There is zero tolerance for spin right now. No one has the mental bandwidth for anything beyond that which is immediately relevant. With airtime limited, how are you going to maintain engagement with those critical to your business once you’ve told them all that is material? My suggestion: shut up and listen.

Listen intelligently. Understand what your data is telling you. Data is king right now. As is any qualitative information that provides you with a rich understanding of the wide-sweeping impact of this virus. Absorb it all.

It will give you the awareness critical to navigate through. It will have the effect of keeping you in touch. And in time it will provide the essential element to setting a strategy that sees you thrive in the “next normal”.

The first step in developing any strategy is to scan the environment. Make it part of your daily routine now. Seek to continuously improve the insights you are gleaning so your scan becomes more intelligent and poignant to your business’ role in the economy.

Stop obsessing on your share price. Instead, listen to your customers, your stakeholders and to society at large. Pay attention to what they are experiencing and their needs in this new world.

These insights will drive you to pivot, respond and strategise. Setting you up for relevance. With ongoing relevance comes survival.

Of course, listen to investors – but also understand that the volatility in the market reflects the current social hysteria, so getting a clear read, free from fear and emotion, will not be easy for a while. But just keep listening.

Listen to survive, and thrive, in the next normal.

That’s enough from me. I will shut up now.