What I’ve Learned Thus Far about Myself and our Society from the Coronavirus

Allow me to paraphrase an old adage, ‘you see what people are made of when they face difficult and uncertain times’. I believe the same can be said for our social systems. I’d like to reflect upon three observations I’ve made over the past two to three weeks in what is the most uncertain time I’ve witnessed in my admittedly nascent ‘adulting’ life:

1. The dependency we all have on one another
2. The frailty of capitalism as a means of production for society and the role The State and The Firm play in it
3. The power of the individual when led by an empathetic and strong leader

The concept of “capitalism” has been on trial with the rise of Bernie Sanders and his campaign for presidency in 2016, however, has really taken hold as President Trump’s election has pushed the United States further to its left and right poles. With Senator Sanders garnering a great deal of support for his populist left rhetoric, the structural shortcomings and resulting inequality of the United States’ current Capitalist system has been in the spotlight. But as we all have observed first hand in attempts to buy groceries, in the fall of the stock market, and the impact of social distancing on small businesses and their employees — capitalism is much more than the negative connotations associated “Wall Street Bankers” or “Reaganomics”.

In its simplest form, Capitalism is the theory that supply of goods and services is best determined by the demand of the consuming population. Its alternatives, Socialism and Communism, are societal systems in which a governing entity owns those means of production and controls the supply. Citing the majority of economists and philosophers, capitalism is the preferred means of production given our three theoretical choices. Because Capitalism depends upon members of society to produce and provide the goods and services consumed by the other members of the society, we are all interdependent on one another to consume what we want and need.

While this sounds obvious, allow yourself to think deeper into the connection we all share to each other in this highly complex world of production and consumption. My ability to access the food that I need at my local grocery store depends upon a nearly unquantifiable number of human touchpoints (both mental and physical). With the silent machine that operates behind the veil of our daily (uninterrupted by Coronavirus) lives shutdown in efforts to slow the virus’ spread and save health system capacity, these silent touchpoints are being ‘heard’.

As society has had the luxury of grocery stores and other pillars of commerce temporarily paused, we’ve been forced to grapple with how much we depend upon one another for the things that we take for granted. Upon reflection of this, I pose the following questions: Could the complexity of our global supply chains and the “smallness” of our world be a source of purpose for our population? Why do the majority of us dread our jobs and the time that we spend at work? Why are millennials citing “social purpose” as a major driver for their career choice when there is plenty of “purpose” in almost all jobs?

Stealing from Sir Paul Collier in his latest book, The Future of Capitalism, he believes the answer to these questions is a lack of reciprocity built into our social institutions. Collier builds his argument around the three pillars that span our society; The State, The Firm, and The Family. He dissects the existing constructs of each and explains that a lack of reciprocal obligation embedded in the structural framework of each has resulted in an unethical world, and the secret to our desired Ethical World is through creating sustainable reciprocity between the three pillars.

I read Collier’s book this January and this idea of reciprocal obligations in our social interactions has stuck with me. As COVID-19 has disrupted the day-to-day routines for nearly the entire world, the interconnectedness of us all to one another is abundantly apparent. Consider all the touchpoints, both silent and not, in your life that have been interrupted since social distancing began. Think of all the touchpoints your job has on the world. There are obvious ones — your coworkers, customers, shareholders, etc. But there are an endless supply of less obvious and silent as well. For myself, it’s the coffee shop owner and her employees which I buy my Saturday morning coffee, it’s the electrician who still goes to work to provide my apartment electricity so I can work from home throughout the week, it’s my Uber driver to and from the airport during my weekly travels, the list goes on and on.

This exercise shows us we are a part of something bigger. Our jobs provide benefit to the individuals of our society beyond the first layer that we see and consider while going about our normal lives. There is a greater purpose and unenforced obligation we share with one another. To reinforce this, I’ll share one more story I’ve witnessed unfold this past week.

I work in healthcare consulting and my clients are large hospital systems throughout the United States. Right now, I have the privilege to be assisting a client in transforming the way they buy and distribute supplies throughout their hospitals so their clinicians can provide the needed healthcare services to their patient population. As most have read in the news, this is the exact work in the spotlight right now. Without going into specifics which I’m not allowed to discuss, I’ll suffice to say I’ve witnessed how strong, competent, and empathetic leaders can unite their bases in times of crises, and furthermore, how integral workers at all levels of the organization are to the execution of providing care to patients. Executing the buying and distribution of materials becomes a part of more than just the act.

In reflection on Collier’s message and the real-life events over the last two weeks, I wonder what lessons our society will adopt post-COVID 19. Will we realize that shared sense of mutual obligation is a powerful thing that can give individuals a sense of purpose and connectedness while also contributing to the greater welfare and progress? Will our Firms and State recognize their place and in society to accentuate this line of thinking? Only time will tell. As I’ve seen at my client and more broadly, what we tend to think of as menial jobs that lack conventional purpose serve a sub-surface level purpose that is not always as evident as we see it now. It would be a loss not to carry this forward when this crisis is over.

As I’ve seen first-hand at grocery stores and on various news outlets, our Capitalistic economy depends upon everyone one of us participating in it. Pondering on the uniqueness of the time, I see an opening to reshape the perspective give to our normal routine activities, and more broadly, I see an opportunity for strong leadership at our society’s firms, public, and religious institutions to rethink how they can reinforce the message of this interconnected web of dependencies we have with one another. Social constructs metaphorically spin our world each day, and with them paused over the last two weeks and for the foreseeable future, it gives time to think about what those constructs could look like once they resume.

The events of COVID-19 have already taught me many things, and I’m sure I will learn more as the events continue to unfold. Its taught me a sobering lesson that we are all a piece to a large and complex puzzle and when our day-to-day routines and interactions go uninterrupted we do not reflect on this fact. This is a time when we can reflect on this and reshape our perspective on the purpose and impact we have on this silent system that we now see. COVID-19 is showing the frailty of our current system and its stress points are exposed.

There is another leadership adage, ‘never waste a crisis to change something’. I don’t mean to diminish the havoc that COVID-19 (the virus and the ensuing panic) is having on families and communities, nor the hard work and uncharted territories we have upcoming the weeks and months to come, but rather a positive lens with which to look at such an extra-ordinary time. When the day comes, and it will come, that COVID-19 is a “remember the time when…” memory, will our Firms remember the linchpin role they have in providing society the capital and goods we need, will the State remember the frailty of its most vulnerable institutions and populations, and will we as individuals remember how dependent we are on one another? I truly hope so, because “those who don’t learn from history are doomed to repeat it”.