Ep. 97: Eli Amdur - Explaining What Today's Business Environment Means for Your Personal Development

Contact Eli Amdur:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/eliamdur/
Email Eli Amdur: eli.amdur@amdurcoaching.com


Eli Amdur Website and Contact info:
http://eliamdur.com/
Eli's Blog: http://eliamdur.com/index.php/blog/


FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTAdam: (00:05)
 Welcome back for episode 97 of Count Me iIn, IMA's podcast
about all things affecting the accounting and finance world. I'm
your host, Adam Larson, and I'm happy to bring you our latest
episode on the work environment and personal development, Eli
Amdur, Career and Executive coach, Journalist, and Keynote
Speaker, joined my cohost Mitch to talk about recent business
decisions, what they've meant to those in the workforce and what
individuals can do to best prepare themselves for the future. I'm
sure you will enjoy this conversation. So let's go listen.

Mitch: (00:34)
What is your perspective on the current business environment and
how would you rate businesses in their response to the COVID-19
pandemic?

Eli: (00:51)
Mitch, good question. First, let me say, thanks for inviting me
here. I'm happy to be with you and your membership. Current
business environment, for sure, it's unlike any we've ever
experienced. It's, it's being, it's being influenced by as many
serious, conditions as has ever existed together at one time in
an  economic meltdown, massive job losses, COVID-19 social
and racial and gender unrest. We're doing, we're experiencing as
much as we've ever experienced before. What I'm afraid of is knee
jerk reactions on the parts of employers, entire industries, even
government agencies, but it's, it's natural, but it's something
that I think is way overboard. For instance, the thing about
working remote. Well, we didn't have a choice on that. We
understand that. And having technology that permits us to do it
is a pretty awesome thing, but companies already having said that
we're going to work remote until 2022. They're getting out of
lease deals, they're selling office space. I think they're making
decisions that one day soon, they're going to be kind of sorry,
they've made as, as suddenly, and as, I should say thoughtlessly
as they have made them. I don't think enough thought has gone
into it.

Mitch: (02:37)
Well, what are the potential outcomes of these decisions? You
know, it's something you're afraid of. It. It might be a little
thoughtlessness, but you know, as far as businesses and their
sustainability longevity, why might these decisions may not be
the best ones for the business?

Eli: (02:52)
That's a, that's a great question, and I think it's because we're
reacting to things we can see immediately. We're not holding off
on our decisions. You know, I'm very fond of saying, and I've
said this for many years, going way, way back to like corporate
leadership roles. That if we thought about the consequences of
our decisions before we made them, we would make better
decisions. So yeah, COVID hits and we got to get everybody out of
each other's ways. Otherwise the transmission of the disease will
be increasing, which it is now anyway, as you know, but the
things we can't see are things that have now become a little
clearer to a lot of people, both workers and leaders, and
decision-makers in organizations. And that is that we're missing
the interpersonal connections that we so very much we rely on and
enjoy during our work days and our careers. We are social
creatures. We rely on belonging to groups. In human history,
those groups have taken all kinds of shapes, like a corporate
division of religion, a fan club, a, a community we need that. It
is one of the most basic of all human needs. Abraham Maslow
pointed that asked to us very well. Once we get done with our
physiological needs, for food, clothing, and shelter and things
like that, and our longer term security needs the most basic need
of all his belongings. We're missing that, people are lonely.
They don't like being alone. They want to be part of a team where
somebody slapped somebody on the back or shakes hands and 
nods approval in a conference room. And those, the lack of those
things tend to decrease the effectiveness and the efficiency of
performance, but not, not enough companies are realizing that
yet. There's still an element of their technology and their
ability to work remotely.

Mitch: (05:00)
Now, obviously there are circumstances that are preventing
businesses from reopening and people being able to gather in the
manner that you're discussing. there are going to obviously be
those who have their concerns going forward. Long-term so what
can businesses do? How can businesses accommodate the needs of
the human being of their employees, keeping in mind their safety,
most importantly, but also being able to offer this human
interaction and this gathering so that they may be able to feel
slightly more accomplished and, and achieve all the benefits that
you previously mentioned.

Eli: (05:37)
Well, let me answer that two ways in the very, very short term,
nothing. We've got to continue doing what we're doing, because we
don't have a way to prevent this disease, and we don't have a way
to treat this disease. And with the spikes that are going on
predominantly in the United States, more than any other country,
now we're headed into the third wave and winter time, it's, it's
serious business. We're going to have to sacrifice something and
that's our belongingness, our togetherness, our interaction. So
in the short term, until there is a vaccine that is safe,
effective, and plentiful, because we don't know if it's going to
be a one time, or if you have to do a second booster, we don't
know that any of that yet. Until that time, there's just very
little we can do other than continue to reach out remotely as
much as we possibly can, but go longer term, and I can't tell you
exactly what that long return is. It's going to be six months
from now. Is it going to be eight months? Don't know, but I can
tell you that there's, there are indications that companies have
already realized this. Recent news has shown that in the world of
big tech and I referred to the big four, which is Google, Amazon,
Facebook, and, Microsoft have taken up new leases on a couple of
million square feet of office space in Manhattan. So they
apparently have given this some thought and Facebook is a
company, but that early on in this pandemic said that they have
that their employees could work remote until 2021 and 2022, but
they're buying up office space. I think they know what's going
on. Maybe they're getting good deals because of the situation,
but, they're going to be calling employees back into work, and I
think they understand the thing about the consequences of their
decisions. And so I think what companies can do is to let their
employees know and their vendors and their customers as well,
we're not running away, we're not going to be a one 800 don't
bother me.com type of business. but that they are indeed
intending to get back to working closely together and to
strengthen the interpersonal bonds. If I were to advise
corporations and not just big tech, but all corporations, that's
exactly where I would go.

Mitch: (08:11)
Now, how about logistically more specific to our audience? Right?
We work for accounting and finance professionals at large, you
know, their role was already changing prior to this pandemic. And
then you add the remote aspect to everything, you know, their
jobs have shifted. What can you recommend as far as, you know,
accounting and finance professionals, accounting and finance
organizations to, you know, best again, accommodate these needs
while maintaining the safety of their e...