- Porter Erisman was working in China as vice president of the Alibaba Group in 2003 when the SARS pandemic struck, and he and 400 colleagues were quarantined at home.
- But instead of being paralyzed by fear and panic, Alibaba thrived during the SARS crisis: Their team became more united, revenues accelerated, and they launched a new business, Taobao.
- The lessons of how Alibaba weathered the storm can offer guidance to entrepreneurs who are facing similar challenges during the COVID-19 crisis today.
- Accept your new reality, don't delay tough decisions, and keep the team united, advises Erisman - and above all, keep your employees safe.
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In spring of 2003, while I was working as a vice president at the Hangzhou, China headquarters of Alibaba Group, I received an unexpected phone call from the company's HR head. "Porter, you don't need to come to work tomorrow," he said. "You and the rest of the colleagues in our headquarters are being quarantined for exposure to SARS."
It turned out that a colleague I had worked alongside at a trade show in Guangzhou - the SARS epicenter - had been hospitalized upon returning from our business trip and was showing symptoms of SARS. The next morning, the door to my home was chained shut, a guard was stationed in my apartment building lobby, and I and 400 Alibaba colleagues were forced to run the company from our homes for 10 days.
Our first concern was for the health of our colleagues and families. But our next concern was for the survival of our company. It was a crisis which, if handled poorly, could have destroyed Alibaba. At the time, I wondered how we'd respond to the challenge. Would business dry up as our customers lost money? With everyone quarantined at home with their families, would the team be distracted and spin out of control?
Transform talent with learning that worksCapability development is critical for businesses who want to push the envelope of innovation.Discover how business leaders are strategizing around building talent capabilities and empowering employee transformation.Know More While it would have been easy to be paralyzed by fear and panic, instead, Alibaba not only survived, but thrived during the SARS crisis. Our team emerged stronger and more united than ever. Our revenues accelerated. And we launched a new business - Taobao - which went on to become the most valuable business unit of Alibaba's vast $400 billion+ e-commerce empire. And fortunately, everyone in the company - including the suspected SARS victim - emerged healthy.
My hope is that the lessons of how Alibaba survived the SARS crisis can provide inspiration to entrepreneurs who are facing similar challenges today. There is no doubt that, economically, some of the hardest-hit victims of coronavirus will be entrepreneurs, small businesses and their employees. But when this crisis passes, it will also be these entrepreneurs and their teams who will need to rebuild their companies and economies around the world. With that in mind, here are the five lessons I learned from how Alibaba survived - and thrived - during the SARS crisis.
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