When I started Switchboard during the pandemic, so many people were starving for real connection. But the tools we had at our disposal weren’t doing what we needed them to do–they were bandaids, allowing us to see faces and talk but not actually work together.
HubSpot is dedicated to growing with a conscience and succeeding with a soul. When looking at their software and the community they’ve built around it, it is clear that they are succeeding at this mission. We, too, believe that there is a better, more empathetic way to do business–one that values human beings just as much as profit.
It also can help to remind yourself that these catastrophic thoughts aren’t “expressions of facts,” Rajaee said. Rather, they’re “expressions of fear”—our brain’s way of trying to protect us, she said.
For that, we teamed up with Bill Schmidt from Cornell and Jing Wu from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and turned to data. First, we had to build a supply network and determine the positions of firms in the network: which firms are more downstream and which are more upstream? In a network that looks like the one on the left, it is not easy. We used the distance to final consumers as a measure of upstreamness.
What can managers take away from this study?
First, suppliers can use the network of customers to shield from the adverse effects of demand distortion exhibited by downstream customers. A right mix of customers can help smooth out spikes and dips in their order patterns. That, in turn, helps maintain steady utilisation of resources, and give employees predictable schedules.
Maybe even deeper ways. For example, tap into technology by using Zoom, Skype, or FaceTime to virtually play games together, said Sheva Rajaee, MFT, founder of The Center for Anxiety and OCD in Irvine, Calif.Or try these additional connection boosters with your loved ones, which come from Clinton Power:
- Watch the same movie at the same time and text about your reactions
- Create a shared Spotify playlist and listen together
- Read a chapter of the same book every day and talk about it
New York City psychotherapist and coach Kate Crocco, MSW, LCSW, suggested being the first person to reach out. “Often the best medicine for fear and sadness is being there for someone else.”
