CEOs Speak About Coping with the Pandemic
In a lively session, moderator Matt Heller, founder of Performance Optimist Consulting, generated some revealing dialogue about the ways that industry leaders have guided their organizations through the pandemic. The panelists included Geoff Chutter, CEO and president of WhiteWater; Journey Gunderson, executive director of the National Comedy Center; and David McKillips, CEO of CEC Entertainment, the parent company of Chuck E. Cheese.
To help get to know them, Heller asked the participants to identify the sound they love most at their companies. “The sound of a child laughing,” answered McKillips, which resonated with Gunderson. She said that the sound of people cracking up at the museum “brings her joy every time.”
On the topic of silver linings that the leaders discovered during the pandemic, Chutter said that Zoom and other virtual meetings allowed employees to spend more time with their families and more time getting to know one another. “It was important for us to stay connected,” he noted.
Staff at the Comedy Center, which was closed for many months, used the downtime to create a much-needed online platform, as well as produce a virtual comedy festival. “We were able to convene artists that we probably wouldn’t have been able to get otherwise,” Gunderson said, adding that the event featured Jimmy Fallon, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and “Weird Al” Yankovic.
When asked how the leaders have dealt with hiring and retention challenges during the pandemic, McKillips talked about a new program that CEC developed, “Work Today, Get Paid Tomorrow,” which literally put money in the hands of employees the next day after working. The CEO also said that listening to employees and showing them gratitude helped retain them, despite not being able to compete on wages with some of the big franchises. “I became the chief empathy officer,” he added.
Gunderson said that face masks remain an ongoing challenge at the museum. “Laughter is contagious both visually and audibly,” which she noted is important to encourage at the comedy museum. “Masks don’t help either of those things,” Gunderson added, acknowledging the irony of talking about something desirable being contagious during a pandemic.
Shipping and supply chain issues are hitting WhiteWater’s bottom line. A 40-foot container that used to cost $5,000 to ship from Asia to America now costs $30,000. “In many cases, the contents of the container are less in value than the shipping costs,” Chutter said. “There is a lot of pain on the supplier side.”
On the positive side, CEC’s McKillips said that everyone has learned the importance of family, friends, and relationships during the pandemic and that parks and attractions are ideally suited to capitalize on the desire to join together and celebrate.
“We’re so well positioned to be places that people want to seek out and create memories,” he said. “I think this is a long-term opportunity for all of us.”