“Nobody was ready for [the pandemic]. It’s almost impossible to be ready for something of this nature. But if you have a really healthy organization, and you have caring leadership at the top, usually you get through it,” says Bill Baker, president emeritus of Channel Thirteen in New York and co-author with Michael O’Malley of “Organizations for People.”
Interview with William F. Baker
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With the world in lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, the offices and classrooms where only weeks ago we would gather and collaborate are now off limits.
While we work from home or study online, we see work and studies in a remarkable new light. Our workplace matters hardly at all, but our organization’s culture is suddenly paramount.
As the global health crisis grips the planet, William F. Baker sees an opportunity for the right kind of leadership that will keep employees healthy in body and in spirit.
“Some [organizations] are like deer with the headlights in their eyes and just really paralyzed by it. Others have really rallied and stepped up to doing business an entirely different way, and along the way, embracing their customers and their employees by communicating with them, by using electronic technologies in new ways, by not totally panicking themselves,” explains Baker, president emeritus of Channel Thirteen in New York and co-author with Michael O’Malley of Organizations for People (Stanford University Press).
“It all depends on a combination of the leader, the culture of the institution, and a lot of good luck. Nobody was ready for this. It’s almost impossible to be ready for something of this nature. But if you have a really healthy organization, and you have caring leadership at the top, usually you get through it,” he tells CCC’s Chris Kenneally.
