MediaCom Global Chief Reflects on Challenges of Covid-19

The last few months have, without question, been some of the most challenging times any of us have witnessed in our lifetimes. Our entire network’s thoughts and well wishes are with those families affected by the virus.

The drastic measure we have taken to move staff, in the main, to remote working was both the responsible step and the right decision to protect the health and wellbeing of our teams. We will only get through this unprecedented time together and, as always, we are committed to supporting your plans and delivering on our promises to our people, clients and partners over the coming months.

Our challenge is that coronavirus is forcing fundamental changes on us at a faster rate than ever before and that adds to the emotional and psychological stress that many are experiencing. My strong belief is that the most important thing we can do at this time is to understand each other’s needs; as companies, as partners and as individuals.

That’s doubly important at a time when many of us are more isolated than we’ve ever been before. Working from home can be a huge culture shock, I am certainly finding it a bit strange to go for days without face-to-face meetings and the chance to greet old friends and colleagues in one of our offices. However, with the technology that we now have at our disposal, we can still meet up virtually, and we are encouraging all of our teams to hold regular video meetings with their teams and clients alike.

My personal commitment is to ensure that I stay connected with colleagues and partners, that I keep talking, collaborating, smiling and making them laugh – even if it’s at my expense – every day. It’s vital that we make time for a little levity at this unique time in our lives. 

I’m hugely proud of the way our teams have adapted to working from home and also extend my particular thanks to the very small number of key staff members who are still working on-site in some of our offices to manage our systems and ensure that we can continue to deliver high-quality work.

It’s taken a huge amount of effort to test our systems in advance of this crisis and, while I am sure there will be a few hiccups along the way, on the whole things seem to be running as smoothly as ever.

I take strength from the fact that our teams in China and some other Asian markets have already lived through this pandemic – with some working from home for many weeks. Whilst some restrictions are starting to be lifted, it’s still far from over and it’s only just beginning for some of us in other parts of the world.

But whatever is thrown at us, I know that the professionalism and commitment that is the hallmark of our MediaCom people will remain unchanged.

So please stay safe and we all look forward to meeting up in person again once we get to the other side of this crisis. In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact any of us if you have any questions.