This content originally appeared on April 1 and April 7, 2020, in Carolyn Warsham’s weekly email, bringing you the latest stories from the Salesforce universe. Click "Subscribe" above to get on the list.
Weeks ago, under the weight of the COVID-19 crisis, we completely shifted our marketing efforts to help our community weather the storm out there. We’re calling the new focus Leading Through Change. Now that we’re all settling into this new (seemingly temporary) normal, if you’re like me, you’re working hard to limit media intake while looking for good news to get you through the day. On this quest, I was recently so inspired by the work of some of our customers: like restaurant management system Toast’s campaign to boost take-out orders, Verizon’s new webinars to support small businesses, PayPal’s move to waive fees (and much, much more), and Crocs donating shoes to healthcare workers at the frontlines. These stories remind us, in the words of Marc Benioff, “we are one.”
Keeping with the positive themes (Hey, it’s important right now.), here are some of the latest stories from the blog that we hope you’ll find helpful:
On the small business front
- In this new podcast, the CEO of Summit Coffee in Charlotte, North Carolina discusses his total pivot to serve customers who were sheltering in place.
- Here are eight ways to proactively support the small businesses you miss.
To help your operations
- Yikes: The pandemic is throwing off artificial intelligence; here’s how to stay on top of that.
- For retailers: 5 ideas for streamlining your site updates.
- Here’s how commerce companies like Zara, Nike, and Ford are staying relevant.
- We recently reimagined our 10,000-person Sydney World Tour into a completely online event. This is what we learned in the process.
- The CEO of Commerce Cloud shares tips for maintaining site reliability.
- And some lessons learned while moving 2800 Salesforce support engineers to WFH. (!!)
On empathic leadership
- Filmmaker, journalist, and Twitter firebrand, Soledad O’Brien discusses being a leader and dealing with media overwhelm.
- For sales professionals: why empathy and deep listening is crucial in this climate.
- Finally, five things we’re doing to help employees navigate work.
And if you need more of a boost, here’s the latest in our B-Well series devoted to mental health tips and resources:
- THRIVE Global founder and wellbeing innovator Arianna Huffington advises on how to “be the eye in the hurricane.”
- A pioneering psychiatrist’s advice for helping children cope with this crisis
- An incredibly grounding mediation and encouraging words from one of America’s foremost Buddhist practitioners
From new work-from-home environments to shifting global economics to formerly unthinkable news, there’s no question that we’re coping with a lot right now. And so, a company’s connection with its community is more important than ever. To that end, please email us to share what kind of articles would be most supportive right now. Whether you need more balance, help to manage very specific business hurdles, or something as simple as a cute cat video to get you through the day — we want to know about it.
