Rapid Response

Everyone's looking for a box of crisis tricks. But the hard truth is that it simply doesn’t exist, says retired General Stanley McChrystal. Instead of looking for a new style, McChrystal says, lead with the same things that motivate people on a normal basis: Be honest about the path ahead, communicate clearly and build your team up. With calm reassurance, he encourages founders to keep their eyes on the future. Prepare for the post-pandemic world now, so you and your team can spring to action when the time comes. Retired General McChrystal is now the founder of the McChrystal Group.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Pet adoptions have soared during the coronavirus lockdown, as people seek companionship and solace. For Chewy, the pet-supply company, that’s driving unprecedented demand. Ultra-rapid growth has its own set of challenges that CEO Sumit Singh is responding to by: hiring (at 13,000 employees, with plans to add another 6,000 to 10,000 by end of year.); setting up a COVID task team that meets daily; instituting health and safety checks; rolling out customer-facing innovations in a weekend, and more. Why? Because a leader's job during a crisis, Singh says, is to first communicate with the team, and then innovate for a post-pandemic world. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

A neighborhood is more than just the people who share a common address, says Nextdoor CEO Sarah Friar. It’s every space that makes up your daily life. So Nextdoor is jumping in, rolling out new features like Help Maps and Groups so residents can connect and coordinate. Sarah says these products, some new, some in development pre-Covid, all help fulfill Nextdoor’s mission and help neighbors act as the frontline of support for one another.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In the US, local governments are leading the response to COVID-19 – making decisions and gathering data at a speed and scale never before seen. And many of them are asking Jen Pahlka for help. The founder and past chair of Code for America, she co-founded U.S. Digital Response, a nonpartisan group that matches experts with local governments to work on tech, comms and operations. She shares what she's seeing right now – and paints a bold, big-picture vision of what a modern government could do in the years to come.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Many of us will be working remote for a long time to come. So: How do you turn March's temporary scramble into a long-term benefit? Bitcoin pioneer Wences Casares runs a fully distributed company at his unicorn bitcoin startup, Xapo. For Wences, remote work is an intentional choice, one that celebrates the creativity and freedom of being released from geographical boundaries – and turns remote work into a striking advantage. Hear Xapo's battle-tested guidelines for communication styles, hiring – and supporting home offices that really work.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

People are altruistic – even more so in times of uncertainty. DonorsChoose CEO Charles Best has learned this through 20 years of leading his nonprofit through the terrorist attacks of 9/11, multiple recessions, and now a pandemic. Charles knows how to listen to what grantees really need – and donors really want — and how to pivot to address changing needs. In the last few weeks, DonorsChoose has completely reimagined how it connects grantees with the resources they need, and built a new platform to do it. Because the value of a donation, he says, goes far beyond what money can buy. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Every day in a pandemic is different, and that’s true for people and for corporations. CEO Brian Cornell has promised Target will keep its doors open. To do that, Target is becoming "a good student," says Brian, listening to experts, collaborating with CEOs, staying flexible, and meeting daily to make decisions on an ever changing list of priorities, the first of which is to keep both the team and the guests safe. To date, they’ve made a $300 million investment in pay and benefits, back up childcare, elder care, enhanced store cleanings, and more. No one knows what will happen, says Brian, but he believes that by putting his team first, he is putting the customer first – and serving the larger community.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Can you blitzscale when the world grinds to a halt? How do you do right by your team AND your investors? What will the entrepreneurial world look like on the other side of this? In this special episode, Reid Hoffman, sits on the other side of the mic with Rapid Response host Bob Safian — contextualizing the crisis and offering a hopeful viewpoint.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

TaskRabbit remains open for business, says CEO Stacy Brown-Philpot. As the magnitude and severity of the pandemic became clear – and as workers across the U.S. were furloughed and services cut – TaskRabbit leaned into the work they do: providing services to those who need them and empowering Taskers with new opportunities for income, including virtual tasks, and Tasks for Good, which connects vulnerable individuals in need with local volunteer Taskers. TaskRabbit was founded during the 2008 financial crisis and then and now, says Stacy, the business remains a necessity, for the community, and for the gig economy.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"Anxiety," "grief," "mom”: These are the words that matter at this extreme moment in time. That data comes from Crisis Text Line, whose online counselors are using both empathy and aggregated data to help people through this pandemic. Founder and former CEO Nancy Lublin makes the case for not losing sight of data — especially at extreme moments like this. Crisis Text Line provides free, confidential crisis counseling via text, 24/7 and to help counselors meet the moment, they anonymize and analyze real-time data on how their users are feeling. That data is telling us the story of right now. Want to support Crisis Text Line?Share the link. We want to help. Share CrisisTextLine.orgSuggest partners. We want more people to know we are here and 100% operational. Media partners, companies, influencers, hotlines. Find us at CrisisTextLine.orgVolunteer. People can be part of a solution, from their couch, in their jammies. CrisisTextLine.org/volunteerSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.