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One Year
With Covid
Love & Creativity are kryptonite to Covid
Today marks a year since Denmark shut down as a precaution against the spread of Corona. It has shaken our work lives. Two million Danes were sent home from work; the same thing happened to almost 500,000 school children and students. Those of us who haven't been fired and are still at our jobs have entirely or partially lost touch with our work. We have lost the wider perspective on what work means to us. We don't know to which extent it ought to fill our lives, or what it ought to really stimulate. And we doubt if we are contributing anything at all with our work. To each individual, these doubts are existential and rattle our foundation.
Being that these questions are difficult to answer and don't just go away, we respond by isolating ourselves. We tend to our own professional path, we avoid asking questions, and we don't come up with any solutions. At the same time, we push ourselves to create an everyday life similar to what we once knew. Unsuccessfully.
In this situation, I stick to two simple ground rules. I suggest you do the same.
One: Always be nice to other people. You never know what they're going through right now.
Two: Use your imagination every day. If you want tomorrow to be better than today, approach it differently.
It's not easy to find room for imagination on days that seem pointless. We encounter this on a daily basis in my company, Headlight, and therefore we work to address such concerns. These days, our coaches must pay far more attention to our participants' unspoken worries than they did in the past. Participants lack the vocabulary to describe the challenges they face, because they've never been in a similar situation before. Accordingly, the coach has to set out being more caring and patient than usual. Once these worries are addressed, there is space for imagination and creativity, and we can improve our situation with a new handle on life.
This was the situation that Claus Meyer, the immensely visionary food entrepreneur, found himself in when I got to know him. A few days ago, I asked him if I might share some insights from our Corona year coaching sessions with Berlingske’s readers. He kindly agreed.
From one day to the next, the restaurant, catering, and canteen industry had the worst year ever ahead of them, including Løgismose Meyers. By the beginning of the year, Claus had taken the position as "editor-in-chief" of the company. When Corona broke out and the country was shut down, Claus bet big on imagination and gathered a team of his most creative and fearless employees. They reached out to new and existing partners and developed a broad-spectrum offensive plan to improve the company's position.
Here are some of their initiatives that came to fruition:
1
The World's Best Ride – a drive-in cinema located in Copenhagen's North Harbor in collaboration with the Cinematheque, with iconic films such as Taxi Driver, Flashing Lights, and Thelma & Louise on the playbill, and high-end street food and drinks served by the car windows. In the middle of Copenhagen, at a time when restaurants and cinemas were closed down.
2
The World's Best Picnic – a five-week picnic developed in collaboration with neighbors in Rågeleje and the surrounding area. Food Truck Little Meyer was launched, serving fresh pastries in the morning and pizza with local vegetables, drinks, and ice cream until nightfall. The experience featured Corona-adapted yoga sessions, morning runs, readings, and music in natural settings at Udsholt Strand.
Around the same time, Claus & Co. sent out a barrage of live streamed cooking shows on Instagram, featuring celebrities and everyday people, with up to 100,000 viewers.
“We were lucky that so many busy, picky people happily lined up for a little comedy, a song or a reading – and of course to do a bit of cooking. We did it largely without preparation and worked spontaneously with the emerging energy,” Claus Meyer explains.
He concludes with a cool statement: "We had previously spent seven years discussing how to take our cooking courses digital, what it would cost, and so on – and then all of a sudden it just happened."
Through these creative measures Claus was able to maintain his optimism, while the company maintained its vitality and momentum. His example can be followed by anyone who has a hard time seeing their way through: Gather your workmates and allow your ideas to flow freely and uncensored. Together you must cultivate them with all the imagination you can muster and send them flying. This is how you hold sway over the pandemic, and not the other way around.
One Year With Covid
Love & Creativity are kryptonite to Covid
Today marks a year since Denmark shut down as a precaution against the spread of Corona. It has shaken our work lives. Two million Danes were sent home from work; the same thing happened to almost 500,000 school children and students. Those of us who haven't been fired and are still at our jobs have entirely or partially lost touch with our work. We have lost the wider perspective on what work means to us. We don't know to which extent it ought to fill our lives, or what it ought to really stimulate. And we doubt if we are contributing anything at all with our work. To each individual, these doubts are existential and rattle our foundation.
Being that these questions are difficult to answer and don't just go away, we respond by isolating ourselves. We tend to our own professional path, we avoid asking questions, and we don't come up with any solutions. At the same time, we push ourselves to create an everyday life similar to what we once knew. Unsuccessfully.
In this situation, I stick to two simple ground rules. I suggest you do the same.
One: Always be nice to other people. You never know what they're going through right now.
Two: Use your imagination every day. If you want tomorrow to be better than today, approach it differently.
It's not easy to find room for imagination on days that seem pointless. We encounter this on a daily basis in my company, Headlight, and therefore we work to address such concerns. These days, our coaches must pay far more attention to our participants' unspoken worries than they did in the past. Participants lack the vocabulary to describe the challenges they face, because they've never been in a similar situation before. Accordingly, the coach has to set out being more caring and patient than usual. Once these worries are addressed, there is space for imagination and creativity, and we can improve our situation with a new handle on life.
This was the situation that Claus Meyer, the immensely visionary food entrepreneur, found himself in when I got to know him. A few days ago, I asked him if I might share some insights from our Corona year coaching sessions with Berlingske’s readers. He kindly agreed.
From one day to the next, the restaurant, catering, and canteen industry had the worst year ever ahead of them, including Løgismose Meyers. By the beginning of the year, Claus had taken the position as "editor-in-chief" of the company. When Corona broke out and the country was shut down, Claus bet big on imagination and gathered a team of his most creative and fearless employees. They reached out to new and existing partners and developed a broad-spectrum offensive plan to improve the company's position.
Here are some of their initiatives that came to fruition:
1
The World's Best Ride – a drive-in cinema located in Copenhagen's North Harbor in collaboration with the Cinematheque, with iconic films such as Taxi Driver, Flashing Lights, and Thelma & Louise on the playbill, and high-end street food and drinks served by the car windows. In the middle of Copenhagen, at a time when restaurants and cinemas were closed down.
2
The World's Best Picnic – a five-week picnic developed in collaboration with neighbors in Rågeleje and the surrounding area. Food Truck Little Meyer was launched, serving fresh pastries in the morning and pizza with local vegetables, drinks, and ice cream until nightfall. The experience featured Corona-adapted yoga sessions, morning runs, readings, and music in natural settings at Udsholt Strand.
Around the same time, Claus & Co. sent out a barrage of live streamed cooking shows on Instagram, featuring celebrities and everyday people, with up to 100,000 viewers.
“We were lucky that so many busy, picky people happily lined up for a little comedy, a song or a reading – and of course to do a bit of cooking. We did it largely without preparation and worked spontaneously with the emerging energy,” Claus Meyer explains.
He concludes with a cool statement: "We had previously spent seven years discussing how to take our cooking courses digital, what it would cost, and so on – and then all of a sudden it just happened."
Through these creative measures Claus was able to maintain his optimism, while the company maintained its vitality and momentum. His example can be followed by anyone who has a hard time seeing their way through: Gather your workmates and allow your ideas to flow freely and uncensored. Together you must cultivate them with all the imagination you can muster and send them flying. This is how you hold sway over the pandemic, and not the other way around.
Blegdamsvej 6, 1st floor
Copenhagen, Denmark
Telephone +45 3232 3232
journal@weareheadlight.com
© 2020 Headlight Journal. All rights reserved.
Blegdamsvej 6, 1st floor
Copenhagen, Denmark
Telephone +45 3232 3232
journal@weareheadlight.com
© 2020 Headlight Journal. All rights reserved.