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🦠162: What It's Like—Two Weeks in to Self-Quarantine in the Seattle Area (Hint: Ditch the Pressure for a Pinterest-Worthy Pandemic Response)

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While all of us have been adjusting to self-imposed social distancing and quarantine this week under new global guidelines, Lindsay Pedersen had a head start. She and her family live in the greater Seattle area, which was the site of the first major outbreak in the U.S. In this conversation with Lindsey and Dr. Consuelos, we talk about the emotional rollercoaster of the entire family staying home all day, and creative ways to infuse silliness, sanity, and connection.

Quick background on both: Lindsay Pedersen is a brand strategist and author of Forging an Ironclad Brand. Dr. Michael J. Consuelos is the Principal at MJC Solutions, a veteran-owned, small business that provides professional consulting and advisory services to organizations serving the healthcare sector. He has held several leadership roles in emergency preparedness and pandemic response since 1997.

What’s on your mind? Submit follow-up questions for a future COVID-19 conversation at http://pivotmethod.com/ask

Background from our kick-off to this series, episode 159: With so much happening daily in the world and global economy around coronavirus, we’re all dealing with massive amounts of uncertainty, pivots at work, and for many—fear and anxiety that comes with not only the health concerns, but questions around how to maintain our livelihoods moving forward.

When Momentum member and pandemic expert Dr. Michael J. Consuelos reached out to offer himself as a resource to the JBE team and the MoMo community, I jumped at the chance to record a conversation for all of you as well, which has now turned into a full-blown series:

Check out full show notes from this episode with links to resources mentioned at http://PivotMethod.com/161

More About Lindsay Pedersen

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Ironclad owner Lindsay Pedersen is a brand strategist with a scientific, growth-oriented approach to brand building. She has advised companies from burgeoning startups to national corporations, including Zulily, Starbucks, T-Mobile, Coinstar and IMDb.

Her background as a P&L owner at Clorox fostered in Lindsay a deep appreciation for the executive’s charge: increasing the company’s value. There, she led mature, billion-dollar businesses and newly-launched categories, from Clorox Bleach to Armor All to Brita. In each case, she was solely responsible for increasing the business’s value.

Thanks to this executive perspective, Lindsay demands that brands be hard-working, disciplined and rigorous in growing a business. Her brand strategies are tested in the crucible of her proprietary Ironclad Method. Lindsay arms leaders with an empowering understanding of brand, and an ironclad brand strategy, so they can grow their business with intention, clarity and focus.

More about Dr. Michael J. Consuelos

Dr. Michael J. Consuelos is the Principal at MJC Solutions, a veteran-owned, small business that provides professional consulting and advisory services to organizations serving the healthcare sector. He has held several leadership roles in emergency preparedness and pandemic response since 1997.

His extensive experience includes leading a health system pandemic response to the 2009 H1N1 Pandemic. Dr. Consuelos’ coordination of the health system response with local, state, and federal authorities to maintain healthcare business continuity has been used as a model by other hospital systems.

Educating healthcare professionals and communicating to a varied audience has also been an important part of Dr. Consuelos’ professional career. He has been invited to speak to national audiences on regional healthcare response capabilities during nuclear incidents and maintaining business continuity during a pandemic.

Dr. Consuelos received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He completed his pediatric training at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He received his Executive MBA from the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business and is a Fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

Topics Covered

  • Managing work with kids at home: pre-teen and a teenager

  • Mix of emotions, hour-by-hour rollercoaster

  • Finding space to recharge

  • Competing for broadband; pro tip — upgrade your internet speed!

  • What it’s like for the kids — their emotional journey, ability to focus on remote learning 

  • Much more intense for parents with younger children, special needs

  • If Lindsay were to go back in time, say three months ago, what would she recommend? 

  • Write a letter to yourself today, to yourself 10 days ago

  • Maslow’s Hierarchy: lower the bar on what success looks like

  • Choose 3 things for today: a little bit of exercise (even five minutes), 

  • Deeper appreciation for the fundamentals, source of fuel for the rest of the day - double-down on those, putting them at the forefront

  • Give yourself a lot of grace and forgiveness

  • Bewilderment: what should I be doing right now? 

  • Try not to judge, but it’s hard to see people going on vacation 

  • This is more about protecting others than ourselves — this is for the collective good

  • How to talk with older family members who aren’t staying home (yet) 

  • Michael’s family Zoom call — even recorded 

  • What would you tell your future self 10 days from now? Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good

  • Two buckets when I feel at peace: being of service, being silly

  • Memes, jingles with coronavirus for the words

  • Going to the other side of the fence of people you care about for activities that take more than one person

  • "This is a marathon, not a sprint” — pace is the operating mindset; don’t wish this away

  • End of Personal History fallacy — everyone is changing at the same time

  • Invite balance between being intentional, but also staying realistic and authentic to what is true for your experience — hold that paradox

  • Listen, Learn, Love

Resources Mentioned

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Check out other episodes of the Pivot Podcast here. Be sure to subscribe wherever you listen, and if you enjoy the show I would be very grateful for a rating and/or review! Sign-up for my weekly(ish) #PivotList newsletter to receive curated round-ups of what I’m reading, watching, listening to, and new tools I’m geeking out on.