatment and the same rights and privileges as their neighbors. Even the partisan Constitutional theorists can align on that as a guiding principle.

I was struck most by the Supreme Court’s incredibly salient grasp of its role while reading the final paragraph of Justice Anthony Kennedy’s [incredibly well-written] opinion for the majority:

Justice Anthony Kennedy 2015-06-26

Regardless of your opinions on the topic of same-sex marriage, the majority eloquently stated that nobody should have the power to deny you the right of choice. I found Justice Kennedy’s statement incredibly moving.

What’s equally interesting is how, on a macro scale, the opinions about same-sex marriage have changed rapidly across the country. Even statistics guru Nate Silver is intrigued by how quickly public opinion on gay marriage has shifted. It’s worth a read because this trend is likely to continue as the issues and catalysts that force those issues onto the national stage continue to evolve.

Daryl DuLong