Leadership during Covid-19: how 12 business leaders navigated the crisis

The five-month struggle of a furniture manufacturer with Covid. “You can’t really have a plan.”

To reopen after the spring lockdown, the family that owns Century Furniture in North Carolina had to manage frightened workers, volatile orders and several outbreaks of coronavirus in its plants and markets.

Wegmans pampered his buyers. Now he has to protect them.

Companies that pamper their customers are adapting to an age where buyers are also in danger. Wegmans, a food chain that inspired a cult, discovered how challenging that transformation could be.

The new CEO of Clorox is struggling to keep the napkins on store shelves

Linda Rendle took over at Clorox in September, becoming one of the youngest leaders of a Fortune 500 company. Her challenge: meeting the demand for coronavirus.

NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell has no time for Hollywood Egos

The new head of the entertainment giant wanted to shake the company as soon as possible, throwing away the old conventions. The pandemic allowed him to do so.

Quibi should have revolutionized Hollywood. That’s why he failed.

Investors have invested $ 1.75 billion in the short-form video startup, largely because they trusted the gut instincts and vision of its founder, film mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, and CEO Meg Whitman. But the duo’s famous instincts turned out to be wrong.

Can Gap Get Out of the Whirlpool? The new CEO is facing years of decline

The pandemic shattered many retailers that were already on shaky ground. To avoid this at Gap and to revive the company’s eponymous brand, Sonia Syngal plans a future with fewer stores and more risks for fashion.

“Let’s fly, for God’s sake.” Behind the All-In strategy of the head of American Airlines

CEO Doug Parker added flights back quickly this summer, despite a coronavirus storm.

Incredible GM in decline: Mary Barra bets that smaller is better

The CEO has simplified a company that has ruled the world’s largest carmaker for decades. Then he prepared for the next big bet: electric cars. The pandemic has not changed that.

The Covid crisis taught David Farr the power and limits of leadership

The CEO of Emerson Electric enjoyed firm control and faith in constant action. The pandemic made much of this experience irrelevant. And yet he never stopped moving. Going through a crisis was better in his mind than waiting to act.

Coronavirus versus The Last Grocer in the City

Frank Timberlake, the owner of the only grocery store in Rich Square, NC, had no corporate stoppage when the pandemic hit. The local health department had little advice. He made decisions based on TV news, occasional e-mails from a group of grocers and “what my heart tells me.”

How Pfizer Delivered a Covid Vaccine in Record Time: Crazy Deadlines, a Pushy CEO

The doctor and his partner reduced the usual time to develop a vaccine from more than 10 years to less than one. This is partly due to their bet on a new gene-based technology. It was also the product of a demanding leadership, which borders on the unreasonable.

Opening the restaurant was not the quick fix needed by its owners

Reopening after spring closes has proven to be more difficult for a Georgia restaurant owner than closing in the first place.