COVID-19 and Operating Assumptions
A ton of articles have been written about Covid-19 during 2020. As of July 2020, I cannot remember any situation during my lifetime that has received such extensive news coverage as Covid-19. The only thing that rivals it is the terrorist attacks of September 11 . But, even those horrific attacks did not touch the lives of every single American, and indeed every member of the human race, the way the global pandemic has altered our everyday lives. I am not a scientist and I offer no opinion on the science and won’t regurgitate the facts that are easily available on the Center for Disease Control or John Hopkins University websites. Rather, I want to talk about the principles of “I don’t know” and “operating assumptions” in the context of Covid-19. I tell everyone working within my company there are only two answers to any question: First, the answer that is factual and exactly correct; Second, the answer of “I don’t know but I will find out.” I don’t have room for speculation, rumor,…