Producing masks and future leaders

Our team in China recently visited a local surgical mask manufacturing company that's managed to operate 24/7 since the outbreak began (almost 50 days with multiple production lines and over a hundred rotating employees).

What's interesting and incredible to learn is that certain proactive officials in local governing entities essentially took a calculated risk and funded operations by purchasing six months' worth of inventory - and has guaranteed to pay for it all even if they don't fulfill the entire order (and to be honest, we should all be hoping that they don't).

Additionally, they've provided personnel support, IT systems, as well as established more efficient standard operating procedures (SOP) to ensure that the safest possible measures are in place to deliver the masks as part of a major collaborative undertaking in first getting the right supplies to the right people on the frontlines, then overseeing fair and effective distribution to non-medical essential services as well as the general population.

Surprisingly, our hosts and manufacturer representatives were the first ones to point out certain steps and methods that could've been done better given the benefit of hindsight. But they uniformly understand and acknowledge that without the swift and sum cooperation between and among so many moving elements of federal, municipal, industry, and citizen/compatriot levels that current circumstances could have been far far worse.

What's considerably revealing about this exchange is our collective dependency on those willing to or feeling compelled to lead versus those simply in positions of authority and the role that innovation plays during challenging times. We all have the capacity to actively try and take charge, but who we choose to follow during times of crisis is also a component of progress or descent.

// Joey Gu