is a seasoned marketing and brand communications strategist, Ken has held a number of senior roles from corporate consulting to public affairs advisory for leading multinational and conglomerates. A popular keynote speaker and columnist, Ken is a regular contributor on the subject of B2B Marketing. He is also the author of two best-selling titles, 鈥淟ife Hacks鈥� and 鈥淕rowth Hacks鈥�. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Melbourne, a Master of Arts from RMIT University, and a MBA from the University of South Australia. He is also a Qualified Accountant and Member of the Institute of Public Accountants, Australia.

Q: From your perspective, how should companies鈥� structure and evolve their businesses, in coping with the COVID-19 pandemic?

My first advice would be 鈥� it is imperative to adapt your business (or at least part of your business) online. I know this sounds like a no-brainer. But given the majority of the global population are still staying at home, therefore if you cannot transact online, you will have zero revenue. Restaurants and groceries is a prime example, even Michelin-star restaurant chains, are now beginning to offer Deliveroo-type services.

Another trend I see happening now is in retail, where brands are gradually moving towards into a O2O model 鈥� an integration of online and offline business channels. One of the most prevalent and cost effective examples recently, are virtual spaces/showrooms, where retailers are trying to reproduce a 360 real-like interactive experience, as a substitute, for their fans and customers. Matterport is probably the current leading player in this field.

Q: Do you believe that multinational corporations will implement certain changes in their organization after the pandemic?

Doing less with more, and making better and smarter decisions. To elaborate, I believe 鈥榮mart鈥� is really about the application of digital technologies to business problems. That could encompass anything from Customer Relationship Management(CRM), Product Information Management (PIM), to platforms like Salesforce and ERP. Companies are smart when they use digital technology and data to solve their pressing needs. In other words, it is really about harnessing information and communications technology, the IOT, internet of things, and getting insights into data. To actually develop and adapt smarter applications, that make day-to-day-business more efficient and seamless.

Q: What do you think are the most important lessons that various companies worldwide have acknowledged now?

The world we live in is not as orderly and coherent as we鈥檇 like to think. Period. As a result, companies should thoroughly re-exam and re-audit their entire business models, looking at every single stages along the Supply Chain, down to operational needs such as Human Resources and Finance. I would also encourage companies to revamp their soft assets such as Marketing and Branding, and look to enable a O2O paradigm through its customer journey.

My recommendation is for companies to start mapping out your needs, and get cracking right away. Because you don鈥檛 want to lose out, when the purchasing appetites are unleashed. 

Q: From a marketing point of view, how do you think that companies should adapt their marketing strategies after the covid-19 situation?

A global crisis can either paralyze a brand or galvanize it to thrive. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, that鈥檚 exactly what we鈥檙e seeing: some companies are cutting back on marketing (in some instances, laying off the entire marketing team), while others are being more agile and coming up with interesting ways of engaging their audience during these difficult times.

Moving forward, I personally believe that the success of a brand, will largely revolve around on one鈥檚 ability to harness on big data to draw upon useful insights 鈥� aka, an insight based approach marketing.  If done correctly, this should then dictate how you go about your overall digital marketing plan, from social media, Email marketing, SEO/SEM, online sales funnel and so forth.

Q: In 50 words how are you leading positively, practically and purposefully during this time?

I always stick by my mantra as being a so called “one minute manager”. The fundamentals are – one minute goals (setting clear objectives upfront), one minute praising (acknowledge good actions & behaviours) and one-minute reprimands (be accountable on poor performance, and to learn from mistakes).

This concept was inspired by a short book I read, which is written by world renowned author Ken Blanchard.

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听is a professional American football player at Guelfi Firenze in Florence, Italy who decided to further his education at 黑料不打烊 Geneva by enrolling into the Online Global MBA program. We are pleased that he chose 黑料不打烊 Geneva to advance his career and achieve his educational goals.

Online Global MBA Program Offers Full Flexibility

We are glad to offer the opportunity to working professionals to continue with their education and pursue their dreams while having full flexibility and support throughout the program. Our online learning platform allows students to access the courses at anytime from anywhere by allowing self-paced studies.

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Apply by July 15th, 2020 !

We understand how significant tuition fees can be and that for some students scholarships enable them to pursue their educational goals. We want to make sure that exceptional and deserving students receive the financial support that they need in order to take full advantage of 黑料不打烊鈥檚 business school experience.

黑料不打烊 has a portfolio of scholarship opportunities open to all students. Below are some of these opportunities. For others please contact our admissions office at admissions@ssbm.ch

We award 12 scholarships in total:

• 2 Full Scholarships with a 100% reduction in the total tuition fees
• 5 scholarships with a 50% reduction in the total tuition fees
• 5 scholarships with a 30% reduction in the total tuition fees

You can apply HERE.

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Global and Executive MBA students had the opportunity to take a break on the rooftop of our campus after having a long break from the campus-based lectures. We are glad to be back on track and begin with the MBA lectures at the 黑料不打烊 campus. The students finally met with each other after a longer period and had the opportunity to network with each other and discuss various topics and exchange their ideas.

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Our MBA Campus-based Course 鈥� Organizational Agility – Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent times is led by lecturers Viktor Vetturelli and Dijana Vetturelli.

Dijana Vetturelli is the Co-Founder of consulting. She works with clients to explore their current organizational situation, tackle the status quo and help them to expand their boundaries and set new standards. She is dedicated to transitions from pyramidal hierarchical to decentralized agile organizations which are fit for complex markets and fit for human beings. Before founding the company, she gained her international managerial experience at Robert Bosch in Germany, Austria and Poland. She has guided the process of regionalization, both for German-speaking countries and in countries of our region in the secondary phase, and became the first and youngest female Country Director (Automotive) at a global level. She has a Master鈥檚 Degree in Economics and is certified in the OpenSpace Beta approach.

Viktor Vetturelli is a professional executive coach and agile culture coach. Viktor is dedicated to high-performance team development, interpersonal relationships and interactions within organizations. Fort the last 15 years he has been working with individuals and teams and he develops and implements projects aimed at improving organizational culture and society in general. Born and raised in Germany, he is a former professional athlete with managerial experience in various international companies. He has a Master鈥檚 Degree in Economics and is a certified Executive Coach at AoEC. Throughout his work with numerous international organizations, he has developed and proven a creative approach to problem-solving and an intimate familiarity with complex communication challenges.

Organizational Agility 鈥� Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times in 黑料不打烊 Geneva鈥檚 Global and Executive MBA Program

Organizational Agility is not a buzz word anymore as well as it is not just another management method. It is essential to adapt to the market and to drive innovations forward.

Organizational Agility- Surviving and Thriving in Turbulent Times is an elective course in 黑料不打烊 Geneva鈥檚 Global and Executive MBA program due to its importance for the business industry as well as it encourages students to think critically. In this interactive, hands-on course, the students will have the opportunity to exchange knowledge with highly experienced practitioners and coaches about various organizational designs. Some of the topics that the MBA students will learn about are 鈥�Decision Making in Complexity鈥�, 鈥�Why Motivation Theory is Important for Agility鈥�, 鈥�Misconceptions of Agile Organizations鈥� and many more.

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Our MBA Campus-based Leadership Course is led by lecturers Domagoj Liposinovic and Pilar Cabral Majerovic.

Pilar Cabral Majerovic is a professional executive coach and corporate consultant with more than 20 years of experience. She was holding the director position of Sales and Promotion at Croatia TCom, when later completely reorganized the CRM strategy as Head of CRM at Valamar Hotels& Resorts and leading corporate sales at Berlitz. She completed additional certificates in the field of High Performance Team Coaching and Points of You training. Furthermore, she is a certified professional coach, with Erickson庐 Coaching International license.

Domagoj Liposinovic is the founder and CEO of and an internationally certified Trainer of NeuroLinguistic Programming (NLP), Humanistic NeuroLinguistic Psychology (HNLP) and Brain-Based Leadership (BBL) by the International Institute HNLP and Hypnosis, Arizona, USA and one of the world’s leading NLP Master Trainers John Overdurf. He is a member of the American Board of NLP (ABNLP), the biggest NLP organization in the world.

Leadership as a Core Course in 黑料不打烊 Geneva’s Global and Executive MBA Program

Leadership is a core course within 黑料不打烊 Geneva’s Global and Executive MBA program due to its importance for the business industry as well as the students’ professional development. The students will have the opportunity to acquire knowledge from highly experienced coaches and trainers in various leadership areas. Some of the topics that the MBA students will learn about are “Values as Anchors in Turbulent Times“, “Creating High Performance Teams“, “Leadership and Emotional Intelligence” and many more.

If this sounds interesting, click here and APPLY to take part in the Leadership course and many other insightful courses.

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黑料不打烊 Geneva places great importance on student feedback. Therefore, we continuously encourage our students to provide us with their feedback for quality improvement. Therefore, we asked one of our MBA students, Matea Kos to answer a couple of questions regarding her “Online Learning Experience” at 黑料不打烊 Geneva.

How satisfied are you with your online learning experience at 黑料不打烊 Geneva?

Data Analytics and Decision Making is the first course I decided to take as a pre-recorded online course. I have to express my full satisfaction. The concept is excellent, presentations are very clear and easy to follow. Exercises are also clear and very well described and the learning materials are very useful. The best benefits of the pre-recorded course are: the ability to pause the lecture whenever I need to and the possibility to listen to any lecture or exercise again if needed. Furthermore, I can watch the lectures whenever I want (independent of any prescribed schedule).

How satisfied are you with 黑料不打烊鈥檚 online learning platform?

Online learning platform is very user-friendly and simple to follow. I haven鈥檛 experienced any interruptions yet. I am very satisfied with the platform.

What are your thoughts on 黑料不打烊鈥檚 online lectures, both pre-recorded and Zoom lectures?

Both of the lectures are very well prepared, but I prefer the pre-recorded lectures because of the benefits I mentioned above (pause button is the best). Zoom lectures are also fine, but the pre-recorded lectures are definitely a better option for me.

Do the online lectures stimulate your learning?

Absolutely yes! As I said, I can watch the lectures whenever I want to (while there is not any prescribed schedule). Therefore, I choose to watch the presentations when I am fresh, motivated and free of any disruption. I can choose my learning tempo and repeat some presentations if I think I need to. I definitely like it!

Click here to check our online programs.

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Switzerland is known for having one of the best educational systems in the world as well as offering high quality education. Therefore, it is home to numerous universities and business schools that are known for its Swiss quality education.

黑料不打烊 Geneva offers flexibility and high-quality online learning

Most importantly, Swiss School of Business and Management (黑料不打烊 Geneva) recognized the growing demand for online learning and developed various online programs that offer flexibility and the opportunity to simultaneously work and study.

Top 5 Online MBA programs in Switzerland

The high quality standards of our Online Global MBA and Online Executive MBA have been evidently recognized and have placed the Swiss School of Business and Management among top Online MBA programs in Switzerland.

For the full article click .

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From your perspective, what do you think are the main effects that COVID-19 will impose on the overall organization and its employees?

The COVID-19 outbreak has faced the employers with a need of a fast reaction to an unprecedented disruption in business, as well as a need to protect employees鈥� health and security in the workplace. Healthy employees are crucial to their companies. The Covid-19 outbreak imposed a quick business reorganisation and from what we can see, most of the companies responded to the required adjustments thanks to remote work with flexible policies, including leaves to avoid firing people whenever possible. While these measures mainly relate to medium and big companies, the survival of smaller companies is unfortunately more complex. Now it will be interesting to observe how organizations will handle the ease of lockdown and the after Covid-19.

In regards to leadership, how do you think leaders can support and lead their employees in this unpredictable time?

Leadership is the key success factor to any organisation. During times of crisis, employees look up even more for guidance, security, and support. Clear, transparent and continuous communication are more than ever required.

Mental well-being has become even more important nowadays. Checking in individually with teams is the best way to show presence and support. Genuinely caring and being present for every single team member, will definitely make the difference. For some people assistance will be more on an emotional level, for others the work-life balance might be a challenge, not to mention the potential financial challenges related to salary reductions or worse, forced unemployment.

Team conversations won鈥檛 be enough, an individual and personalized approach is required to support each employee in the best possible way. Coaching, for example, can be a very useful as it can help engage, support and empower individuals and teams to overcome the obstacles and challenging circumstances during these unpredictable times. An investment which does not only support the now, but also prepares for the after.

How can leaders empower their teams/employees during COVID-19?

If your teams haven鈥檛 been taught to be empowered in 鈥渘ormal times鈥� I think that it will be difficult to expect changes in challenging times, where a lot of stress, fear and unknown is at stake.

Empowered teams are used to clear two-way communication, open to creativity, used to thinking 鈥渙ut of the box鈥� and therefore prepared to approaching projects and challenges from different angles. This type of agile thinking will highly be needed nowadays. To support it, additional resources might be required to encourage employee development (ex: how to create interactive meetings/webinars/workshops, on various platforms, including various presentation tools, etc 鈥�). A positive work environment will also support creative thinking. And maybe even more importantly, self-initiative, in an environment where making mistakes is ok, will feel very empowering. Finally, no matter the circumstances, one shouldn鈥檛 forget encouragement and recognition on both an individual and team level.

In terms of emotion, what is its role in times of change? How to cope with emotion in this difficult time?

Each person reacts differently to a crisis. It鈥檚 an individual experience which brings up a variety of emotions from which some of the most common are: anxiety, anger, grief, depression and frustration. The first step is to acknowledge the emotion, meaning to name it for what it is. Emotions are neither good or bad, it鈥檚 what we make out of them that turns them into a so called 鈥減ositive鈥� or 鈥渘egative鈥� emotion. So, recognizing our emotions and naming them allows us to acknowledge them for what they are and then we can decide what we want to do about them. A useful tool could, for example be to journal your emotions on a daily base; to see how your emotions come and go at different moments of the day. You might recognize some patterns which lead you to be feeling those recurring emotions. Understanding what triggers our emotions is as important as the emotion itself; because again, if we know what triggers our 鈥渁nger鈥� or 鈥渁nxiety鈥� for example; we can find ways to better handle them; in view to eventually letting them go.

Recognizing and acknowledging our emotions is a vital skill, especially in times of crisis. If you haven鈥檛 given this much thought; you might want to get started as everybody has his unique way of processing emotions. Without understanding what you鈥檙e feeling; it will be difficult to know what you鈥檒l need to be able to move forward.

Having leaders prepared to talk about emotions with their employees is therefore so important nowadays. However, this requires being aware of the importance of emotions in the first place and being prepared to talk about them in a workplace environment.

How to move forward during the COVID-19 pandemic and stay in business?

It鈥檚 a reality check opportunity and an invitation for change. Nagging about the past and the missed opportunities won鈥檛 lead anywhere. Companies which will have found their gift behind the drama will come out of this crisis as winners. These winners will have gone beyond just catching up, they鈥檒l be leading the future in a more transformative and inclusive way, where core values will have been re-thought and genuine caring and simplicity will be an ally.

Any feedback/recommendations for the students at 黑料不打烊 in this situation?

As we are slowly introducing measures of release from lockdown, I hope that students will be feeling a sense of return to life. Things will never be as before, therefore looking at this situation as a learning opportunity will be useful:

What have I learned from this global lock down? How have I coped with it? What went well? What could have been different? What would be required to handle things better in the future? How do I feel? Which emotions are coming up? Etc 鈥�

Are only some of the many questions. I invite you to take some time to think about them.

As an additional contribution; I am offering five 1:1 coaching sessions to the first 5 students reaching out to me via 黑料不打烊 (contact@ssbm.ch).

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First of all, we would like to ask you in general how does COVID-19 affect the overall organization and its employees?

The first reactions were not that surprising. At first, shock, then denial and finally anger. I think that some employees are already in the depression phase and some are rather in denial. On the organizational level we will see how resilient some organizations are and how their management is prepared and willing to make swift changes. What some surveys discovered is that a significant proportion of companies is not able to survive the crisis that will last for more than 3 months. Similar answers are on the individual level. Employees are having reserves for only a few months. Collected data from the US and the UK show that these negative consequences are particularly harsher for younger workers, those with unstable employment relationships and lower labor income.

How to maintain regular communication with the employees and ensure productivity/performance?

There is a clear division of companies and professions that can work from home and those who cannot. Therefore, some of them made the transition more easily, and then there are those who are forced to digitally transform in a short period of time. Thus, there was a joke that COVID-19 is the best Digital Transformation manager. However, a lot of companies are unable to respond in the short-term and therefore result in blockage. If we talk about those who are still working, the rise in the use of virtual meeting tools is significant. In some cases, we can even witness more productivity due to the higher focus and performance of the employees.  While in some occupations a high share of tasks can be done from home (e.g. business and financial operations), this is not the case in other occupations (e.g. food preparation and serving). Also, individuals with a higher annual earnings report are able to do a much higher proportion of their tasks from home. They are also more likely to report that they have already switched to working from home over the past few weeks.

From an HRM perspective, how do you recommend companies manage employee absence?

If employees are unable to work because of the lockdown or other pandemic measures, the first priority of the management is to reduce the fixed costs. Hence, to negotiate with their stakeholders to postpone everything that could influence cash flows dramatically. As we witnessed in the USA, a large number of people got fired 鈥� they are now at more than 20 million unemployed people.  However, the real challenge will be to hire those people again when and if this crisis will be over. This is the time when we will differentiate ethical and moral companies that really consider their employees as the most important asset of their company, and those who do not. For example, medical insurance will be an important topic –  the decision not to show up at work when feeling ill is particularly difficult for a person without paid sick leave and little savings to fall back on. For instance, in the UK more than half of the workers in 鈥楶ersonal Care and Services鈥� have no paid sick leave despite working in close proximity to others. Maybe this is the time to rethink some of the benefits for the employees.

What are some ways to ensure employee support during the COVID-19 crisis?

One thing is for sure, clear and transparent communication. In this uncertain time, people value strong leadership. So even if you have to deliver bad news, there are certain ways to do it properly. If there is motivation, there are many measures that can be implemented and through which the company can show flexibility and care about their employees. From flexible working hours, work from home, short time salary deduction to keeping the working places, upskilling employees etc. Another important thing is to reduce policies and adjust guidelines. Employers should be empathetic, understanding and flexible as workers try to navigate the unexpected changes to their lives. In the mid-term phase, employers should mitigate risk and educate their employees 鈥� for example they should refrain from forcing employees from traveling to countries with a higher risk of infection.

How do you think that the workforce will adapt to the changes brought on by COVID-19?

This one is not that easy to predict. Some trends will for sure happen faster. Cards will be dealt with again, and some positions will emerge as a new essential role. First there will be a change in consumer behavior, and as a consequence companies and their strategies and products and services will adapt and transfer those changes to the employees. Some positions will be inevitably lost, but we should focus on the new and creative ways of doing business, so we can create new chances for the employees in the new economy. The need for constant education and improvement will be stronger than ever. Those who have the habit of learning will be in a significant advantage. We can expect a permanently flexible future – there will be a significant, permanent, transition to a more remote workplace鈥攅ven when COVID-19 clears, this new normal will be sustained by fears of the next pandemic. Polarization of work life balance will happen – while working from home is both convenient and comfortable, it can be difficult for professionals to separate home and work life.  Work will become more agile – as teams become more separate with remote work, many will begin collaborating with other employees, especially since online collaboration tools make connection easier.

What is your perspective on employees working remotely during the COVID-19?

We can only be thankful that these opportunities already exist. Laws regarding that will be changed fast and it is great to see that the number of professions is at least for the time being, transferring to remote/ online way of working. So, we have psychotherapist talking to their patients, doctors doing basic examinations, and teachers working with their students, all done remotely. Also there is a sustainability angle – remote work takes the mental and physical stress out of going into an office, but it also has a significant impact on the environment, which people will begin to take note of. For example, there would be a 20% reduction in energy consumption by reducing the in-office work week down to four days. The majority (88%) of organizations now either encourage or require employees to work from home, whether or not they have shown coronavirus-related symptoms, according to Gartner research released on March 19, 2020.

Any recommendations from an HRM perspective? How do you think that COVID-19 will affect the employees/organization? What do you think will change in the organization or perhaps be implemented?

First of all, HRM should get involved in cash flow predictions. The second basic thing in which I was consulting some companies is to do the list of key employee and succession plans. In this time of distress many decisions are done in a hurry and are not optimal. Those simple procedures will enable any management to do what is necessary, but with the long term vision. Depending on the severity of the problem, it will be critical to recognize and keep key performers in the company. If that does not happen, there is no amount of money or state subsidy that will save the company.  And corporate culture shifts will be inevitable, as M. Beer said in a Harvard Business Review interview: 鈥淭he corona virus challenge, like any crisis, provides senior management a huge opportunity to develop a trust-based culture rapidly or, conversely, if not handled with an organization-wide honest conversation, to undermine their ability to develop a trust-based culture for years to come鈥�.

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