EXAMPLE PAGE - SCHOOL BROCHURE - SMITH BUSINESS - Flipbook - Página 18
LEADING IN A
TIME OF CRISIS
BY CARRIE HANDWERKER
It’s challenging to steer an organization through a crisis.
And when several crises converge at once the challenge is
even greater.
2020 has been a year, marked by unprecedented turmoil.
Business leaders have grappled with a deadly pandemic, a sharp
economic contraction, a dismantling of business norms, and a
social reckoning stirred by the police killing of George Floyd.
In just the first six months of the year, organizations were
forced to figure out how to keep their employees and customers
safe while continuing to operate and stay afloat. Millions of
workers coped with new anxieties and tried to focus on doing
their jobs remotely, often while juggling home-schooling and
other family responsibilities. Our routines were out; social
distancing and face masks were in.
Then came Floyd’s horrific slaying, and a flurry of protests and
activism that have spurred organizations to reckon with their
own internal inequities.
2020 was only halfway over; already it was a lot. Leaders were
steering through it.
Maryland Smith professors and alumni share their stories of
what it takes to hold the helm in uncertain seas.
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SMITH BUSINESS
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fall 2020
rhsmith.umd.edu
rhsmith-editor@umd.edu
fall 2020
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SMITH BUSINESS
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