Thought Leader Interview: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

As we speak [in April 2020], businesses around the world are shuttered due to the global pandemic. What are some of the key leadership lessons from this unprecedented moment?
First of all, my heart goes out to everyone who has been affected by this unprecedented pandemic. At the very beginning of my latest book I discuss some of the big unsolved problems we currently face, and I mention the fact that pandemics can travel from place to place at the speed of an airplane. Sadly, that is exactly what happened.

Perhaps the biggest lesson is that we need to recognize and learn to deal with the interdependencies between countries, levels of government and levels of the business ecosystem. We need to see greater cooperation on all fronts. There is a lot of reliance right now on global organizations like the World Health Organization, due to the need for comparative data across countries. Going forward, leaders across sectors need to think long and hard about how to deal with our interdependence.

For businesses, interdependencies in the supply chain are also increasingly clear. There will have to be a lot more attention paid to where supplies come from and some concern for what is happening in those countries. For instance, I would hope that North American businesses will think twice about only having suppliers in China and look at getting some of their supplies from, say, Vietnam. They should also think about the welfare of the people in those countries and how they are living. This is