I recently viewed a presentation by Taddy Hall, senior innovation partner at Lippincott, entitled “Never Waste a Crisis.” The premise being that all types of crisis create new opportunities. In fact research shows that regardless of the type of crisis, how business responds is very predictable. Leaders accelerate and laggards lag further still. He talked about what needs to accelerate in business today in light of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis. He focused on how brands and companies have to change their approach to what people are seeking because what people are seeking is changing.
One of the core notions of Hall's talk, was that data shows that people and business are shifting from products and their features and attributes to a focus on the job to be done that enables progress in their lives. This is not new. People have always sought products that would advance what they deem as progress in their lives. What’s different is that COVID-19 is changing how people define advancing their lives or “progress” in their lives.
The current pandemic crisis is forcing adoption of new ways of being while at the same time people are willingly adapting to some of these changes and elevating what we prioritize.
Regarding the forced adoption of new ways of living and working, examples include, working from home while taking care of your children at the same time or having pets cross your screen in the middle of a Zoom meeting. That’s not something most people want to have to do or deal with while at work, but the pandemic has forced this situation to be a reality for many.
At the same time, people are willingly adapting to certain aspects of their new normal. For example, working from home has taken away a long commute for many people and that’s a welcome adaptation to their lives. Another example is having to adapt to being closer to family more often which is something most of us do willingly. It’s a welcome change, not a forced condition we have to put up with at this time.
And throughout this time, people are elevating new priorities in their lives. People are reflecting more on what matters most to them. For example, people are happy they are spending more time with family or learning a new musical instrument and hope to continue to do these things even after the pandemic passes.
In light of these changes, what constitutes progress in people’s lives is changing from what it may have been before the pandemic. How well can we identify the job to be done for our customers and clients that takes into account what has been forced upon them, what they are willingly adopting and what values have been re-prioritized? The answer to these questions redefines the job to be done.
I see the notion of “The job to be done” as existing at a macro and micro level. At a macro level, what is the job to be done by business today? Before the pandemic, the job to be done was to make a profit and add value to shareholders. In recent years, the Conscious Capitalism movement has been expanding the job to be done by business to include all stakeholders, not just shareholders. The job to be done in the mind of the conscious capitalist is to make a profit and return value to employees, partners, the community and society-at-large.
Now we find ourselves in the midst of the greatest change and challenge the world has experienced in over one hundred years. Has the job to be done by business changed? I think so. I think it’s changing at this very moment. In fact, there are likely several jobs to be done by business today including supporting health, safety, and frontline responders. But I believe that in light of the current pandemic crisis, and long after there is one job to be done by business that sits equal to and perhaps above all others.
The new job to be done by business is to make a profit in a more humane way, accepting, respecting, empathizing and supporting all stakeholders where they are and as they are.
From the need for compassion for workers who have lost their jobs, to empathetic leadership for employees dealing with the challenges of working from home, to a renewed sense of value and meaning in life outside of work, the pandemic is changing how we see ourselves, what we value, how we define progress and what we want our future to hold. This in turn raises the question, how can business serve the job to be done in people’s lives that delivers them closer to the new life they want? This question is as appropriate for businesses who serve consumers as it is for businesses that serve other businesses.
How can business understand the stories people are explicitly sharing more often about what they are wanting to do with their lives. We don’t just need something. We need something as a means to advance our lives. And as I stated previously, this has always been true. However, what it means to advance our lives is changing dramatically in light of COVID-19. That new meaning is what defines a new job to be done.
The former job to be done of making a profit at any cost while returning value to shareholders is no longer sustainable in light of the challenges our world faces, of which COVID-19 is only one. Climate change, population growth, migration, and a growing gap between the haves and have nots aren’t going away either.
All of these issues and more, make the traditional focus on profit and shareholder value unsustainable for the long-term. And COVID-19 has accelerated a reprioritization of values, with a shift from “What’s in it for me?”, to “We are in this together.” This shift is driving a need for more understanding, compassion, and empathy at work while opening the door for us to learn how to deepen our understanding and ability to work together to achieve new levels of productivity.
A more humane approach to business and a deepening of collaboration skills to drive more productivity make for a very exciting and optimistic outlook. Of course, there are no guarantees as to how the future will turn out, but if this COVID-19 pandemic crisis opens an opportunity for business to redefine the job to be done as something more humane, with an opportunity to drive productivity through deeper more meaningful collaboration and not just technology, I’m all for it. Count me in.
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