War. What’s New? A Lot.

M.C.Management

I’ll tell you what, I felt pretty stupid sitting down to write about management with war breaking out in Eastern Europe last week. Couldn’t find the words. So I took the week off. I’m sure I wasn’t the only one doom scrolling the timeline. In the days since Russia invaded Ukraine (again) we’ve seen the horror of war and the indomitable will of the Ukrainian people on full display to the world.

All of it supercharged by 21st century technology. Tweets & Instagram posts from Ukrainian President Zelenskyy displaying leadership and unwavering resolve broadcast across the world…from his phone. Countless other “content” pieces of the tragic reality on the ground rocketing across Internet platforms. Pun intended. The Ukrainian people have been able to organize resources, exert political pressure, and even fundraise at an unprecedented pace and scale. Crypto donations, for maybe the first time, have allowed a government to instantaneously raise money for a war effort. A nation under siege with smartphones.

There’s another uncomfortable reality. Maybe we should ask why atrocities in poorer countries haven’t gotten this same attention? Yes, this invasion is on a WWII level like scale. But would conflicts in Africa or the Middle East be better covered if they had the technology & tools to share it with the world? Maybe.

I have a theory that Vladimir Putin’s greatest miscalculation is that he doesn’t quite understand how different the world is today than just a few years ago. When he annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014 the ability to tell stories on mobile platforms and distribute them globally in an instant didn’t really exist. Facebook went public in 2012 without a mobile advertising business. Snapchat had less than 100M users. Instagram had 200M users. Twitter about 300M users. TikTok didn’t exist! Our global interconnectedness and subsequent ability to amplify information and deploy virality is still SO new. Russia is basically undergoing the geopolitical version of getting cancelled.

Maybe the only weapon we have *almost* as powerful as nuclear weapons. Freedom of information spreading at the speed of light. And yet here we sit thousands of miles away lucky enough to be engaged in the business dynamics of competition. Lucky enough to be analyzing complex, violent geopolitical events within the safe borders of a free country. How fortunate are we?

Hug your family. Call a friend. Check in on your team and teammates. Maybe don’t give them a hug because of the logistical limitations of the whole remote work thing and, you know, HR. Keep it clean!

This week, I’m feeling extremely fortunate. Things can change in an instant, can’t they? With great power, comes great responsibility. I’d encourage us all to harness that responsibility in an effort to provide aid, however and wherever we can, to the people of Ukraine. Here are some organizations to check out directly supporting the humanitarian efforts:

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