In Business Magazine's November 2020 Issue

NOV. 2020

EN NEGOCIOS: A special section introducing our Spanish-language articles

As Business Changes, So Will

Our

Healthcare

Big Data

Provides Market Awareness

Learning Pods: The Future of the Workforce

Surprising Physical

Component to Intelligence $7.95 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

THIS ISSUE Global Chamber En Negocios

Return Stronger Access training programs for new career opportunities.

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Supported, in part, by funds available through the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) under Title 1B of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

We’re Making Our Mark on Medicine OptumCare® believes that great health begins by providing forwardthinking leadership in the discipline of medicine. So we proudly serve Phoenix with advanced health care at 16 clinics with over 40 providers, all dedicated to putting the patient first. We’re here to stay—and to move care in our community in bold new directions.

Find out more at professionals.optumcare.com.

©2020 Optum, Inc. All rights reserved.

OCTOBER 2020 COVER STORY

24

As Business Changes, So Will Our Healthcare

The current pandemic has pushed the boundaries of healthcare debate into a broad range of issues. Authorities in our community bring their experience and their expertise to share their perspective — and it may not be surprising that some of the same issues surface repeatedly, but are seen from different angles.

FEATURES

16

Learning Pods: The Future of the Workforce

Pods as an interior design trend has faded since the start of the pandemic, but Nicholas Wyman discusses pods as a concept that is not about physical space.

44

Big Data Principles Help Brands Understand Market Position

Frances Zelazny examines what brands should look at to make strategic decisions and plan for the future.

52

Truckers: The Hidden Heroes of COVID-19

Jack Whatley spotlights the role of trucking to sustain commerce — ‘e’ and otherwise — as goods must be moved in the real world.

DEPARTMENTS

9 SPECIAL SECTION

Guest Editor

Cara M. Christ, M.D., M.S., director of Arizona Department of Health Services, introduces the “Healthcare” issue.

10

Feedback

Matthew Fehling, Stephen Jordan and Doug Leventhal respond to In Business Magazine’s burning business question of the month.

11 32

En Negocios

PARTNER SECTION

Briefs

“Subchapter V 11 Bankruptcy Saves Companies Significant Time and Money,” “Turnkey Re-Entry Platform,” “Private Investment Marketplace Digitized,” “Marketing and Chatbox Solution for Homebuilders,” “Ensure Recorded Zoom Interviews Look as Professional as Possible,” “The Eyes Have It,” “Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy,” “CorkBird Bolsters Its ‘Buy Local’ Mission” and “Innovative Technology Helps Advance WaveMAX Laundromats”

14

By the Numbers

Vacation shaming takes on new meaning during the pandemic.

15

Startups

“Marketing Agency Founded on Motherhood’s Rich Range of Skill Sets” and “Mythion Games: Monthly Adventures in Interactive and Nostalgic Fiction”

45

Global Chamber

NOV. 2020

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17

CRE

“COVID Inspired Change in Home Design,” “Boutique Vision for Copper Square Hi-Rise,” “Office Condos Serve Pent-Up Demand for Medical,” “Sundt Completes Two Health Clinics,” “Adaptive Reuse of Historic Potato Barn in Gilbert” and “$1.5B Global Logistics Park in Glendale”

20

Healthcare

“Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three” and “Helping Employees Get the Most Value out of Their Dental Benefits”

22

Technology

“Cloud-based Solutions for Salesforce” and “It’s the Employees’ World, and HR Is Just Living in It”

45

Books

New releases give fresh insights on business thinking.

46

From the Top

Alta Southwest founders Dan Vermeer and Dan Speck determined their experience and network was too valuable to languish in retirement.

47

Social Impact

Focusing this month on Four Peaks Brewery, Tyler Butler’s series explores the myriad ways businesses give back and the positive ways their programs impact our community.

48

Economy

Nearly all education businesses have been impacted by COVID-19.

Here’s how one, in particular, is adapting.

50

Legal

Local attorney discusses varied concerns should consider for safeguarding themselves from legal risk during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.

53

Nonprofit

As organizations turn to virtual events, Jeri Kendle offers strategies to maximize return on this fundraising vehicle.

54

Assets

2021 Genesis GV80 Plus: Automation provides “handwritten notes” to personalize communication.

56

Power Lunch

Mr. Mesquite Taqueria: Mexican Street Food Experience

64

Roundtable

Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton explore how the physical intelligence in our bodies impact workplace performance.

According to a study released last month by Hibob, a vast majority of employees (93%) have seen a direct impact from COVID — either from personal or family illness, or changes to their financial situation due to the economic environment. When experiencing these external changes, employee satisfaction dropped by 27% and mental health and wellbeing dropped a staggering 33%. hibob.com

Nov. 2020

Hi Phoenix, Let’s spend smarter.

In Business Magazine is a collaboration of many business organizations and entities throughout the metropolitan Phoenix area and Arizona. Our mission is to inform and energize business in this community by communicating content that will build business and enrich the economic picture for all of us vested in commerce.

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS Kristen Merrifield, CEO Alliance of Arizona Nonprofits (602) 279-2966 www.arizonanonprofits.org Jess Roman, Chief Executive Officer Arizona Small Business Association Central Office (602) 306-4000 www.asba.com

Learn more at getdivvy.com/phx1

Steven G. Zylstra, President & CEO Arizona Technology Council One Renaissance Square (602) 343-8324 www.aztechcouncil.org Doug Bruhnke, Founder & President Global ChamberÂŽ (480) 595-5000 www.globalchamber.org Jean Briese, President NAWBO Phoenix Metro Chapter (480) 289-5768 www.nawbophx.org Anne Gill, President & CEO Tempe Chamber of Commerce (480) 967-7891 www.tempechamber.org Our Partner Organizations are vested business organizations focused on building and improving business in the Valley or throughout Arizona. As Partners, each will receive three insert publications each year to showcase all that they are doing for business and businesspeople within our community. We encourage you to join these and other organizations to better your business opportunities.

The members of these and other Associate Partner Organizations receive a subscription to In Business Magazine each month. For more information on becoming an Associate Partner, please contact our publisher at info@inbusinessmag.com.

ASSOCIATE PARTNERS Ahwatukee Foothills Chamber of Commerce ahwatukeechamber.com Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry azchamber.com Arizona Hispanic Chamber of Commerce azhcc.com The Black Chamber of Arizona phoenixblackchamber.com Chandler Chamber of Commerce chandlerchamber.com Economic Club of Phoenix econclubphx.org Glendale Chamber of Commerce glendaleazchamber.org Greater Phoenix Chamber of Commerce phoenixchamber.com Greater Phoenix Equality Chamber of Commerce gpglcc.org Mesa Chamber of Commerce mesachamber.org North Phoenix Chamber of Commerce northphoenixchamber.com Peoria Chamber of Commerce peoriachamber.com Phoenix Metro Chamber of Commerce phoenixmetrochamber.com Scottsdale Area Chamber of Commerce scottsdalechamber.com Surprise Regional Chamber of Commerce surpriseregionalchamber.com WESTMARC westmarc.org

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Nov. 2020

VOL. 11, NO. 11

Publisher Editor En Negocios Editor Graphic Design

Rick McCartney RaeAnne Marsh Edgar Rafael Olivo Benjamin Little

Contributing Writers Ahmad Alatrash Naser Alatrash Tyler Butler Claire Dale Rick Elmore Paul Fleming D. Lamar Hawkins Mike Hunter Jeri Kendle Kassidy McDonald Joe Mizzi Heather Mollon Patricia Peyton Robert S. Reder Todd Sumney Lina Tonk Jack Whatley Keith Yaskin Frances Zelazny ADVERTISING

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Business Development Louise Ferrari Cami Shore

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www.inmediacompany.com Vol. 11, No. 11 In Business Magazine is published 12 times per year by InMedia Company. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003. To subscribe to In Business Magazine, please send check or money order for one-year subscription of $24.95 to InMedia Company, 45 W. Jefferson Street, Phoenix, AZ 85003 or visit inbusinessphx.com. We appreciate your editorial submissions, news and photos for review by our editorial staff. You may send to editor@inbusinessmag.com or mail to the address above. All letters sent to In Business Magazine will be treated as unconditionally assigned for publication, copyright purposes and use in any publication, website or brochure. InMedia accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs or other artwork. Submissions will not be returned unless accompanied by a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

InMedia Company, LLC reserves the right to refuse certain advertising and is not liable for advertisers’ claims and/or errors. The opinions expressed herein are exclusively those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect the position of InMedia. InMedia Company considers its sources reliable and verifies as much data as possible, although reporting inaccuracies can occur; consequently, readers using this information do so at their own risk. Each business opportunity and/or investment inherently contains certain risks, and it is suggested that the prospective investors consult their attorney and/or financial professional. Š2020 InMedia Company, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without written permission by any means without written permission by the publisher.

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CARA M. CHRIST, M.D., M.S., ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH SERVICES

A Time to Focus on Health

Cara M. Christ, M.D., M.S., became director for the Arizona Department of Health Services in May 2015. Dr. Christ has served the agency for more than nine years. Among her many accomplishments at ADHS, Dr. Christ collaborated with health partners and stakeholders — including the Governor’s Council on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response — to develop strategic plans for infectious disease prevention and control. She was involved in leading statewide efforts during the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, and worked with partners to find solutions to improve childhood vaccination programs. In 2012, Dr. Christ managed the development and implementation of 20 Articles of Arizona Administrative Code for Health Care Institutions, allowing integration of physical and behavioral health services statewide.

Healthcare is an essential part of the conversation when it comes to business and making Arizona a great place to live, work and raise our families. Across all industries, businesses have been critical partners in reducing the spread of COVID-19 in our communities. Meanwhile, those in the healthcare sector have worked tirelessly to care for patients and look out for the health of their employees.

This has been a difficult year in so many ways, but working together we’ve kept Arizona moving forward. To reduce the spread of COVID-19, Arizonans have embraced wearing masks, maintaining social distance, frequent handwashing and other steps that are so important to public health.

Businesses have been leaders in these efforts by helping customers and employees protect themselves and their loved ones. Meanwhile, COVID-19 benchmarks developed in collaboration with business leaders have allowed for the safe, phased reopening of higher-risk industries based on Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidance, the White House Coronavirus Task Force metrics, and expert advice from the medical and public health community.

We know COVID-19 has been a real challenge for many businesses, and we know the impact the virus and public health measures have had. Our commitment is to keep Arizonans as healthy and safe as possible, and we appreciate the commitment of Arizonans throughout this pandemic.

I was honored to be featured as a Woman of Achievement in last month’s issue of In Business Magazine and am pleased to help present this month’s healthcare edition of In Business Magazine.

Healthcare is the subject of the cover story in this November issue. COVID-19 testing is one current focus area, but experts also address healthcare-related employment and workforce matters, trends in healthcare delivery, and an example of businesses coming together to reach underserved populations in our community.

As commerce continues and businesses move ahead, principles of big data can help in strategic decision-making. In this month’s feature article, Frances Zelazny discusses how brands can use big data to understand their market position. The Roundtable article looks inward for sources to enhance decision making, as Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton explain the concept of physical intelligence and examine how it functions in both the mind and the body.

Briefs articles include a review of a new bankruptcy option for businesses and suggestions for creating the best impression when conducting or taking part in a Zoom interview. Healthcare includes an article on how employers can help their employees get the most out of their dental coverage, as oral care is increasingly recognized as an important factor in a person’s overall health. Another feature focuses in on trucking and truckers as an essential part of the economy.

This November issue of In Business Magazine also includes select articles from our ongoing Spanish-language En Negocios at InBusinessPhx.com.

Dr. Christ obtained her master’s degree in microbiology with an emphasis in molecular virology and public health. She earned her Doctor of Medicine from the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

Cara M. Christ, M.D., M.S. Director Arizona Department of Health Services

These times call for great care — great healthcare, for sure. With

over these past months has especially challenged her and the population she

and other cares during COVID-19, it is imperative that we take a

oversees during this pandemic. Her

strong look at how we are protecting the health of our workers and

expertise and push to do what is right for our health and our

ensuring their healthcare coverage complies with the “new” needs

businesses is a tough line to walk. She has done an incredible job

we can only imagine are on the horizon. In this edition, we begin

getting us through it — with, certainly, more to come. Here’s to

this conversation with those in the know.

keeping Arizona healthy and businesses open at the same time.

We want to thank Dr. Cara Christ for leading this issue. Her work

CONNECT WITH US: Story Ideas/PR: editor@ inbusinessphx.com

businesses working hard to go back, protecting our employees

DON’T MISS OUT!

Stay informed on business topics in Spanish through En Negocios, articles for Spanish-speaking readers in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Visit inbusinessphx.com/ ennegocios for more information.

Sincerely,

The New Necessary Healthcare

Get a year of In Business Magazine Subscribe now at inbusinessphx.com

EN NEGOCIOS Manténgase informado sobre temas empresariales en español a través de En Negocios, artículos para los lectores de habla hispana en el área metropolitana de Phoenix.

Visite inbusinessphx.com/ ennegocios para más información.

Business Events/ Connections: businessevents@ inbusinessphx.com Marketing/Exposure: advertise@ inbusinessphx.com Visit us online at www.inbusinessphx.com

—Rick McCartney, Publisher

Let us know what you think of this issue of In Business Magazine. Email our publisher at feedback@inbusinessmag.com.

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SPEAKING OUT

What is the top health & wellness benefit concern of your employees, and how are you addressing their needs?

FEEDBACK QUESTION: Let us know what you want to know from the Valley’s top business leaders. editor@inbusinessphx.com

For all past Feedbacks go online to inbusinessphx.com and see what Valley executives think on various business topics.

NOV. 2020

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MATTHEW FEHLING

STEPHEN JORDAN

DOUG LEVENTHAL

President and CEO Better Business Bureau Pacific Southwest Sector: Nonprofit

Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer Desert Financial Credit Union Sector: Financial

Principal and Chief Operating Officer Evergreen Devco, Inc. Sector: Real Estate

The Covid-19 pandemic helped us focus on the overall well-being of our employees, whether it is workplace safety, personal finances or benefits. In short, do employees truly believe that we have their backs, especially during this time of need?

The answer is yes! We offer comprehensive benefits that include free medical, dental and vision benefits for individual coverage as well as 401(k) and retirement contributions. This year, we partnered with InStride and ASU to offer employees 100% tuition coverage for online undergraduate degrees. Our overall benefits package is truly robust.

But we also knew that we needed to do more in other areas to help employees feel fully supported.

When the pandemic struck, we expanded our sick-time benefits for employees to use for COVID-related illnesses or concerns. We provided incentive and commission floors so that employees’ pocketbooks were protected. During the past six months, Desert Financial spent $1.6 million on various forms of financial support for employees for their peace of mind.

These days, a holistic focus on employee well-being is vital.

Right now, flexibility to work from home during the pandemic is very important. In March, Evergreen moved our workforce to work-from-home. As a result, parents working from home who are helping their school-aged children navigate online learning can schedule their day around their kids. People worried about close contact with others can rest easy knowing there’s no immediate obligation to return to work. Others enjoy their ability to work in the office when they want, based on their comfort level.

Evergreen is also working to engage our employees in fun, meaningful ways to maintain our culture and the friendships we value during this physical separation.

In addition to our bi-weekly “town hall” meetings, we enjoy small-group meetings and other virtual activities, to catch-up with each other.

We believe now, more than ever, it’s critically important to understand our employees’ needs, so we regularly check in, virtually and through anonymous surveys, to better understand how everyone is doing and asses their needs.

We want to ensure our people come back to the same, great “family” culture we have enjoyed for the last 46 years!

Desert Financial Credit Union desertfinancial.com

Doug Leventhal is Evergreen’s chief operating officer. He joined Evergreen in 2001. He is involved with all aspects of Evergreen’s retail commercial development as well as overseeing the day-to-day operational aspects of the company. Leventhal received his bachelor’s degree in economics from Oglethorpe University in Atlanta, Georgia, and both a Master of Architecture and Master of Business Administration from Arizona State University.

This year has been tough. We can’t control much of anything right now, but we can do our best to help our employees feel supported at work. We pivoted nearly overnight to a workfrom-anywhere philosophy that added distractions and lacked routine, which took a mental toll on us all.

At BBB, we provide many benefits like medical insurance and generous paid time off, but we stepped up during this hardship. Our team needed more ways to stay in touch in this overly digital time, so the theme Connected w/ BBB was quickly woven into all our staff programs.

We started a pen pal program, parent support group and diversity committee.

Then, we added Google Chat Rooms to host spirit weeks that encourage fun breaks throughout the workday. And when times get overwhelming, our new benefit, Lifeguides, is ready with peer-to-peer support to help address wellness and work-life balance.

We’re truly only as good as the people who work for us, and we’re honored to do our part to advance our mission of trust led by this amazing team.

Better Business Bureau Serving the Pacific Southwest bbbcommunity.org For the last 25 years, Matthew Fehling has dedicated his career to ensuring BBB remains a relevant and trusted source. Fehling was appointed president of BBB Serving the Pacific Southwest in 2006, which is one of the largest and most innovative BBB’s in the nation. He has served in several distinctive and vital roles across the country, including those at the International Association of BBBs.

Stephen Jordan is the chief financial officer for Desert Financial Credit Union, the largest Arizona-based credit union, with $6.3 billion in assets and 341,000 members. Desert Financial’s focus is to “Give and Grow” throughout the state.

As a member-owned, not-for-profit financial institution, we share our success with our members, community and employees.

Sign up for the monthly In Business Magazine eNewsletter at www.inbusinessphx.com. Look for survey questions and other research on our business community.

Evergreen Devco, Inc. evgre.com

QUICK AND TO THE POINT

BYTES

Turnkey Re-Entry Platform MTX has successfully developed hundreds of projects for towns, cities and states across the country as part of its Emergency Response Management platform. Now, it has continued that approach with the release of its turnkey platforms for both workforce re-entry and education re-entry. The platforms, aptly named MTX SafeCheck: School Edition and MTX SafeCheck: Business Edition, are designed to handle everything businesses and schools need to safely reopen, from health monitoring, testing scheduling and healthy practice promotion to shift management and planning or even employee wellness assessments. mtxb2b.com/s

Subchapter V 11 Bankruptcy Saves Companies Significant Time and Money COVID-19 shutdowns crippled many Arizona companies, with some going out of business permanently. Others are considering bankruptcy, but question whether they can afford the $40,000 to $75,000 that a Classic Chapter 11 often costs. Fortunately, they now have a better option that saves as much as 50% in legal fees.

In August, Arizona confirmed its first Subchapter V Chapter 11, a new form of bankruptcy the federal government created to streamline the Chapter 11 bankruptcy process. Debtors with less than $7.5 million in primarily business debt can restructure their debts into a payment they can afford and discharge significant unsecured debt.

In the Subchapter V 11, all that must be proven is that the Plan of Reorganization is “fair and equitable.” Although there are various tests for what that means for different types of creditors, that proof is much easier than the Classic 11 requirements.

Another unique aspect of a Subchapter V 11 is the appointment of an assistant, helper and negotiator called a “trustee.” The V trustee’s job is to help the debtor through the process, negotiate as needed with creditors and help make sure the debtor gets its plan confirmed as quickly as possible. A standard Subchapter V 11 plan is for three years, but can be shorter or longer depending upon the facts and circumstances of the case and negotiations with creditors.

If the debtor’s plan is “consensual” with the creditors, the debtors can achieve their discharge on the same date as the Court confirms the plan. Confirmation can occur within five months of the bankruptcy filing. Compared to the three- to five-year delay in a Chapter 13 or the extensive delay in a Classic 11, Subchapter V 11 gets companies and individuals back on their feet much faster.

—D. Lamar Hawkins, an attorney with Guidant Law Firm in Tempe (guidant.law) and chair of the Arizona Board of Legal Specialization’s Bankruptcy Law Advisory Commission

Private Investment Marketplace Digitized A catalyst for investment opportunities, Phoenixbased WealthVP offers the first platform to digitize a traditionally old-school, word-of-mouth space, and the first to focus on Family Offices vs. venture capitalists. Using a proprietary algorithm, the fintech company virtually matches qualified private companies seeking capital — with a heavy focus on minorityowned and woman-owned software and sustainability companies — with purpose-driven Family Office investors from all over the country and world. Currently, focusing on Arizona companies, WealthVP launched the beta version of its SaaS platform in October, with official launch planned for January. wealthvp.com

Marketing and Chatbox Solution for Homebuilders HCP from Chandler-based ApostleTech, a leader in Salesforce application implementations and consulting, is a CRM solution built on the power of Salesforce and designed specifically for small to mid-sized homebuilding companies.

Drawing on its experience building robust customized CRM solutions, ApostleTech’s development team configured HCP with front- and back-end integrations that allow homebuilders to manage their sales team operations in one system. And ApostleTech is now collaborating with AtlasRTX, an AI sales and chatbot technology solution, to enhance HCP’s marketing capabilities by adding chatbot tools to HCP, which allows users to track and engage leads through the sales process. apostletech.com

Arizona courts recently confirmed the state's first Subchapter V Chapter 11 bankruptcy, which took only five months and cost the company half what a Chapter 11 would have.

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QUICK AND TO THE POINT

Ensure Recorded Zoom Interviews Look as Professional as Possible In today’s environment, some organizations are turning to video platforms such as Zoom when face-to-face video production poses challenges. It’s worth the effort to ensure a recorded Zoom interview looks as professional as possible. Here are some tips to make sure participants are doing it right.

1. Pick a video conferencing platform allowing participants to easily record interviews.

2. Practice recording an interview prior to the real thing.

3. Provide interviewees tips on choosing on-camera locations without noises, harsh light and distracting backgrounds.

4. Encourage interviewees to use virtual backgrounds only as a last resort.

5. Get a phone number to ensure there can communicate with participants if technical issues prevent the interview from starting smoothly.

6. Tell people to feel free to demonstrate something or display props during the interview.

7. Record interviews to an external hard drive to ensure sufficient space for saved video files.

8. Get online early to adjust settings and provide sufficient time to handle any technical issues.

9. Select the setting to optimize video for a third-party editing software.

10. Decide whether to record the interview in speaker or gallery view, which includes a split screen of interviewer and interviewee.

11. Those conducting the interview should make sure to follow the tips themselves on choosing on-camera locations if they also will be visible during the interview 12. Prior to the interview beginning, check if the interviewee has too much headroom, needs to adjust items around in the background or should close blinds to improve lighting.

13. Ask interviewees to ensure their backgrounds don’t include any proprietary information or personal pictures they prefer the public not see.

14. Remind people to look at their computers’ camera during the interview.

15. If people indicate they plan to reference notes during the interview, explain it’s better they speak from the heart. Viewers often can tell when people are reading on camera.

16. Repeat a question if the audio drops or there is distracting background noise during an answer.

17. Request people send video and still photography, which the interviewer can use to help ensure the edited videos are as visually compelling as possible.

18. Think creatively when shooting and editing. Ask all interviews to appear on screen simultaneously. Request them to hold up signs with key phrases. Include split screens, titles and graphics in the edited video.

—Keith Yaskin, president of The Flip Side Communications LLC (theflipsidecommunications.com) — a media company that helps companies tell their stories through video production, public relations, media training and employee communications — whose 17 years’ experience as a TV reporter, primarily an investigative journalist, includes winning three Emmys and three first place Associated Press Awards

When eyelash extensions first hit the market, they were a very exclusive trend due to high prices and limited locations. Amazing Lash Studio has been filling a gap in the industry by making the service available to the masses with its more accessible price point.

Since the pandemic started, Amazing Lash Studio is seeing an increase in new client trials, with new members converting at 50% which is considerably higher than before COVID-19 began impacting the U.S. in March.

While eyelash extensions having been growing in popularity for women of all ages — from millennials to baby boomers — Zoom video calls and mandated face masks since the emergence of COVID-19 have shifted the focus

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of beauty to the eyes, making lash extensions even more in demand.

Amazing Lash Studio was founded in 2010 when the first studio opened in Houston, Texas.

The national beauty brand is expanding in the Phoenix-area market; Amazing Lash Studio, headquartered in Scottsdale, has 14 Valleywide locations, just opened a new location in Central Phoenix and Mesa Shores, and will be opening a new studio in Goodyear by the end of the year. Furthermore, in May, seven corporately-owned Arizona Amazing Lash Studio locations were acquired by a local multiunit investor.

—Mike Hunter Amazing Lash Studio amazinglashstudio.com

There is a greater consumer interest in eye makeup overall. In fact, lipstick sales saw the biggest drop in the U.S. with Amazon tracking a 15% decline, compared with a 5% increase for eye cosmetics in the four weeks leading up to April 11 (“Face masks may have killed off the ‘lipstick index.’ What’s the lipstick index?”; Fortune; July 7, 2020) fortune.com

Photo courtesy of Amazing Lash Studio (bottom)

The Eyes Have It

Innovative Technology Helps Advance WaveMAX Laundromats Even amid a pandemic, leading laundromat franchise WaveMAX continues to thrive and has elected to initiate an aggressive national expansion strategy, of which Arizona, specifically Phoenix, is part. The brand’s Q1 and Q2 performance has primed it to forge ahead confidently into the remainder of the year as the demand for cleanliness among consumers and business owners is at an all-time high. “There’s definite demand for high quality laundromats in Phoenix.

In fact, the industry has been fragmented in the area for decades with no dominant brand – we’re looking to change this,” says Dennis Mulgannon, director of franchising. Its laundromats use equipment he describes as “ahead of the curve as far as technology and

efficiency,” with features that directly address coronavirus sanitizing needs and an app that notifies customers of when their loads are complete, cutting down on traffic related to people checking the time on their machines.

“Plus,” says Mulgannon, “the value proposition of the franchise opportunity is great for investors as we build out and operate in smaller, more efficient footprints, allowing investors to get more ROI, faster.”

He describes the franchise as an “investor” model with semi-passive ownership (“Franchisees can keep their day job.”). “We entered the market approximately two years ago and already have four franchise partners developing eight stores.”

—Mike Hunter WaveMAX Laundry wavemaxlaundry.com

CorkBird Bolsters Its ‘Buy Local’ Mission CorkBird was officially launched at the end in February of this year with the aim to help people understand what was going on around them and get them out into the community and interacting with local businesses and organizations. Explains founder Matthew Bedwell, “The way the app works is, you can click your current location or type in a neighborhood or city. With any of those, the app identifies a specific point, whether that’s where your feet are or the center of that neighborhood or city. You then select a radius (from 1 mile to 25) and it will show you everything posted within that radius from the location you selected.”

“Be with humans” was the motto. But that had to change with the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. While still focusing on helping people engage, like going out to a local restaurant, CorkBird has modified its mission to focus on supporting local businesses through these trying times. And rather than only encouraging businesses to use the free app, CorkBird decided to support local businesses directly by buying $50,000 in

gift cards from 50 different local businesses.

“We took $50,000 out of our marketing budget and bought the gift cards directly,” says Bedwell. “We had no sponsors and no deals with any business we bought from. I actually drove around to everyone and bought them myself over the course of a week. With everything going on with COVID-19 and its impact on local businesses, we thought that many could use the cash.”

Supporting local businesses had been a central pillar as they built the app, so, says Bedwell, “We thought, ‘Why not put our money where our mouth is and help them directly?’ It was a risk because it was the majority of our marketing budget to build our initial audience but even if it did not work there are worse things to do than spending $50,000 on awesome local businesses. This particular give away goes through the end of the year and if we are successful, we would love to make this type of giveaway, buying directly from local to give to users, a regular occurrence.” —RaeAnne Marsh CorkBird corkbird.com

LOOKING GOOD

Local Standouts Recognized for Achievements and Philanthropy ACHIEVEMENTS

Fintrepid Solutions Wins M&A Award Scottsdale-based Fintrepid Solutions, one of the Valley’s leading financial services firms, was recently awarded the 2020 Mergers and Acquisitions Firm of the Year for the Southwestern U.S. by Acquisition International for its team efforts in partnering with businesses seeking to buy and sell. Having supported nearly 100 clients since its founding in 2016, Fintrepid Solutions helps them navigate the current, challenging business environment as they grow and evolve. acq-intl.com • fintrepidsolutions.com

Equality Health Wins IT Innovation Award Equality Health, a whole-health delivery system, recently received Health Current’s 2020 Health IT Innovation Award for its leading-edge health information technology that improves care coordination and paves the way for value-based care transformation.

This annual award presented by Health Current, the health information exchange of Arizona, recognizes an organization that demonstrates innovative uses of health IT to achieve the triple aim of better care, better outcomes and lower costs. equalityhealth.com

PHILANTHROPY

Cox Employees Support Arizona Charities One hundred eleven Arizona nonprofit organizations will be receiving nearly $560,000 in grant funding through Cox Communications’ employee-directed Cox Charities; amounts range from $2,500 to $10,000.

Most of the funds awarded came from the generous donations of Cox’s 3,100 Arizona employees. Since the program’s inception in 1996, Cox Charities has awarded approximately $8.5 million to local Arizona nonprofits that support youth and education. cox.com

Jabz Joins Fight for Cancer Prevention Jabz, a full-body circuit-style workout that utilizes boxing-inspired exercises, last month partnered with nonprofit Bright Pink, hosting a series of donation-based classes for a week to benefit Bright Pink’s mission to save lives from breast and ovarian cancer by empowering women to know their risk and manage their health proactively. brightpink.org • jabzboxing.com

PHX Beer Co.’s Meals for Med Staff Culminating its recent Help our Healthcare Heroes initiative encouraging donations from customers, local restaurant and brewery PHX Beer Co. recently donated 300 meals to doctors, nurses and staff at HonorHealth Scottsdale Osborn Medical Center and HonorHealth’s Shea location. phxbeerco.com

Modifying its launch in response to COVID-19, Phoenix startup CorkBird decided to support local businesses directly by buying $50,000 in gift cards from 50 different local businesses. Through the end of the year, CorkBird will be holding drawings to give away $50 gift cards to these businesses to users who post on CorkBird about local businesses or organizations they love. corkbird.com

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METRICS & MEASUREMENTS

Vacations: Take a Break, Please!

Vacation shaming takes on new meaning during the pandemic

by Joe Mizzi

This Robert Half survey of more than 1,000 workers typically employed in office environment in the U.S. was conducted July 16-22, 2020.

There is a growing trend to remind employees to “use your vacation days,” despite work demands and travel limitations.

In a recent survey of more than 1,000 workers conducted by global staffing firm Robert Half, nearly 4 in 10 workers surveyed (38%) said their employer has encouraged them to take time off.

While 55% report having received no communication about using vacation days, and 7% report being discouraged from taking time off, that “encouraged” 38% is up significantly from the 25% found in our survey three months earlier. Of these respondents, 68% said their company has increased communication about the importance of using vacation days.

HOW HAS “VACATION SHAMING” EVOLVED IN OUR CURRENT WORK ENVIRONMENT?

The term “vacation shaming” has taken on a new meaning during the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, vacation shaming meant being guilted by one’s boss or colleagues for taking time off from work. Now, it’s the opposite — workers are feeling pressured by their company or boss to use their vacation days.

We’re seeing this trend throughout the county and definitely in Phoenix.

WHY DO EMPLOYERS FEEL VACATION TIME IS IMPORTANT ENOUGH TO WARRANT THIS ATTENTION? Joe Mizzi is a career expert with the professional staffing firm Robert Half, in its Phoenix office. roberthalf.com

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Now more than ever, employers recognize their staff have been managing work demands alongside family responsibilities for several months now. A big reason employers are encouraging staff to take time off is to avoid burnout. The pandemic combined with family and work responsibilities will take its toll, and people need to take some time to unplug and recharge. While time-off and vacation plans have been disrupted for many people, employers want

As of September, 38% of workers say their employer has encouraged them to take time off, up from 25% three months previous.

to make sure their staff are taking care of themselves and disconnecting from work to recharge, even if they have nowhere to go.

HOW CAN MANAGERS CULTIVATE A VACATION-TAKING CULTURE?

We often see that the culture of an organization is set by its leaders’ behaviors. Managers should lead by example and use their vacation days.

Managers should create a clear vacation policy and encourage staff to take time off from work. They should ask workers to request time off as far in advance as possible and, of course, make sure there is adequate coverage for employees who may be out of the office. It’s best to divide the work of an “out-of-office” staff member among several employees as well as temporary staff to ensure tasks get done and deadlines are met.

A Nudge to Unplug Top Ways Companies Are Encouraging Employees to Use Their Vacation Days Method

Percentage

Increasing communication about the importance of taking time off

68%

Instituting an unlimited vacation policy

28%

Limiting the number of vacation days employees can take in a given time period (e.g., the fourth quarter)

28%

Allowing employees to cash out vacation days

24%

Allowing employees to donate their vacation time to colleagues

18%

Source: Robert Half (www.roberthalf.com/research-and-insights/infographic-library)

BY RAEANNE MARSH

ENTREPRENEURS & INNOVATORS

Mythion Games: Monthly Adventures in Interactive and Nostalgic Fiction Mythion Games was founded last year as an independent game development company focused on the continued development and growth of the mobile, multi-player, interactive fiction game Mythion Adventures. “Our goal is to bring the genre of interactive fiction to the next generation of players, while stoking the nostalgia of those who have been fans since the beginning,” says Kyle Aulerich, co-founder and CEO of Mythion Games and a Chandler-based tech entrepreneur who previously built three other tech companies.

“The biggest challenge is that from the very beginning we knew we were primarily a content company. As a result, it was imperative that we find and hire the right people who understand and believe in the mission, and have the ability to world-build. This is instrumental to our success,” Aulerich shares. The company is built on a subscription model, and releases a new adventure and short story every month — with some bonus adventures planned for the upcoming holidays.

Following the advice “Build something you’d like to play” and aware of the tendency to focus on the hard-core players of the genre and ignore the larger casual player, Aulerich says, “We wanted to strike a good balance between the two. There is enough lore for those who want to really get into the world and characters but it’s intuitive enough to get started playing immediately with friends, casually, throughout the day.”

The advice also informed the tough decisions to not include ads or micro transactions, which is common in interactive

fiction gaming. “As players, we hate ads and hate to have to buy coins or something similar to progress through a game. We wanted to deliver the cleanest and best player experience and felt that the best approach was to offer the first adventure and associated lore for free, so interested players could experience the entire game mechanics, then, if they like our content, they can sign up for a monthly subscription."

Mythion Games mythiongames.com

Photo courtesy of Mythion Games

Marketing Agency Founded on Motherhood’s Rich Range of Skill Sets E Squared Marketing is a boutique digital marketing agency founded and operated by a team of powerhouse women who bring a personal touch to everything they do. The “all women” approach was and remains a central principle for founder and owner Ashley Richards, who sees motherhood as providing the requisite job experience for employment and championed work-from-home long before the pandemic made that option common.

Richards sees raising a child as one of the most rewarding and challenging jobs a mother can face in her lifetime, an environment that fosters learning quickly to adapt to an ever-changing environment. A skills assessment would show acquired expertise at negotiation tactics, time management, effective communication, people management and problem solving along with organizational skills.

When founding E Squared Marketing back in 2017, Richards believed there was a need for a company that allowed women to put these skills to use while still maintaining the flexibility working mothers need in their lives. This is precisely the reason why Richards put more

emphasis on remote working and life balance instead of the more traditional office setting.

“After becoming pregnant with my daughter, I realized I was not ready to leave my newborn at home to return to the typical 8 to 5 job,” Richards relates. “With my years of experience in digital marketing and my love for the profession, I knew there was a way for me to have the best of both worlds. I created E Squared Marketing to inspire and empower working mothers, giving them the ability to have a great work-life balance that accommodates motherhood. The name E Squared Marketing is even named after my two kids — Ellie and Eli.” Observing that this industry is always evolving, Richards says staying on top of the current trends is a fun part of the job. “Movement forward allows for learning, perfecting and growing in your profession and in life,” she says. “Motherhood and a career can go hand in hand for women if they have the drive, passion and motivation to do them both. Our business was built on this balance, and I am honored to help bridge the gap of these two incredible dynamics in a woman’s life.”

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E Squared Marketing esquaredmarketing.com

A poll conducted by Alignable for its State of Small Business: Road to Recovery Report, October Edition, found the No. 1 recovery concern among SMBs is their financial reserves could run out. When asked what would help them the most right now, 35% said reducing the COVID case levels to increase consumer confidence; only 21% said more federal relief like the PPP would be most helpful. alignable.com

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OUR SUBJECT IN-DEPTH

Learning Pods: The Future of the Workforce Pods need not always be about physical space

by Nicholas Wyman

Nicholas Wyman is a future work expert, author, speaker and president of IWSI America (Institute for Workplace Skills and Innovation). iwsiamerica.org

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Mention heutagogy, and there will be blank stares. It’s an approach that celebrates self-directed lifelong learning skills and is a good fit for workplaces. The term was coined some two decades ago.

It’s not necessarily a solo activity, either. Learning hooks into social and emotional domains and is a skill one needs to keep sharp and finesse.

The World Bank has been on about lifelong learning’s crucial role for the global knowledge economy for 25 years.

It’s become increasingly essential for creating and retaining knowledge to survive in our 21st-century globalized world.

Heutagogy highlights learners as independent, but more so interdependent. Researcher Linda Orwin talks about it building each person’s capability so they know how to learn, use creativity to apply their skills in novel and familiar situations, believe they’ve got the skills to tackle future challenges, and work well with others.

It approaches learning on two levels: acquiring knowledge and skills or competencies as well as deeper learning driven by the learner’s needs and motivation. As one of the early writers in this space says, heutagogy is about the questions that the learning experience raises rather than just providing answers.

So, what’s the focus of that learning?

Orwin, whose table comparing pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy continues to do the rounds online, explains: “[They] can go beyond problem solving by enabling proactivity. Learners use their own and others’ experiences and internal processes such as reflection, environmental scanning, experience, interaction with others and proactive as well as problem-solving behaviours.”

Aren’t these fundamental skills needed for work?

Heutagogy can manifest in the workplace through the form of learning pods — yes, styled on those springing up across the nation due to pandemic-induced school shutdowns.

Usually, three to 10 students gather in-person in one of their homes or some other learning space with a tutor/teacher to guide their learning. Pods offer learners social and emotional support they get from learning with their peers.

Why should school-age kids have all the fun?

Reframing workplaces as “sites of learning” and “communities of practices” means the hard slog of just a job takes on quite a different perspective. In these heutagogical learning pods, supervisors and managers are problemsolvers, trouble shooters and general consultants. Workers are neither passive nor dependent on the boss. Instead, as learners, they build competence and independence in their roles. No, it’s not about innovations in individual work pods that COVID-19 has prompted.

In the workplace, such pods can spring up based on specific projects, problems, tasks, even learning programs. They can

be in-person or online, so they’re technology agnostic. Staff don’t have to be “in the pod” for their full workday — they can move fluidly from different pods as their work needs change throughout the day, for instance. The workplace makes that call.

Learning pods aren’t just a group of people collaborating, but one where everyone embraces and upskills with a focus on a particular project/problem. A facilitator (team leader or manager) mentors pod members to develop and refine the skills Orwin mentions above. That’s an important point about the facilitator: Staff need modelling, guiding and training on how to become self-directed learners. That means structure — organizational protocols and processes — is needed, so staff know what to do and how to do it.

Otherwise, the staff will go back to their old ways. That’s much like schoolteachers who work in innovative learning environments with movable furniture and flexible floor plans.

Without training, they stick to their comfort zone of traditional practices. Consider integrating the training on how to work within a pod actually within a learning pod — learning while doing, if you like.

To use an example, if staff need to tackle a unit of e-learning, why sit them at their own computers in silence to self-pace through the standard digital textbook sprinkled with the occasional video link? Help them bring that learning process to life by encouraging them to bounce their knowledge off each other — actively using it, talking about it, making it their own so that knowledge sticks. Bring a mobile learning app into play as well with online quizzes for spaced learning (which beats the recognized phenomenon known as the “Forgetting Curve”) plus a leader board to inject a bit of competition.

Learning pods are part of a teaching movement called “Genius Hour” (Google sparked this so its engineers could spend 20% of their time on passion projects), professional development, a tribe of learners and good ol’ just getting down to do the work. There’s a lot of promise there as a good fit with the future of work, wherever it might be.

Learning pods help build each person’s capability to know how to learn, use creativity to apply their skills in novel and familiar situations, believe they’ve got the skills to tackle future challenges, and work well with others.

PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION

COVID Inspired Change in Home Design Companies, real estate agents and entire industries are adapting quickly to match homebuyers’ needs and desires that are radically different from what they were just a year ago . . .

Consumers and businesses alike have been forced to adapt and change how they live and work due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some would say that most of this evolution and change has taken place in our homes, because that is now the place where we do everything and spend the majority of our time — if not all of our time.

This has caused a major shift in the interior design, real estate and homebuilding/remodeling industries as today’s consumers want — and now need — more home, more space, more technology and more features than ever before. Thanks to 10 years of home equity plus the lowest interest rates in decades, many consumers are making those wants and needs a reality.

Consumers need multiple home offices — one for each family member who is working from home permanently, plus dens and computer areas for children to take classes online; all in addition to the usual bedrooms needed.

Plus, these offices will need to be permanent work offices equipped with Ethernet, USB and multiple-plug outlets in walls. This isn’t just a corner of the home made into a makeshift office. Many families are also looking for casitas, guest houses or additional bedrooms for older parents who have now moved in permanently due to COVID-19.

Wide-open areas where Wi-Fi can travel easily are now necessities, not amenities. Most importantly, soundproofing, thick walls and solid-wood doors have taken higher priority, especially in homes with large families that are now filled to capacity at all times.

People are looking for spaces that positively affect mental health and help both adults and children with their work, school and life balance. For

example, bright sunlit rooms with multiple large windows that bring the outside in while someone is working or learning at home, or bay-windows with padded sitting areas for children to relax or for adults to take a coffeebreak, are sought-after spaces.

After work and school hours, consumers want home gyms, wine-tasting rooms and bar areas, large kitchens, home-movie theaters, man caves, she sheds, basements and game rooms. Additionally, pools, gazebos, BBQ areas, fire pits, outdoor eating and sitting areas, as well as patios or yards with safe fenced-in spaces that are safer alternatives than leaving the home are top on consumers’ lists.

Add in smart amenities, touchless technology and voice-activated controls in our appliances, wall switches and consumer electronic controls to lessen the spread of germs and create relaxing hands-free environments.

The consumer’s needs have changed since the pandemic began, and so have the strategies and deliverables of the companies and industries that serve them.

—Todd Sumney, chief industry officer with HomeSmart International (homesmart.com)

GET REAL

Boutique Vision for Copper Square Hi-Rise

Office Condos Serve Pent-Up Demand for Medical

Sundt Completes Two Health Clinics

Leading real estate investor ScanlanKemperBard and capital partner Black Salmon have kicked off

Auviana Medical Complex, a six-building state-of-the-art

on the Valleywise Health North and South Metro

the final phase of renovations at 101 North, the

modern medical and professional office condominium

Ambulatory clinics in Phoenix, located at 19th and

second-tallest high-rise in downtown Phoenix. The

development, was recently completed at 14725-14765

Northern avenues and 35th and Southern avenues,

upgrades, which encompass all of the building’s

W. Mountain View Blvd. in Surprise. “Auviana is a perfect

respectively. Each is a single-story, 26,000-square-

ground-floor indoor and outdoor spaces, complete

case study that demonstrates the pent-up demand

foot building on a three-acre site. The design is

a multi-year transformation of the trophy asset

for medical office space in the West Valley,” says Philip

highlighted by multiple structural elements, allowing

into a boutique environment unique to the central

Wurth, CCIM, with Colliers International in Arizona. “We

natural light to penetrate all parts of the buildings.

business district.

have experienced unprecedented tenant and buyer

Located in the heart of downtown’s Copper Photos courtesy of JLL, Colliers, Sundt (bottom, l to r)

by Mike Hunter

interest in this new development.”

Sundt Construction, Inc. recently completed work

“This work is at the heart of our company’s purpose: to build environments where our clients,

Square at the southeast corner of 1st Avenue and

“We wanted to create a product that outwardly

employee-owners and communities prosper,” says

Monroe Street, at 101 N. First Ave., the 101 North

projects the excellent care we strive to deliver to our

Andrew Wegner, Sundt project manager, noting the

building totals 373,013 square feet in 31 stories.

patients. The project is named after my daughter to

importance of community inclusion in the project.

Phased completion is anticipated between late 2020

commemorate her triumph over brain cancer,” says

Sundt teamed with DWL Architects & Planners, Inc.

and early 2021. JLL is actively leasing the building’s

Jason Mussman, M.D., CEO of Regency Specialties,

to complete the project, which broke ground in 2019.

remaining available space. jll.com

who developed the project and whose company will

sundt.com

occupy one of the suites. colliers.com According to JLL’s Q3 Phoenix Office Insight Report, the Phoenix market posted just over 300,000 square feet of positive absorption during the third quarter and average asking rents increased from $28.05 in Q2 to $28.29 in Q3.

Office activity remains slower than this time last year, with tenants seeing more landlord concessions, underconstruction space holding steady at just under 1.9 million square feet, and no new projects breaking ground. jll.com

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PROPERTY, GROWTH AND LOCATION

BY MIKE HUNTER

Adaptive Reuse of Historic Potato Barn in Gilbert Construction on the renovation and expansion of the iconic Old Potato Barn in Gilbert is set to begin the second week of this month, as a fourth-generation, Mesa-based family business moves forward with its plans to breathe new life into the 54-year-old barn that once housed the area’s potato supply.

Completion is expected in summer 2021.

The City of Gilbert approved plans this past June for The Higley Barns, a multimillion-dollar, adaptive, mixed-use development that will transform the 20,000-square-foot barn located on Williams Field Road between Higley and Recker Roads into a unique multi-tenant space, plus add an additional 8,000-square-foot building, a 10,000-square-foot building and a 14,000-square-foot building to the three-acre property.

The Smith family, owners of Central Arizona Supply, Arizona’s premier plumbing supply and appliance company, have owned the property since 2015 and see this is an opportunity to parlay their more than 50 years as an Arizona family-owned and -operated business into an expanded new role as real estate developers.

“It has always been our vision to create a communityfocused collection of restaurants, shops and home products in a landmark location that has such history in Gilbert,” says Jeremy Smith, co-owner of Central Arizona Supply. “The Higley Barns will become a mercantile for goods, services, history, art, music, entertainment and culinary, all within a gathering place that enriches the surrounding community in a meaningful way.”

The Smiths will open their 12th Central Arizona Supply location within two areas of the property. Half of the barn

will showcase the latest in luxury kitchen and bath plumbing, appliances and designer lighting in a 10,000-square-foot plumbing and appliance showroom that will welcome designers, homeowners, builders, plumbers and contractors for an immersive experience with the world’s top brands.

The 8,000 square-foot building will uphold the company’s origins with a plumbing supply and parts counter and warehouse, which accounts for nearly half of Central Arizona Supply’s overall business.

Phoenix-based Brick & West, known for designing some of the Valley’s most notable restaurants, has been hired as the architect and Lee & Associates Arizona will manage the leasing and/or potential sales of the mixed-use space.

Central Arizona Supply centralazsupply.com Lee & Associates Arizona lee-associates.com

$1.5B Global Logistics Park in Glendale

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development team. “Sustaining this kind of consumer demand requires a massive uptick in logistical support from projects just like Camelback 303.”

Camelback 303 is a sub-four-hour-drive from Southern California’s Inland Empire submarket and will leverage its proximity to the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It is less than 30 minutes from Sky Harbor International Airport and 2.5 miles from the new Northern Parkway, a four-lane I-10 reliever expressway providing workforce connectivity between the Loop 303, Central Phoenix and Glendale, and placing Camelback 303 within 30 minutes of 1.5 million residents.

With these advantages, the Loop 303 corridor is projected to grow from a 15 million-square-foot industrial submarket to more than 50 million square feet of industrial space within the next five to six years, with major users in the e-commerce, manufacturing, food and beverage, and third-party logistics companies.

Diamond Realty Investments diamondrealtyinvestments.com JLL jll.com Merit Partners, Inc. meritpartnersinc.com

According to the Q2 JLL Phoenix Industrial Insights report, Valley industrial rents are on the rise and absorption is up 39 percent from this time last year, marking the 28th straight quarter of positive absorption with no sign of slowing.

Photo courtesy of Central Arizona Supply

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Camelback 303 is a $1.5 billion global logistics park being developed in Glendale, Arizona, in a joint venture by Merit Partners, First Industrial Realty Trust Inc. and Diamond Realty Investments. At completion, the park will accommodate approximately 9–10 million square feet of Class A industrial distribution and manufacturing space, making it the largest freeway-fronting industrial employment site in Arizona. It will offer build-to-suit opportunities and speculative development.

Situated in metro Phoenix’s fastest growing industrial submarket, Camelback 303 sits along the west side of Loop 303, offering extensive freeway frontage between the Camelback Road and Bethany Home Road interchanges. With ample land and multiple access points along Camelback Road, Cotton Lane and Bethany Home Road, the site provides the physical and logistical advantages to serve tenants ranging from mid-size users to the region’s largest industrial operators.

“The ecommerce industry alone has grown by 35 percent this year, compared to just 14 and 15 percent in recent years,” says Anthony Lydon, one of the team in the Phoenix office of JLL that brokered the 611-acre land purchase on behalf of the

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YOUR BENEFIT IN BUSINESS

WELL WELL WELL

Testing, Testing, One, Two, Three Scottsdale-based COVID Testing To You offers mobile, FDA-certified COVID-19 antibody and virus testing to Arizona employers with at least 10 employees, providing an affordable and scalable way for employers to manage through the reopening phase of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The startup’s medical director, Reyes Topete, M.D., has worked in the medical field in Arizona for more than 20 years. All tests follow FDA guidelines as well as standard medical protocols, have trained medical professionals supporting the test and resulting measures, and are reported to the Arizona Department of Health Services. covidtestingtoyou.com The SmartContact solution from Chicago-based Auscura utilizes web-based communication automation to gather actionable data in a 30-second e-survey used as a virtual screening tool for employees returning to the workplace.

It takes into account both day-of symptoms as well as exposure risk — data that can be quickly retrieved whenever needed. SmartContact is able to recognize clusters and immediately alert company leaders. The solution also allows healthcare staff to electronically contact patients sent home to assure their well-being and uncover or resolve follow-up or service issues. Additionally, employees are linked to both educational resources and made aware of company policies that address infection control. It meets CDC and OSHA requirements as well as HIPAA privacy standards and overcomes the cost and other drawbacks of in-person entrance screeners. auscura.com Two health-screening apps from BuildCenter, a COBE Construction software spinoff, help construction firms comply with new protocols to reduce the risk of spread on job sites. The Health Screening Free app has been available since May. The new Pro edition targets projects requiring large numbers of workers. Health Screening Pro has interactive, distributive workforce capabilities such as generating bar codes that let workers selfregister on their mobile phones. Simultaneously, it sends information to the on-site screener’s device, creating a pending list that reduces routine data entry and ensures workers get on the job quickly.

Data is securely stored on a cloud server, allowing quick “contact tracing” and notification should exposure occur. buildcenter.com

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Helping Employees Get the Most Value out of Their Dental Benefits In today’s employment scene, it is not uncommon for employers to provide access to medical and dental benefits to their employees. This is particularly meaningful, as insured employees are more likely to receive preventive care by virtue of this mutually beneficial arrangement. However, it is up to employers to help them get the most value out of their benefits.

The problem: Data shows that 80% of employees do not read the information, and, for those who do, nearly 40% say they don’t understand it.

By taking some simple steps, employers can make sure their employees fully understand this important health benefit — and understand that taking full advantage of the dental benefits offered is not only good for the employee, but good for the company as well.

To realize the most savings, employees should consider visiting the dentists in their plan’s network. When employees choose a network dentist, they typically have lower out-of-pocket costs, meaning they pay less for their dental procedures. In addition, visiting a network dentist results in lower claims costs for the employer. This can lead to more stable premiums in the long run for the employer, especially if they’re self-funded.

It is important to note that if an employee uses a dentist outside the plan’s network, the employee may be responsible for paying the difference for the cost of the service. Network dentists agree to accept lower fees for the services they provide. When a patient goes outside the plan network, that cost difference is typically his or her individual responsibility.

When educating employees about their benefits, it is also crucial to help them understand the importance of oral health and disease prevention.

Because most dental disease is preventable, many dental plans cover the cost of preventive care at 100%. Regular exams and cleanings are key to keeping mouths healthy and catching dental diseases early before they become costly problems.

Preventing dental disease also helps boost employees’ overall health, as signs and symptoms of more than 120 diseases can be found in the mouth.

During routine dental appointments, dentists will do a thorough exam to look for these conditions and will screen for such things as oral cancer or other irregularities with the goal of early detection.

This can help lower medical costs by increasing treatment options and improving outcomes.

Delta Dental of Arizona’s open enrollment toolkit is filled with resources, email templates and more. deltadentalaz.com/openenrollmenttoolkit

While educating employees about their dental plan coverage, clear and frequent communication will help avoid confusion. It’s important to use a variety of approaches when providing the information. This might include videos, pamphlets, emails or lunch-and-learn presentations. Team culture plays a part here: Is it possible they’re intimidated to ask questions? Or are some too confused to know what questions to ask in the first place? Understanding plan benefits can be overwhelming, and providing opportunities for employees to ask questions will go a long way toward alleviating any future frustrations.

Employers should continue to remind employees of the benefits of good oral health and encourage them to utilize preventive care. During open enrollment season, employees’ attention will be focused on their insurance benefits. But it’s important to create regular benefits touch points as well. In order for employees to fully understand their dental benefits, they need to be engaged in their company’s benefits program throughout the year.

The final step to help employees maximize their dental coverage is to make sure they have all the available materials and resources. It’s important to send a cost-savings worksheet to show the financial differences between using an in-network dentist and an out-of-network dentist. Employers should also speak with their dental benefits carrier about any communication tools the carrier may offer to make it easier for employees to understand and use their benefits. It is likely the dental benefits carrier will be a great resource!

It is also helpful to meet people where they are by having mobile options available. Whether it is looking for a dentist or grabbing the insurance card on an iPhone, taking small key steps to move to mobile will help empower a company’s employees.

—Heather Mollon, senior director of client relationships at Delta Dental of Arizona (www.deltadentalaz.com)

Let’s talk.

INNOVATIONS FOR BUSINESS

TECH NOTES

Cloud-based Solutions for Salesforce Many licensing organizations in the public sector are still operating from on-premises infrastructure, meaning data is not easily accessible outside of the four walls of the office. It often requires inperson visits and for business to be transacted in a brick-and-mortar setting. To solve this challenge, Chandler-based MST Solutions developed the Licensing Solution for Salesforce, which is entirely cloud based.

Creating an entirely cloud-based solution enables organizations to do a number of things they couldn’t before: Staff can access data anytime, anywhere; the company can integrate with other organizations to enable easy background checks and verifications (a process that is otherwise manual); inspections can be virtual rather than on-site; and self-service can be offered customers through an online dynamic portal. The self-service component enables customers to complete applications online and check the status of those applications, a process that previously had to be done in-person and via paper forms.

Finally, MST built the solution on a configurable system so that changes could easily be made on an ongoing basis. This was essential to licensing organizations as previous legacy software didn’t allow them to easily adapt processes or forms as statutes and requirements changed, which they frequently do. A configurable system also means the solution can grow and adapt alongside the organization.

MST Solutions’ timely response to the seismic shifts in the healthcare, public sector an manufacturing industries that were introduced in the second quarter produced better than anticipated Q2 growth and resulted in the company beating its first-half goals by double digits.

—Mike Hunter MST Solutions mstsolutions.com

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It’s the Employees’ World, and HR Is Just Living in It At the start of COVID-19, workforce and human resources managers were given the obligatory duty of furloughing or laying off many employees due to the economic crunch the world was experiencing. As the pandemic continues and businesses and people alike are forced to adapt to their new normal, those same managers have been given the unprecedented job of rehiring and onboarding for old, new and reimagined positions.

Ensuring that a workplace has the right technology to accommodate this shift and equip the business with employees of applicable skill sets is crucial. From digital onboarding to a comprehensive dashboard that allows employers to stay updated on worker information, a technological solution can help manage employees and the COVID-19 crisis as it relates to the workplace. But this technology is only the first step; employers must also consider other key factors that include long-term strategies, personalized candidate experience, computer and human assessments, internal mobility and timely hiring decisions.

With the help of an HCM (human capital management) platform, an organization can stay on top of timely and pandemic-related needs while also keeping the above factors in mind. Overall, an HCM solution can enable an organization to not only survive but flourish in any situation.

Where it comes to jobs that have been altered or created due to the pandemic, some might be easily adapted, while others could experience changes and evolutions for years to come. Therefore, an HR manager must be prepared to adjust the work a position entails over time.

Through an HCM platform, an employer can: • Set expectations and empower employees to accomplish them with help from flexible work schedules,

• E nsure a worker whose role is new or reimagined can network with peers to share thoughts and ideas, and • Provide continual feedback and coaching to validate employees and drive productivity.

All of these capabilities allow employers to guarantee meaningful work is being done by all their employees, no matter the role.

An HCM solution can help take the burden off HR managers where it comes to new and reimagined jobs. The technology helps with talent onboarding, development and management that can greatly improve the likelihood of a newly hired or rehired individual thriving in his or her position. Employees are given the opportunity to easily complete their training while the employer is granted access to the worker’s journey and can alter their onboarding based on the qualifications and requirements of the role. This functionality can help employees adapt and grow, increasing the odds of the company retaining talent and boosting productivity.

The coronavirus pandemic only accelerated the need for new and reimagined jobs. Workers’ duties and roles were already shifting pre-COVID-19 and will continue to do so as the workforce evolves at a fast pace in often virtual work environments. It has become vital to supply one’s organization with the proper technology and training, such as an HCM platform, to effectively and efficiently onboard workers and align a company’s productivity with that of its employees.

No matter the circumstance, HCM technology can help a business achieve greater durability and equip HR with the right tools to build a strong workforce.

—Lina Tonk, VP of marketing at iSolved (www.isolvedhcm.com), an employee experience leader providing intuitive, people-first HCM technology

During a time when company culture and viability were put to the test, MST Solutions also earned national and local recognition for its commitment to conscious growth and leadership. The company was recently named a Fortune Best Workplace in the Small & Medium category and was ranked on the Inc. 5000 list of the nation’s fastest-growing companies.

Know Your Worth KNOWLEDGE IS POWER. POWER IS PERSONAL. Whether it’s a path to security, a gateway to your dreams or the road to being your own boss, we have the people and resources to empower you.

Learn more at UMB.com/WXW

As Business Changes, So Will

Our

Healthcare Keeping Up with Change in Need and Delivery

by RaeAnne Marsh

Only a few years ago, the big issue regarding healthcare

was how much responsibility an employer should or could take for his or her employees. Insofar as its economic

impact registered, the focus was on small-business owners.

The current pandemic has pushed healthcare issues

into broader debate: impact on and responsibility of the

individual; impact on and responsibility of businesses — big and little — as employers; and impact on and responsibility

of healthcare-sector businesses as businesses themselves.

These are the perspectives on which we’ve asked

authorities in our community to share their experience and their expertise. And it may not be surprising that some of

the same issues surface repeatedly, but even they are seen from different angles.

Pandemic Emphasizes Importance of Employee Wellness Programs Employers know that healthy employees are a company’s best ambassadors in the community. Whether a business is large or small, a strong employee wellness and safety program is paramount to a productive work force. At Abrazo Health, we’ve always had a comprehensive benefits program that supported employee wellness, and have offered resources for crisis support for individuals facing personal challenges.

When the pandemic hit, it brought attention to the need for additional resources for the health and well-being of our staff and physicians. Among the first priorities was clear, transparent communication. With rapidly changing information and guidance from public health authorities, it was paramount to communicate often with our key internal stakeholders. It is extremely important employers have visibility to their employees. In addition to companywide messages to our employees and medical staff, leaders frequently rounded in the hospitals to provide information and listen to questions and concerns. This visibility helped us identify issues or concerns that could be quickly addressed.

Hospital staff spent long days caring for COVID and non-COVID patients, and the stress of managing personal lives while balancing family needs and commitments added yet another layer of challenge to manage. Beyond the additional safety measures we implemented early on — restricting building access, universal masking, fever checks, screening questions and hand sanitizing every time someone enters the building, as well as cohorting COVID patients in dedicated units — testing was and is offered to employees and physicians meeting the criteria for exposure to coronavirus.

We quickly realized the need for additional mental health wellness support.

Our daily communication and rounding emphasized the resources available through the Employee Assistance Program, Employee Health Department, on our intranet and in the community. Resources were compiled and frequently distributed to employees. Free webinars were and still are being offered on stress management and other topics.

A wellness handbook was created and is featured prominently on our intranet home page. Topics cover a variety of issues, from managing stress and anxiety, parents talking to their kids about coronavirus, home safety and cleanliness, grief and coping with loss, the ABCs of self-care, meditation, suicide prevention and more. There are also many free resources available throughout the community.

Other things to consider that contribute to employee wellness include offering telecommuting options for those whose jobs allow it, childcare and remote learning resources, and financial management resources. We were fortunate to be able to offer access to the Tenet Care Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that provides financial assistance to employees who have experienced hardship due to events beyond their control.

Telemedicine options are popular and a good way to stay current with health needs. A troubling sign is many people are delaying preventive and emergency care during the pandemic. Studies show a significant number of people are delaying healthcare. Even during the coronavirus pandemic, there is still prevalence of stroke, heart attack and other health emergencies.

Hospitals, ERs and physician offices have safety precautions in place to help ensure that care can be provided when care is needed. The key message for employers to communicate to their employees is to not delay care if the employee or a loved one has symptoms that are best evaluated in an emergency room or by a physician.

We have a saying, “Your health can’t wait.” Don’t let fear cause a delay in care that may cause additional complications. The best wellness policy always starts with prevention.

Testing Is Part of the Plan As today’s environment continues to suffer a shifting landscape regarding COVID-19, there are actions, policies and programs employers can implement to address the needs of their employees — starting with a safety plan to minimize risk of contracting the disease. An effective COVID-19 safety plan addresses three things: physical environment, employee testing and access to affordable healthcare.

Physical environment includes social distancing, enforcing a mask policy, providing hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes, and allowing staff members to stay home when sick.

To address testing, employers can hire onsite COVID testing companies to provide free tests to employees.

Staff members who test positive are then promptly called and notified of their status and should not return to work until medically cleared to do so.

Lastly, access to follow-up care can help employees with COVID-19 recover smoothly and safely. Even if an employee doesn’t have health insurance, employers can implement telemedicine services for an extremely low cost. By eliminating the cost barrier to COVID-19 care, businesses can help prevent an outbreak.

Although telemedicine was once seen as an add-on service, it

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has since become an integral part of the care process. Trending even before COVID-19, employers are realizing that telemedicine can connect all employees to healthcare resources, even if the employee isn’t on a health insurance plan. Through telemedicine, employees can access local healthcare services and specialists on their own time. This prevents them from taking time off work to see a doctor while still providing them with quality access to care.

And, responding to today’s concerns, businesses can fit COVID-19 testing into their programs for health, wellness and safety. Testing can be done safely at work. By testing onsite where it’s convenient for employees and by isolating cases as early as possible, employers can help prevent transmission.

SERVING EMPLOYERS

Akos provides low-cost, onsite testing to Arizona employers with 50 or more employees. Employees can later access their results through the Sonora Quest portal.

Akos also offers employers a telemedicine app that provides employees 24/7 access to medical care from a full-time network of board-certified healthcare professionals for both workplace injury and personal medical needs. The Akos program can be bundled into group medical insurance coverage or offered as a voluntary benefit.

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For Health, Wellness and Safety, Communication Is Key As employers work to reopen or ramp up their operations, they face the challenge of creating a work environment that helps to prevent new outbreaks while working to support employees impacted by COVID-19.

A recent Cigna study found that one in seven COVID patients who were hospitalized have still not been able to return to work two months later — meaning that employers need to prepare for workforce gaps for the foreseeable future. At the same time, they need to reassure employees, who may be concerned that returning to the work will put the health of their families, friends and themselves at risk. To accomplish this, one key is to define, communicate and implement a new set of health and safety policies to protect health and ensure peace of mind for employees.

As with all new policies and procedures, communication is key. Start by making it as easy as possible for employees to do the right thing. A few examples: • Make PPE and hand sanitizing stations easy to access and provide visuals of proper use.

• Provide visual cues to remind employees, customers and guests to practice social distancing.

• Adjust the business flow to make it easier to utilize plastic barriers and other protections consistently.

• Revisit time-off policies to ensure you do not penalize people for staying home when they feel ill.

• Encourage employees to get their flu shots as soon as possible (if they haven’t already) to help reduce the strain on our healthcare system in the months ahead.

Telemedicine and virtual care utilization are on the rise. Virtual Wellness Centers expand employers’ ability to support their employees, providing high-quality health services to employees and their families that is affordable and convenient. With the rise of COVID-19, employers now also need to think differently about how to navigate access to care more than ever before — leveraging virtual care technology to manage employee health. The result will be lower total medical costs, optimized referral patterns and an advocate for employee health.

We also see a significant rise in loneliness, depression and insomnia.

Providing their workforce and their dependents with new resiliency tools to help them navigate these issues will become a necessity for employers. Practicing meditation and mindfulness can also help employees.

Employers keeping in contact with their team in new ways is also necessary to stay connected.

We know the COVID-19 pandemic is already changing healthcare delivery options as well as triggering ongoing medical and mental health needs.

The following are a few of the ways we are helping support employers and employees in light of the evolving nature of the crisis: A comprehensive online resource: Cigna’s website includes a comprehensive Coronavirus (COVID-19) Resource Center dedicated to offering resources and guidelines for individuals, families, employers, seniors and health care providers.

Wellness, mental health and behavioral resources: Cigna has curated a wide range of resources from Cigna experts, community partners and other trusted experts. For example, one of the available webcasts, “Managing the Return to Work,” helps employees put the impending return-to-work reality into perspective and provides tips to cope with the change.

Emphasizing telehealth: Difficulty in accessing mental health services has long been an issue of concern in this country. The pandemic has

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exacerbated that problem, as in-person doctor visits have been limited. The healthcare industry is changing to meet new demands and Cigna has already expanded its virtual mental health provider network so patients can get the care they need when they need it via an on-demand telehealth appointment.

Virtual care is a good way to get medical attention without leaving home. While a diagnosis of COVID-19 cannot be confirmed through virtual medical care, patients may be directed to self-care or to follow-up with their primary care physician (PCP) or a local hospital for additional evaluation and care.

There are many testing sites now, and where testing occurs depends on where the employees live. A PCP is the best source of information because they can work with the local health department and health systems to know the latest guidance. Locations of COVID-19 testing sites can also be found by searching online.

It is also important employers encourage their employees to have their wellness visit before year-end and to complete any follow-up care they have deferred during COVID-19. Also, to encourage employees to get their flu shots as soon as possible (if they haven’t already). By staying on track for healthcare to monitor health conditions with appropriate evaluation and treatment, early detection and appropriate maintenance can be performed.

Physician offices now have safety measures in place to help protect their patients for in-person visits. These important healthcare visits may even make it easier for patients to be treated virtually in the future.

SERVING EMPLOYERS

As a result of COVID-19, every business faces new realities — and a long list of unknowns.

Cigna responded by waiving out-of-pocket costs for COVID-19 FDAapproved at-home specimen collection kits and other diagnostic tests for our members. Members of Cigna can order a COVID-19 at-home specimen collection kit.

Recently, Cigna has added more services to provide affordable, predictable and simple solutions with the launch of Evernorth (www.evernorth.com). This evolution of our health services platform will serve as an innovation engine — developing comprehensive solutions for the most complex healthcare challenges. For example, one of Evernorth’s first offerings is “Healthy Ways to Work,” a suite of solutions to help employers address the unique workforce health challenges created by the pandemic, including a COVID risk dashboard and tools to help reopen worksites quickly and safely.

And, committed to make it simpler and more convenient for customers to access mental and emotional health resources, Cigna recently partnered with Talkspace (www.talkspace.com), an expanded suite of conditionspecific virtual providers.

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Employee Input Informs Company Response One of the first things we did in response to COVID-19 was pull together an infectious disease policy and make sure we had a plan for dealing with COVID-19 specifically. Because this was very new, our protocols had to flex as new and better information came to light. We identified a few trusted sources of information, including the CDC, who guided this effort. Beyond policies, our employees were directly informing our COVID-related programs.

My best advice to other employers is for them to, similarly, stay close to their employees and encourage dialogue around this topic via surveys, one-on-one meetings and stay interviews to discover what is important and valuable to them. This can help employers focus their efforts on policies and programs that have the greatest impact. For instance, among our other smaller efforts, we implemented a toilet paper distribution program and a $750 home-office stipend in response to needs expressed by employees.

To qualify for our wellness discount, employees must be signed up for our telemedicine app. So, fortunately, our employees already had telemedicine resources available to them for medical or behavioral health visits. Looking ahead, we’ve been very interested in exploring a more proactive approach to emotional wellness that starts with Day 1 orientation and continues throughout the employment relationship. I think that EAP services will need to become more comprehensive and include assessments, wellness coaching, periodic wellness checks and therapy as needed. Also, I think more employers are understanding the relationship between oral health and overall health, so I think we’ll see a continued

focus on how taking care of your smile can improve your risk for or symptoms of other, more systemic diseases.

Testing can be an important part of an organization’s safety and wellness plan, especially if there is the potential for exposure in a shared work or office environment. We’ve looked at partnering with organizations who do mobile, on-site COVID-19 and antibody testing. For us, it made more sense to help employees find testing resources through their doctor or other testing locations because our workforce went remote pretty early. It’s all about providing a safe environment for employees. For us, the safest place for our employees was their homes.

SERVING EMPLOYERS

As the state’s largest and most experienced dental insurer, we of course offer group and individual dental benefits. We’ve got some great resources on maintaining a healthy smile, webinars on a variety of oral health topics and even an oral wellness program that employers can use. And it may surprise some to learn we also offer vision coverage, FSA, HSA and COBRA administration.

Local Groups Establish Public-Private Partnership to Help Phoenix’s Latino Communities Fight COVID-19 At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it quickly became apparent that underserved, vulnerable communities would be hit the hardest and suffer the most.

Unfortunately, the pandemic’s rapid sweep across Phoenix’s Latino community has confirmed this grim reality — and it’s been the same for most communities comprised of people of color across the nation. For example, data from Maricopa County reveals that about 50% of COVID-19 cases and 44% of hospitalizations have been experienced

by Hispanic and Latino people, who make up just 31% of the county’s population.

Across the country, the story has been similar. Compared with white, non-Hispanic people, Hispanics and Latinos have experienced 2.8 times more COVID-19 cases, 4.6 times higher hospitalization rates and 1.1 times higher death rates, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control.

The factors driving racial and ethnic disparities in COVID-19 are complex and varied, but most have one element in common: They are the result of inequities of living, social and working conditions that have persisted in the U.S. for generations, isolating Latino communities from the resources they need and impairing their ability to effectively respond to the pandemic.

PROACTIVELY REACHING UNDERSERVED, UNDER-TESTED COMMUNITIES

However, what has been encouraging during the pandemic is the way that Greater Phoenix’s public and private institutions have joined forces to form partnerships aimed at ensuring the safety and health of Arizonans during the COVID-19 public health crisis.

Chaired and founded by the Equality Health Foundation and Chicanos Por La Causa, the R.A.P.I.D Community-Based COVID-19 Testing Coalition is implementing a comprehensive, community-based model that includes education, viral testing, follow-

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Fundamental Changes Will Last Beyond COVID-19 COVID-19 fundamentally and overnight changed how employers have to address the health, wellness and safety of their employees. Employees are their greatest resource, and in an instant their safety was immediately in question — and not just physically, but mentally too. Businesses need three distinct programs in place to protect their employees while also instilling confidence that their employer cares about them and has their back: a complete COVID-19 program, better mental health and mental wellness resources, and virtual care.

A complete COVID-19 program is essential. It must include clear guidelines on what employees and the employer will do when there is a case of COVID-19 or possible exposure, medical excuse and return-to-work notes, available testing and workplace cleanliness compliance. Additionally, it all must be centered around transparent and frequent communication to employees.

Regarding mental health and mental wellness resources, prior to COVID-19 employers fell into three categories when seeking mental health resources for their employees. Category one: Don’t need it and an under-utilized EAP program is enough. Category two: Provide a more complete mental wellness/ therapy option, but don’t encourage or educate employees on how to use it.

Category three: Be committed to mental health and wellness, invest in the programs and actively communicate internally to decrease and ultimately eliminate the stigma of getting therapy.

Prior to COVID-19, the majority of companies were in categories one and two with only a smaller percentage in category three. COVID-19 unleashed a mental health crisis that severely impacted employees across every industry

up care, mask distribution, connection to essential social services and contact tracing in underserved, under-tested communities.

Other Coalition participants include local healthcare providers, such as Valle del Sol, Mountain Park Health and Adelante Healthcare; private companies such as Sonora Quest Laboratories and Verizon; various community-based organizations; Arizona Department of Health Services; and municipal governments, including Phoenix, Peoria and Glendale.

Though the Coalition and its partners have been responsible for testing 7,000 Arizonans for COVID-19 since the program began in May, our activities extend far beyond testing. Our targeted, coordinated approach to reach underserved, under-tested communities in Greater Phoenix also has a heavy emphasis on education, follow-up care and connection to essential services.

For example, we have leveraged virtually all available communications channels — TV, radio, social media, text messages, email and the like — to perform outreach campaigns aimed at educating the Latino community on how to stay safe and protect themselves, risk factors, treatment options and resources to assist with social needs.

Looking forward, we are proud to say that the R.A.P.I.D Coalition’s work has only just begun. We are focused on improving healthcare readiness and preparedness in the Greater Phoenix area, with a current emphasis on developing plans for flu season and a COVID-19 vaccine. Through this unprecedented joint effort by the Phoenix business community, we stand ready to respond to future public health crises and support the most vulnerable members of our population.

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and demographic. And that mental health crisis won’t dissipate after COVID-19 is controlled. People are and will continue to be stressed out, worried and scared, and it’s hurting productivity and morale. Companies have to invest in this previously overlooked essential benefit and promote it, talk about it and continually encourage employees to utilize it.

Virtual care increased as COVID-19 forced both patients and providers into conducting visits virtually — and both loved it. Additionally, the past practice of going into a waiting room with other sick people and losing two or more hours in productivity is extremely unattractive now. Employers have to offer employees high-value virtual healthcare and other virtual services if they want to keep employees engaged.

In fact, a virtual-first model is the biggest trend now for healthcare, mental wellness, care direction and more. In particular, the virtual-first model is a winwin for employers and employees alike. With this model, employers can provide high-value benefits at a lower cost, and employees can get the care and services they want in the way they want it. Healthcare and mental wellness are both well-suited for the virtual-first model, as both can be delivered at a lower cost while keeping the standard of care high.

Virtual primary care, in particular, will become an essential offering in the months and years to come. Primary care has traditionally been handled at a doctor’s office, and even prior to COVID-19 people were often deterred from getting the care they need because of the inconveniences associated with brick-and-mortar care — like taking time off work when they aren’t sick, long waits and difficulty with scheduling, among other issues. When people neglect primary care, a host of other health issues can arise that impact their personal and professional lives. Now that Americans’ comfort level with telehealth has drastically risen, virtual primary care is a natural next step.

TWO SIDES OF TESTING

Testing is an essential for a complete COVID-19 program. The reason is two-fold — an employer needs to know who is infected quickly, begin the necessary isolation and mitigate the spread. Additionally, testing is necessary to determine who isn’t infected. Most employers can’t send groups of employees to home isolate every time there is a possible infection — they need employees working. Most employees can’t afford to not be working. Finding out who isn’t infected helps employers and employees minimize the number of non-work days.

SERVING EMPLOYERS

MeMD is among the nation’s leading telehealth companies. Prior to COVID-19, we offered virtual urgent care and virtual mental health services to more than 30,000 corporate, institutional and health plan partners. As the pandemic swept the country, demand for our services surged among employers. Additionally, we launched a turnkey solution to help employers effectively manage COVID-19 in the workplace. Lastly, we are very excited about recently launching our virtual primary care service, which is specially designed to help both employers and employees.

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Promote Mental Health Promoting mental health during this time of chaos is beneficial for the employer, the employees and the overall community.

Employers should encourage their employees to practice a few mental health tips.

Stick to a routine. Get up at the same time and shower before starting the day.

Get outside. Exercise regularly and go for a walk outside between meetings. Vitamin D is crucial, and exercise helps both mental and physical health.

Stay connected. Connect with others, rekindle old friendships or increase a support network.

Get reconnected. Reconnect with old colleagues and build a professional network.

Talk about it. Many are struggling, so reach out for help. Call a professional or share concerns with a trusted individual such as a member of clergy, a close friend, family member or trusted adviser.

Create a healthy environment. Take breaks from work and make time to unwind. Limit the news, including social media. Take deep breaths, eat healthy, avoid alcohol and drugs.

Engage in mindfulness activities. Limit worry by focusing on the present and staying grounded.

Give back. Help those in need, volunteer at the local pantry, adopt a pet or donate blood.

Take advantage of resources. Contact the Warm Line by calling 602-347-1100. Call the NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Helpline at 800-950-NAMI or, in a crisis, text “NAMI” to 741741.

THE NAMI HELPLINE AT

Trending areas for employee healthcare benefits include telemedicine, flexibility — and a focus on mental health. Telemedicine allows for employees to receive individual therapy, group therapy, family therapy, patient education and medication management. Employers should encourage this use of telemedicine as it allows employees the chance to obtain support and/or treatment in an efficient manner. Employers should ensure there is a private, safe place for employees to participate in telemedicine. In addition, employers need to be flexible. They must understand that employees are not only struggling with their job duties, but they are having to adjust to the “new normal.” They may have kids learning from home, family members who are ill and quarantined and their own mental health issues. Employers need to provide that flexibility to employees so they can meet the multiple demands of this “new normal.”

COVID-19 testing can absolutely fit in with a business’s health, wellness and safety programs. However, we think it is just as important to fit mental health screenings into the workplace. Mental Health America has a free, online screening at https://screening.mhanational.org that employers should take advantage of for their employees. Following screening, employees will be provided with information, resources and tools to help them understand and improve their mental health.

SERVING BUSINESS

The Peer & Family Career Academy provides education within the behavioral health community, as well as customized training on behavioral health for the general community. In times of crisis and uncertainty, employees often look to the leaders within their place of employment to help them interpret what is going on and to find purpose and meaning in chaos.

The Peer & Family Career Academy will be building a leadership training course to help develop leaders who understand the value that emotional intelligence brings to the workplace and how to leverage that emotional intelligence to help develop a strong and healthy workplace culture.

This pandemic will have long lasting impacts on our workplaces. Now more than ever, it is important to make mental health a priority — at home and at work.

Employers Take a Fresh Look at the Workplace As businesses return to normal operations, they should consider various changes, including the implementation of policies to uphold physical distancing — such as limiting gatherings and visitors and scheduling meetings via phone or video. Where feasible, structural changes can include temporarily closing communal spaces, repositioning work stations and adding signage to encourage distancing.

Many businesses are making scheduling changes and staggering meal and break times, shifts, arrivals and departures, while others are adding screening procedures before employees begin work. Almost all workplaces are increasing cleaning frequency and providing hand sanitizer,

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soap and disinfecting wipes throughout the workplace.

If PPE is provided, instruction should be given on proper use, and consideration should be given to what action(s) to take against employees who refuse to use PPE (or cannot use because of medical or other considerations).

There are numerous other considerations for workplace reentry and every workplace is going to be different and pose unique issues or challenges. The goal for any employer, however, is to make the workplace as safe as possible and steps should be taken now in order to help achieve that goal.

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Healthcare Trends Have Broad Scope In recent years, employers have been restructuring their employee benefit packages to adjust to the changing needs of their workforce. More specifically, employers have been taking a more holistic approach that focuses on employees’ overall health and wellness.

While standard healthcare plans remain a priority, we will see an expansion of preventive services in those plans. For example, there will be an expansion of services related to the testing and treatment of COVID-19. The use of telemedicine has been expanding and will likely continue to do so as this is a useful way to provide healthcare services

while keeping patients and healthcare providers safe during the pandemic. The CARES Act also includes provisions that temporarily make it easier for employers to offer, and employees to take advantage of, telemedicine services.

Similarly, coverage for mental healthcare will continue to expand as the need has been steadily increasing over the years and has intensified during the pandemic.

Additionally, the voluntary benefits industry continues to develop new and innovative offerings to appeal to the needs of the evolving workforce, and this has become a popular way to allow employees to customize their benefits package to meet their specific needs.

See Healthcare in a Broad Context My thoughts back in June were that the situation with COVID and a safe return-to-work policy was too complex for employers to manage without too much unnecessary risk. Here in October, my recommendations are still that employers use their employees’ doctors to take on the risks about return to work and COVID testing and treatment.

Employers should rely heavily on the Governor’s office for directives and asking employees with symptoms or exposure to have a doctor clear them — doctors are expected to make discriminatory decisions that employers can’t safely make.

However, there are basic preventive actions, policies and programs employers should be implementing company-wide around COVID-19-related health, wellness and safety: wearing masks; practicing social distancing; washing hands more; and being careful to avoid coughing, sneezing or breathing over each other.

Employees who exhibit symptoms of COVID exposure should stay home until a doctor releases them. Often, this can be two weeks. If an employer can’t afford to continue paying a worker to work from home, it is problematic — since others who can’t miss a paycheck will be compelled to stay quiet about exposure and/or symptoms.

There is still confusion about the different types of testing and the specificity (false positive and false negative percentages). Antibody vs PCR vs antigen testing is often confused by the lay public (even by media, in fact, but less now than a few months ago).

Testing result times are now at 24 hours, but during the last Arizona surge it was taking seven to 10 days. What the public should understand is, doctors’ offices and labs are subjected to the same slow-downs as other businesses when COVID infects their employees, too.

Rapid PCR tests are 15 minutes, but it’s difficult for individual practices to get the machines, and government is allocating placement of the machines (presumably because there are shortages). Also, the rapid tests tend to be less accurate than the regular lab tests — there are more false negatives and false positives (meaning the tests can miss active COVID or identify active infection that is not present). This blog post offers an easy-tounderstand review of this topic: www.talktomira.com/post/coronavirusblood-test-antibody-swab-test-pcr-saliva-test-differences At Redirect Health, we’ve had very good success getting people’s tests paid for by the CARES ACT here in Arizona and around the country.

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TRENDING AREAS FOR EMPLOYEE HEALTHCARE BENEFITS OUTSIDE OF COVID Many employees don’t have health insurance, don’t have doctors, or can’t afford the out-of-pockets with the insurance they do have. Into this breach, employers are sometimes offering to pay for testing and treatment. Virtual is the most cost-effective option in many scenarios. Inexpensive self-pay options keep the cost for a virtual consult, testing, interpretation and treatment to around $49 when the appropriate safety nets and new rules are used.

Unfortunately, small-business insurance has become even more unaffordable because premiums have increased like they do every year, and employee wages are now even more stressed — sort of a double whammy.

SERVING EMPLOYERS

Redirect Health manages employers’ self-insurance programs. By proactively eliminating unnecessary activity and spending in healthcare, the overall costs are typically lowered by half or better. The goal is to figure out a way to get costs low enough so employers can offer it to all their employees for very low cost or even free.

Many employees can’t afford their employers’ plans. Either the monthly premium is too high or the services aren’t covered until large deductibles are paid by the employee. We’re seeing many more people look for other options, which include going to self-pay or joining a medical cost-sharing community. Redirect Health has programs for individuals who don’t see their employers’ plan as feasible. And COBRA is rarely a pragmatic option for employees after they’ve been laid off.

Some employers who can’t afford any form of healthcare plan have purchased credits for their employees for Virtual Primary Care Visits. Most employers we work with feel they must solve the cost and lack-of-access problems for their employees if they are going to mandate testing and treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Presentamos la sección empresarial en español En Negocios, con nuevos artículos semanales en www.InBusinessPhx.com Introducing the Spanish business section En Negocios, with new content weekly at www.InBusinessPhx.com por Edgar Rafael Olivo Edgar Rafael Olivo es educador empresarial bilingüe, experto en economía y colaborador de varios medios de comunicación. Es director de varias organizaciones sin fines de lucro y le apasiona la educación. Está certificado en finanzas y análisis de datos y tiene un título en negocios de la Universidad Estatal de Arizona.

Edgar Rafael Olivo is a bilingual business educator, economic advisor and contributor for several media outlets. He’s a nonprofit executive who is passionate about education. He is certified in finance and data analytics and holds a business degree from Arizona State University.

¡El bilingüismo es una herramienta para el éxito empresarial!

COVID-19 y las fuerzas geopolíticas han brillado una luz en el valor de la conciencia multicultural en el mercado.

En In Business Magazine, nos enorgullece anunciar nuestra nueva sección de negocios en español, En Negocios, que contiene artículos en dos idiomas sobre temas como ventas, liderazgo, economía y finanzas.

Cada semana, comparto ideas y conocimientos sobre las tendencias comerciales que son importantes para los empresarios, ejecutivos y propietarios de pequeñas empresas de habla inglesa y española en Arizona.

Además, En Negocios tiene como objetivo informar a los lectores de habla hispana sobre oportunidades de financiamiento, servicios empresariales y recursos educativos para hacer crecer con éxito su negocio en el Valle. ¡Es un honor editar En Negocios y ayudar a nuestra creciente y diversa comunidad empresarial!

Bilingualism is a tool for business success!

COVID-19 and geopolitical forces have shined a light on the value of multicultural awareness in the marketplace.

At In Business Magazine, we are proud to announce our new Spanish business section, En Negocios, which contains articles in two languages on topics like sales, leadership, economy and finance. Every week, I share insights and knowledge on business trends that matter to English and Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs, executives and smallbusiness owners in Arizona.

In addition, En Negocios aims to inform Spanish-speaking readers of funding opportunities, business services and educational resources to successfully grow their business in the Valley.

It is an honor to edit En Negocios and help our growing diverse business community!

Para ideas de historias, comentarios y para conectarse con nuestro editor en español, envíenos un correo electrónico a ennegocios@inbusinessphx.com.

For story ideas, comments and connect with our Spanish editor, please email us at ennegocios@inbusinessphx.com.

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En Negocios

Cómo los empresarios pueden encontrar oportunidades de negocios durante una pandemia y una recesión Después de haber trabajado con innumerables emprendedores en una gama amplia de industrias y tamaños, la resistencia y la determinación son las características de cada empresa exitosa, y cuando se trata de comenzar de nuevo, en mi opinión, los emprendedores pueden ser los mejores para pivotar en tiempos difíciles.

Pero con todas las malas noticias que inundan nuestras pantallas sobre el estado de nuestra salud y economía públicas, ver a través del otro lado del bosque puede ser algo difícil de hacer cuando se ve obligado a pivotar todos sus planes. Una habilidad crítica que la mayoría de las personas exitosas con mentalidad empresarial tiene es ver oportunidades en tiempos desafiantes y sin precedentes.

Lanzar un negocio para satisfacer las necesidades de hoy requerirá que los empresarios pasen más tiempo mirando hacia el futuro y reflexionen más profundamente sobre su próximo paso. Ahora es el momento de reflexionar sobre nuevas oportunidades: piense en “esencial” y “digital” para lanzar un negocio que sea resistente de pandemias y recesiones.

Muchos trabajadores calificados han recurrido a ser contratistas independientes, que es otra forma común de iniciar una pequeña empresa.

Recientemente, Fiverr, una plataforma de servicios independientes, anuncio en sus acciones, que aumentaron más del 250 por ciento en el primer semestre de este año. ¿Qué podría atribuir al surgimiento del trabajo como contratista independiente? Se pueden hacer muchos enlaces debido a la aceleración

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de la tecnología, la inteligencia artificial y la automatización. Sin embargo, según Fiverr, las empresas están recurriendo a trabajadores independientes porque pueden expandirse más rápidamente con mayor flexibilidad que los trabajadores a tiempo completo. La última recesión dio lugar a trabajadores independientes y parece estar haciéndolo nuevamente. ¿Dónde pueden los empresarios encontrar oportunidades?

Las oportunidades están en todas partes, los empresarios deben saber cómo reconocerlas para aprovecharlas.

Antes de profundizar en la investigación de mercado, hágase esta pregunta primero, ¿qué necesitan las personas durante una crisis económica y de salud? Las primeras pistas están en las palabras: salud y economía. Entonces pregúntate, ¿qué habilidades tengo? ¿Qué habilidades quiero o necesito aprender?

Para comenzar a descubrir las necesidades del mercado, ¡conéctese en línea! Hay tantas herramientas excelentes disponibles para ayudar a evaluar lo que el mercado necesita.

Pero, proceda con precaución. Todavía no tenemos una idea clara de cuáles serán los impactos de la pandemia en la economía, pero los emprendedores pueden comenzar a poco a poco y a medida que ven el éxito en su nuevo nicho.

Aquí hay una lista de dónde puede estudiar el mercado para descubrir oportunidades: • Tendencias de búsqueda en Google, • Reportes de noticias,

• • • • • • •

Informes económicos, Informes climáticos, Informes de salud, Acuerdos comerciales internacionales, Mercados globales emergentes, Aceleración e innovación tecnológica, Recursos y subvenciones de su gobierno local.

Comprender cómo se mueven las empresas y los gobiernos puede servir para protegerlo física y financieramente mientras navegamos por aguas desconocidas. Al igual que con cualquier oportunidad de inversión, los emprendedores necesitarán tener suficientes recursos financieros para construir mientras controlan las salidas y maximizan sus entradas de ingresos para sobrevivir.

Como vemos hoy, cualquier negocio que brinde una solución para ayudar a mantener la vida de la población en funcionamiento mientras permanecen aislados es un modelo comercial comprobado que funciona.

Aquí hay una lista, sin ningún orden en particular, de los principales productos y servicios donde el dinero fluye actualmente: • Desinfectantes de manos, máscaras, dispositivos de temperatura, equipo de protección personal (EPP) • Fundamentos y mejoras para el hogar • Laboratorios médicos, hospitales, farmacias • Servicios de entrega a domicilio y comida • Tiendas de comestibles, venta de productos técnicos / de oficina • Blogging, influencer y marketing digital

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• S ervicios virtuales y educación en línea (legal, financiera, educación, atención médica, ejercicio, entretenimiento) • Software como servicio (SaaS), codificación, diseño de sitios web • Escritura profesional, edición, diseño curricular • Empresas de logística y transporte • Recolección de basura, servicios de lavandería, jardinería • Ferreterías • Servicios de seguridad

• • • • •

Servicios de utilidad Servicios de limpieza y desinfección Productos y servicios para mascotas Belleza del hogar Entretenimiento y juegos

El momento de buscar oportunidades es ahora.

Con cualquier tiempo extra, un emprendedor puede trabajar en la reconstrucción de un sitio web, crear nuevos sistemas, hablar con los clientes, actualizar equipos y crear nuevas ofertas

de productos. Otra recomendación es aprovechar el trabajo remoto. Es más seguro, más productivo y puede venir con más compensación y mayor flexibilidad de estilo de vida.

Siempre es una buena práctica comercial escuchar lo que sus clientes necesitan para descubrir oportunidades dentro de un negocio existente. Los emprendedores que estudian activamente el mercado tendrán la ventaja de aprovechar las oportunidades en nuestra economía.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

How Entrepreneurs Can Find Business Opportunities during a Pandemic and a Recession Having worked with countless entrepreneurs in a wide range of industries and sizes, I’ve seen that resiliency and grit are the cornerstones to every successful venture, and when it comes to starting over, in my opinion, entrepreneurs may be the best at pivoting under challenging times.

But with all the bad news flooding our screens about the state of our public health and economy, seeing through to the other side of the forest can be a hard thing to do when you are forced to pivot all your plans. A critical ability most successful entrepreneurial-minded people have is to see opportunities in challenging and unprecedented times.

Launching a business to meet the needs of today will require entrepreneurs to spend more time looking ahead and reflect deeper about their next move. Now is the time to reflect on new opportunities — think “essential” and “digital” to launch a business that is pandemic- and recession-proof.

Many skilled workers have turned to freelance work, which is another and common form of starting a small business. Recently, Fiverr, a freelance services platform, released figures on its stock, which rose more than 250 percent in the first half of this year. To what can we attribute the rise of freelance work? Many links can be made due to the acceleration of technology, artificial intelligence and automation.

However, according to Fiverr, companies are turning to freelancers because they can expand more quickly with greater flexibility than fulltime workers. The last recession gave rise to freelance workers and today’s conditions appear to be doing it again.

Where can entrepreneurs find opportunities?

Opportunities are everywhere — entrepreneurs have to know how to recognize them to seize them.

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Before digging into market research, ask yourself this question first: “What do people need during a health and economic crisis?” The first clues are in the words “health” and “economic.”

Then ask yourself, “What skills do I have? What skills do I want or need to learn?”

To start uncovering the needs of the market, go online! There are so many great tools available to help gauge what the market needs. But proceed with caution. We still do not have a clear picture of what the lasting impacts of the pandemic and economic fallout will be, but entrepreneurs can start small and scale as they see success in their new niche.

Here is a quick list of where to study the market to uncover opportunities: • Google Search Trends • News Reports • Economic Reports • Climate Reports • Health Reports • International Trade Deals • Emerging Global Markets • Technology Acceleration and Innovation • Local Government Resources and Grants Understanding how companies and governments move can serve to protect you physically and financially as we all navigate uncharted waters. As with any investment opportunity, entrepreneurs will need to have enough financial resources to build up while controlling the outflows and maximizing their inflows of revenue to survive.

As we see today, any business that provides a solution to help keep the lives of the population running while they remain in isolation is a proven business model that works.

Here is a quick list, in no particular order, of the top products and services where money is currently flowing:

• H and Sanitizers, Masks, Temperature Devices, Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) • Home Essentials and Improvement • Medical Laboratories, Hospitals, Pharmacy • Home and Food Delivery Services • Grocery Stores, Tech/Office Product Retail • Blogging, Influencer and Digital Marketing • Virtual Services and Online Education (Legal, Financial, Education, Healthcare, Fitness, Entertainment) • Software as a service (SaaS), Coding, Website Design • Professional Writing, Editing, Curriculum Design • Logistics & Transportation Companies • Trash Collection, Laundry Services, Landscaping • Hardware Stores • Security Services • Utility Services • Janitorial, Cleaning & Disinfecting Services • Pet Products and Services • Home Beauty • Entertainment and Gaming

The time to look for opportunities is now. With any extra time, an entrepreneur can work on rebuilding a website, create new systems, talk to customers, upgrade equipment and create new product offerings. Another recommendation is to take advantage of remote work. It is safer, more productive and can come with more compensation and greater lifestyle flexibility.

It is always good business practice to listen to what your customers need to uncover opportunities from within an existing business.

Entrepreneurs who actively study the market will have an advantage in seizing opportunities in the ever-changing landscape of our economy.

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Por qué los propietarios de pequeñas empresas necesitan tomar los ataques cibernéticos más en serio durante la crisis de COVID-19 Jorge T. tiene 69 años y es propietario de una pequeña empresa en Arizona, cuyas compras en línea han aumentado debido a la pandemia. Se conecta regularmente en línea para comprar suministros para vender sus vehículos recreativos de bricolaje. Recientemente, compartió conmigo su experiencia con una estafa de suplantación de identidad (phishing) que pudo detener rápidamente. Él compartió: “Noté que una compañía con un nombre público diferente cobraba a mi cuenta bancaria por cantidades extrañas. Llamé a mi banco para confirmar y resultó que estaba en medio de una estafa.”

Afortunadamente, esto no fue devastador para Jorge porque inmediatamente tomó medidas para evitar que los atacantes tomaran más dinero de su negocio. Este es solo uno de los miles de ejemplos que suceden diariamente a los consumidores cotidianos, en particular a los propietarios de pequeñas empresas.

El Instituto de preparación cibernética informó que las empresas con menos de 10 empleados continúan subestimando las amenazas cibernéticas, a pesar de que más personas trabajan de forma remota. Este es un gran

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problema porque las empresas más pequeñas son las más vulnerables.

Es cierto que muchas pequeñas empresas no tienen los mismos recursos que las grandes empresas, como el seguro cibernético, los departamentos de TI dedicados o incluso una cultura de preparación cibernética con sus trabajadores.

Un ciberataque puede ser financieramente devastador para los propietarios de pequeñas empresas, especialmente durante la crisis de COVID-19. Para empeorar las cosas, los propietarios de pequeñas empresas no se enteran de un ciberataque hasta que sea demasiado tarde. De acuerdo con al Instituto de preparación cibernética, el 58 por ciento de las víctimas de ataques cibernéticos son pequeñas empresas.

Los ataques cibernéticos a propietarios de pequeñas empresas durante la crisis COVID-19 están en aumento.

Microsoft emitió una advertencia a empresas e individuos sobre el riesgo de ataques cibernéticos que se aprovechan de las preocupaciones de salud de las personas al usar contenido relacionado con la pandemia. Según

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Microsoft, descubrieron que entre millones de correos electrónicos de phishing globales, alrededor de 60,000 estaban relacionados con COVID-19, y los remitentes pretendían provenir de organizaciones oficiales como la Organización Mundial de la Salud. ¿Qué deben hacer los propietarios de pequeñas empresas?

Aquí hay algunos consejos para que su pequeña empresa esté lista para la cibernética: • Esté atento a los remitentes de correo electrónico. Muchas estafas de phishing vienen en forma de correos electrónicos. Verifique la dirección de correo electrónico del remitente ... generalmente es donde obtendrá su primera pista. Bloquee el correo electrónico si cree que es una estafa.

• Fortalezca sus prácticas de contraseña: evite reutilizar contraseñas antiguas. Implemente políticas de bloqueo para evitar que los hackers ejecuten códigos para ingresar a una cuenta. Por lo general, esto se puede configurar en la sección de configuración de su servicio de correo electrónico.

• C ree una política de respuesta a incidentes para usted y su equipo.

Contrata especialistas en cibernética para proporcionar capacitación o investigación en línea sobre las mejores prácticas. Desarrollar una cultura de preparación cibernética le va ayudar.

• Invierta en protección contra malware para sus sistemas informáticos, seguro cibernético para protegerlo de la pérdida de ingresos y utilice sistemas de almacenamiento en la nube con protocolos de seguridad sólidos.

El futuro digital se ha acelerado por la crisis de COVID-19 y los propietarios de pequeñas empresas aún pueden encontrar formas de proteger su propio futuro. Las buenas prácticas de prevención de ataques cibernéticos deberían centrarse en usar contraseñas seguras, actualizar los sistemas operativos, comprender los trucos de los malos actores, prohibir el uso de memorias USB y otros dispositivos de almacenamiento extraíbles.

Hacer estos pequeños ajustes contribuirá en gran medida a prevenir ataques cibernéticos en su pequeña empresa.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Why Small Business Owners Need to Take Cyberattacks More Seriously During the COVID-19 Crisis Jorge T. is a 69-year-old small-business owner in Arizona whose online shopping has increased due to the pandemic. He regularly goes online to shop for supplies to sell his DIY recreational vehicles. Recently, he shared with me his experience with a phishing scam that he was able to stop in its tracks early. He shared, “I noticed my bank account was charged for strange amounts by a company with a different public name. I called my bank to confirm and turns out I was in the middle of being scammed.”

Luckily, this was not devasting to Jorge because he immediately took measures to stop the attackers from taking any more money from his business. This is just one of thousands of examples of scams that happen daily to everyday consumers, particularly small-business owners.

The Cyber Readiness Institute reported that businesses with fewer than 10 employees continue to underestimate cyber threats even as more people work remotely. This is a big problem because smaller businesses are the most vulnerable.

It is true that many small businesses do not have the same resources as larger businesses, such as cyber insurance, dedicated IT departments or even a culture of cyber readiness with their workers.

A cyberattack can be financially devastating to small-business owners, especially during the COVID-19 crisis. To make matters worse, smallbusiness owners do not find out about a cyberattack until it is too late.

According to the Cyber Readiness Institute, 58 percent of cyberattack victims are small businesses.

Cyberattacks on small business owners during the COVID-19 crisis are on the rise.

Microsoft issued a warning to businesses and individuals about of the risk of cyberattacks that prey on people’s health concerns using pandemicrelated content. According to Microsoft, they found that among millions of

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global phishing emails, around 60,000 were related to COVID-19, with the senders pretending to come from official organizations such as the World Health Organization.

What should small-business owners do?

Here are some tips to get your small business cyber-ready: • Keep a close eye on email senders. Many phishing scams come in the form of emails. Check the sender’s email address — that is usually where you will get your first clue. Block the email if you believe it is a scam.

• Strengthen your password practices — avoid reusing old passwords.

Implement lockout policies to prevent hackers from running codes to get into an account. Usually, this can be set up in the settings section of your email service.

• Create an incident response policy for yourself and your team. Hire cyber specialists to provide training or research online for best practices. Develop a culture of cyber-readiness.

• Invest in malware protection for your computer systems, cyber insurance to protect you from revenue loss, and utilize cloud storage systems with strong security protocols.

The digital future has been accelerated by the COVID-19 crisis and small-business owners can still find ways to protect their own future.

Good cyberattack-prevention practices should focus on using secure passwords, updating operating systems, understanding the tricks of bad actors, and prohibiting the use of USB memory sticks and other removable storage devices.

Doing these small adjustments will go a long way to prevent cyberattacks in your small business.

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¿Quién está a cargo del jefe? 4 consejos que todo empresario ocupado debe considerar para balancear el trabajo y un estilo de vida saludable durante COVID-19 Los dueños de negocios son personas ocupadas y las personas ocupadas a veces agregan muchas actividades que pueden consumir su tiempo precioso para el cuidado personal. Después de haber pasado muchos años comprendiendo el valor del autocuidado como una estrategia para lograr el éxito, resulta que tomarse un descanso e invertir tiempo en el autocuidado tiene mucho que ver con lo productivo, enfocado y enérgico que puede ser el dueño de un negocio para tener una vida balanceada y plena. Los dueños de negocios deberían considerar adoptar el autocuidado dentro de la cultura de su empresa y el cuidado personal debería comenzar con el jefe.

Emprendimiento ya era difícil antes del COVID-19 y ahora, la pandemia está agregando presiones adicionales, que empujan los límites de nuestra salud física y mental.

Desafortunadamente, existen ideas negativas en torno al espíritu empresarial en lo que respecta a la salud física y mental. Puede leer todo sobre esto con una búsqueda rápida en Google de artículos sobre ejecutivos agotados y memes que contienen fundadores tecnológicos demasiado glamorosos en las redes sociales que promueven la idea de que la salud toma segundo lugar después del éxito empresarial. Esto puede funcionar para esos emprendedores glamorosos, pero para el dueño de un negocio cotidiano, el autocuidado debe ser una prioridad para vivir un estilo de vida saludable, realizado y balanceado, especialmente durante una pandemia. ¿De qué le sirve a usted y a su empresa estar siempre cansado, de mal humor, enfermizo y estresado? ¿Está haciendo todo lo necesario para llevar un estilo de vida saludable como dueño de su negocio?

Dirigir un negocio es difícil, por lo que el jefe debe cuidar de sí mismo primero. La falta de cuidado personal puede conducir a problemas de salud evitables causados por el estrés y las relaciones alejadas causadas por eludir las prioridades. Iniciar un estilo de vida saludable tiene muchos beneficios, como una mayor energía para hacer más cosas, una mejor concentración para analizar decisiones importantes y una mejor disciplina para completar las tareas.

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Aquí hay quatro consejos a considerar para un estilo de vida saludable como empresario ocupado: 1. Medita para dejar ir la negatividad diaria. Empiece por su salud mental. La mediación es una excelente manera de enfocar sus pensamientos en cosas positivas como gratitud, creatividad y soluciones.

Hay muchos videos y audios de meditación guiada en línea que puede encontrar. Intente meditar al menos cinco minutos por la mañana para enfocar su día. Evite revisar sus mensajes a primera hora cuando se despierte; en cambio, salga de la cama y siéntese en silencio durante cinco minutos para hacer una lista mental de las cosas por las que está agradecido.

Antes de acostarse, repita el mismo proceso.

2. Duerma bien y tome descansos para que pueda pensar mejor.

Trabajar muchas horas es cosa del pasado. Hay ocasiones en las que es posible que desee extender su jornada laboral para cumplir con los plazos urgentes, sin embargo, puede limitar su tiempo de trabajo estableciendo un horario estricto para dormir. Un horario de sueño puede sonarle como clavos en una pizarra o como ángeles cantando desde el cielo.

Independientemente de lo que escuche, siga su horario de sueño. Esta rutina le permite a su cerebro ponerse al día con los procesos mentales que le ayudan a pensar mejor al día siguiente. ¿Ha intentado ir a trabajar con mucho sueño sin descansar la noche anterior? No hay suficiente café en el mundo que pueda reemplazar la energía que se obtiene al dormir bien.

3. Haga ejercicio para fortalecer su salud emocional, mental y física. Haga que su cuerpo se mueva, por la mañana o cuando tenga tiempo. Dedique al menos 30 minutos al día a alguna forma de actividad física. Si trabaja en un trabajo sedentario, esto es aún más importante. El ejercicio libera una gran cantidad de hormonas saludables, que permiten que su sistema físico funcione a un nivel óptimo para su tipo de cuerpo. Dé un paseo alrededor de la cuadra, siga un programa de ejercicios en línea, invierta en un espacio de gimnasio en casa o busque un hermoso sendero para explorar. No se preocupe por los objetivos de apariencia o lo que dice el

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número en la escala. El punto es dedicar tiempo en su día a la actividad física para sentirse bien mientras trabaja. El ejercicio a largo plazo tendrá muchos beneficios para su cuerpo que lo sorprenderá gratamente en el futuro.

4. Come bien para sentirse bien y mantenerse hidratado. No es ningún secreto que comer bien y mantenerse hidratado son los pilares de la buena salud. La elección diaria de alimentos marca una gran diferencia en la forma en que se siente, no solo en su apariencia. Intente comer más frutas y verduras y menos papas fritas o bocadillos poco saludables.

Beber agua le ayuda a evitar dolores de cabeza y mantiene su cerebro funcionando de la mejor manera. Evite comer tarde y beba tanta agua

como pueda durante el día.

Comenzar un estilo de vida saludable no tiene por qué ser difícil, solo necesita encontrar una razón suficientemente buena para seguirlo. En mi caso, nunca quiero sentir el estrés que sentí hace muchos años cuando no me tomaba en serio el cuidado personal. Intente escribir algunas afirmaciones diarias para recordarle sus objetivos de cuidado personal y obtener la responsabilidad de alguien en quien confíe.

Las recompensas por comprometerse a su rutina de estilo de vida saludable irán mucho más allá de su éxito empresarial. Es la forma de vivir con éxito todos los días.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Who Is Taking Care of the Boss? 4 Tips Every Busy Business Owner Should Consider to Balance Work and a Healthy Lifestyle during COVID-19 Business owners are busy people, and busy people tend to add on a lot of activities that can eat away at precious self-care time. Having spent many years understanding the value of self-care as a strategy to achieve success, I’ve learned taking a break and investing time in self-care has a lot to do with how productive, focused and energetic a business owner can be to lead a balanced and fulfilling life. Business owners should consider embracing selfcare within their company culture, and it should start with the boss.

Entrepreneurism was already tough before COVID-19, and now the pandemic is adding extra pressures, which push the limits of our mental and physical health.

Unfortunately, there are negative ideas surrounding entrepreneurism where it comes to mental and physical health. You can read all about this with a quick Google search for articles about executives burning out and memes containing over-glamorized tech founders on social media promoting the idea that health comes second to business success. This may work for those overly glamorized entrepreneurs, but for the everyday business owner, self-care should be prioritized to live a healthy, fulfilled and balanced lifestyle, particularly during a pandemic.

What good does it do to you and your business if you are always tired, cranky, sickly and stressed?

Are you doing everything it takes to live a healthy lifestyle as a business owner?

Running a business is tough, which is why the boss needs to take care of his- or herself first. Lack of self-care can lead to avoidable health issues caused by stress and estranged relationships caused by avoidance of priorities. Kicking off a healthy lifestyle has many benefits, like increased energy to get more done, better concentration to analyze important decisions, and improved discipline to complete tasks.

Here are four tips to consider for a healthy lifestyle as a busy business owner: 1. Meditate to let go of the daily negativity. Start with your mental health. Mediation is a great way to focus your thoughts on positive things like gratitude, creativity and solutions. There are many guided meditation videos and audios online you can find. Try meditating at least five minutes in the morning to set your day straight. Avoid checking your messages first thing when you wake up; instead, roll out of bed and sit quietly for five

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minutes to make a mental list of the things you are grateful for. Before bed, repeat the same process.

2. Sleep well and take breaks so you can think better. Working long hours and burning the midnight oil is a thing of the past. There are times when you may want to extend your workday to accomplish urgent deadlines, however, you can limit your work time by setting a strict sleep schedule. A sleep schedule may sound to you like nails on a chalk board or like angels singing from heaven. Whatever you hear, stick to your sleep schedule. This routine allows your brain to catch up on mental processes that help you think better the next day. Have you tried to go to work with little to no sleep the night before? There is not enough coffee in the world that can replace the energy you get from a good sleep.

3. Exercise to strengthen your emotional, mental, and physical health. Get your body moving — in the morning or whenever you have time. Dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to some form of physical activity.

If you work at a sedentary job, this is even more important to do. Exercise releases a lot of healthy hormones, which allow your physical system to perform at an optimum level for your body type. Take a walk around the block, follow an online exercise program, invest in a home gym space, or find a beautiful trail to explore. Do not worry about appearance goals or what the number on the scale says. The point is to dedicate time in your day for physical activity to feel good while you work. Long-term exercise will have many benefits to your body that will pleasantly surprise you down the road.

4. Eat well to feel well and keep hydrated. It is no secret that eating well and staying hydrated are the pillars of good health. Daily food choices make a big difference in the way you feel, not just in your looks. Try eating more fruits and vegetables and less chips or unhealthy snacks. Drinking water helps you avoid headaches and keeps your brain operating at its best.

Avoid eating late and drink as much water as you can throughout the day.

Getting a healthy lifestyle started does not need to be difficult, you just need to find yourself a good enough reason to stick to it. In my case, I never want to feel the stress I felt many years ago when I did not take self-care seriously. Try writing some daily affirmations to remind yourself about your self-care goals and get accountability from someone you trust.

The rewards for sticking to your healthy lifestyle routine will go far beyond your business success. It is the way to live successfully every day.

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En Negocios

Los prestamistas abusivos se aprovechan de los pequeños negocios durante COVID-19 Ahora que la pandemia cambió la forma en que los propietarios de pequeñas empresas piden dinero prestado, continúan siendo un victimas de las prácticas de prestamistas abusivos. Para los propietarios de pequeñas empresas que solicitan préstamos por primera vez, deben estar equipados con toda la información correcta y acceder a todo el soporte que puedan obtener para saber que obtuvieron el mejor trato. A medida que la crisis económica continúa revelando más necesidades para los propietarios de pequeñas empresas, los prestatarios que aprovecharon el Programa de Protección de Nómina ahora temen que los requisitos federales sean demasiado complicados y confusos, según un artículo reciente del New York Times.

El 29 de abril de 2020, el Consejo de la Ciudad de Nueva York dio un paso audaz en un esfuerzo por proteger a las pequeñas empresas durante la pandemia de COVID-19 al prohibir una cláusula utilizada en los contratos de préstamos comerciales llamada “confesión de juicio.” Una confesión de juicio es básicamente una cláusula donde un prestatario renuncia al derecho de notificación y le da al prestamista lo que necesita para demandar al prestatario cuando un préstamo no se paga de acuerdo con el contrato y

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ejercer un juicio en favor al prestamista. Esto pone al prestatario en una grave desventaja para reclamar cualquier disputa porque esto legalmente arma al prestamista para trabajar a través de los tribunales para confiscar cualquier propiedad o activo del prestatario a través de sentencias. Esto da como resultado una mayor pérdida de riqueza en las comunidades empresariales y empeora la crisis financiera de los prestatarios que buscan financiamiento. Arizona es un estado que permite que esta cláusula se use en contratos financieros.

La ley propuesta por la Ciudad de Nueva York para prohibir la confesión de la cláusula de juicio se presentará en el comité, pero cuando se mueva para votar, podría sentar las bases para una reforma importante que podría beneficiar a los propietarios de pequeñas empresas en todo el país. La grave crisis económica creada por la pandemia COVID-19 tiene un impacto desproporcionado en las pequeñas empresas y podría exigirles que busquen préstamos que les podría costar más de lo que firmaron.

Todos los dueños de negocios merecen entender lo que están firmando.

A continuación, se muestra una declaración de derechos del prestatario

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creada por la Coalición de Préstamos para Empresas Responsables (RBLC por sus siglas en ingles) para ayudar a los propietarios de pequeñas empresas a comprender sus derechos como prestatarios.

La Declaración de derechos de los prestatarios de pequeñas empresas identifica seis derechos fundamentales que todos los propietarios de pequeñas empresas que buscan financiación merecen: 1. El derecho a precios y términos transparentes. un prestatario tiene derecho a que se le presenten por escrito y en forma clara, completa y fácil de comparar el costo y los términos de cualquier financiamiento ofrecido, con otras opciones de financiamiento, para que puedan tomar la mejor decisión para su negocio.

2. El derecho a productos no abusivos. un prestatario tiene el derecho de esperar que los productos financieros ofrecidos por un prestamista no atrapen su negocio en un ciclo costoso de préstamos.

3. El derecho a una suscripción responsable. un prestatario tiene el derecho de esperar que un prestamista ofrezca financiamiento basado en prácticas de suscripción que evalúan la capacidad del negocio del prestatario para tener éxito y pagar.

4. El derecho a un trato justo por parte del prestamista. un prestatario tiene derecho a comunicaciones honestas, transparentes e

imparciales con un prestamista con respecto a las opciones de préstamos, conflictos de intereses, tarifas y las opciones de financiación disponibles.

5. El derecho al acceso inclusivo al crédito. un prestatario tiene derecho a un trato justo e igualitario cuando solicita un préstamo, incluidas las protecciones garantizadas por la Ley de Igualdad de Oportunidades de Crédito.

6. El derecho a prácticas justas de cobro. un prestatario tiene derecho a ser tratado de manera justa y respetuosa durante todo el proceso de cobro y el derecho a protecciones garantizadas por la Ley de prácticas justas de cobro de deudas.

La realidad es que los propietarios de pequeñas empresas son vulnerables a las prácticas de préstamos predatorios mientras luchan para llegar a fin de mes y esperan no tener que cerrar sus negocios para siempre durante la pandemia. Los dueños de pequeños negocios ya están tomando decisiones difíciles a diario y perder más negocios es catastrófico para la salud económica de cualquier comunidad. No tiene por qué ser así, y nuestros líderes políticos pueden actuar para crear protecciones para los prestatarios de pequeñas empresas a nivel estatal y federal como el próximo mejor recurso para evitar una mayor pérdida de riqueza en nuestro país.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

Small-Business Owners Are a Target for Predatory Lending Practices during the COVID-19 Pandemic Now that the pandemic changed how small-business owners borrow money, they continue to be a major target for predatory lending practices.

Small-business owners who are borrowing for the first time need to be equipped with all the right information and access to all the support they can get, to know they got the best deal. As the economic crisis continues to reveal more needs for small-business owners, borrowers who took advantage of the Paycheck Protection Program now fear that the federal requirements are too complicated and confusing, according to a recent article by the New York Times.

On April 29, 2020, the New York City Council took a bold step in an effort to protect small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic by prohibiting a clause used in business lending contracts called a “confession of judgment.”

A confession of judgment is basically a clause in which a borrower waives the right of notice and gives a lender what they need to sue the borrower when a loan is not paid in accordance with the contract and enforce judgments. This puts the borrower at a severe disadvantage in any claims disputes because this legally arms the lender to work through the courts to seize any property or assets of the borrower via judgments. This results in more loss of wealth in entrepreneurial communities and worsens the financial crisis of borrowers seeking financing. Arizona is a state that allows this clause to be used in financial contracts.

The New York City bill to prohibit the confession of judgment clause is laid over in committee, but when it moves to vote, it could set the stage for major reform that could benefit small-business owners around the country. The dire economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic has a disproportionate impact on small business and could require them to seek expansive loans.

Every business owner deserves to understand what they are signing.

Below is a borrower bill of rights created by the Responsible Business Lending Coalition to help small-business owners understand their rights as a borrower.

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The Small Business Borrowers’ Bill of Rights identifies six fundamental rights that all small-business owners seeking financing deserve: 1. The right to transparent pricing and terms. A borrower has the right to have the cost and terms of any financing being offered presented in writing and in a form that is clear, complete and easy to compare with other financing options, so he/she can make the best decision for his/her business.

2. The right to non-abusive products. A borrower has the right to expect that the financing products offered by a lender will not trap his/her business in an expensive cycle of re-borrowing.

3. The right to responsible underwriting. A borrower has the right to expect a lender is offering financing based on underwriting practices that assess the ability of the borrower’s business to succeed and repay.

4. The right to fair treatment from brokers. A borrower has the right to honest, transparent and impartial communications with a broker regarding loan options, conflicts of interest, fees, and the financing options available.

5. The right to inclusive credit access. A borrower has the right to fair and equal treatment when seeking a loan, including protections guaranteed under the Equal Credit Opportunity Act. 6. The right to fair collections practices. A borrower has the right to be treated fairly and respectfully throughout a collections process and the right to protections like those guaranteed under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The reality is that small-business owners are vulnerable to predatory lending practices as they struggle to make ends meet and hope to not have to close their business for good during the pandemic. They are already making tough choices daily, and losing any more businesses would be catastrophic to the economic health of any community. It does not have to be this way and our political leaders can act to create protections for smallbusiness borrowers at the state and federal level as the next best recourse to prevent more loss of wealth in our country.

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En Negocios

10 maneras en que la pandemia cambió la forma en que hacemos negocios A medida que los estados de todo el país comienzan a hablar de la “reapertura de los Estados Unidos”, los propietarios de pequeñas empresas se encuentran cambiando sus modelos de negocio casi de la noche a la mañana. Con la realidad de un nuevo entorno normal en un mundo post-COVID, las pequeñas empresas ahora tienen que adaptarse a los cambios que esta pandemia ha creado para los comportamientos de los consumidores y las cadenas de suministro en todo el mundo. Aquí hay algunas maneras en que la pandemia ha cambiado la forma en que hacemos negocios hoy: 1. A medida que más consumidores se acostumbran a la idea de comprar casi todo en línea, los propietarios de pequeñas empresas deben tener sistemas resistentes para manejar los aumentos repentinos en las compras en línea y proteger los datos de sus clientes.

2. Los propietarios de pequeñas empresas deben pensar en nuevas formas de crear experiencias positivas y seguras con sus clientes para sentirse seguros de volver a comprar una vez que la amenaza del virus retroceda.

3. Hemos entrado en la era virtual y afecta a todos. La pandemia ha transformado las líneas entre el trabajo y la vida en el hogar. Cualquier cosa que se pueda hacer virtualmente se hará virtualmente.

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4. T odas las empresas deberán tener un plan de salud pública para sus trabajadores y clientes. Las compras y las experiencias de salud irán de la mano. Las pequeñas empresas tendrán que participar en un ecosistema saludable para ser un ganador en la nueva economía.

5. A medida que más personas se queden en casa, el gasto en vivienda aumentará. Nuestras casas serán nuestros lugares de trabajo y nos aseguraremos de que nuestro pequeño nido sea cómodo. Las pequeñas empresas que crecerán en una economía post-COVID deberán considerar con más cuidado lo que los consumidores y los trabajadores necesitan para que su hogar sea cómodo, productivo y seguro.

6. Para destacarse, las pequeñas empresas deberán invertir para convertirse en autoridades dentro de su industria. Los clientes dependerán de recomendaciones creíbles para tomar decisiones inteligentes de compra y los propietarios de pequeñas empresas deberán pensar en cómo brindar confianza en su servicio o producto, ya sea certificaciones, educación en video o asociaciones.

7. El comercio en línea será prioritario. Los ganadores serán pequeñas empresas que tienen una mentalidad de comercio digital y hacen crecer sus ofertas existentes en línea.

8. El excelente servicio al cliente será el diferenciador entre una empresa que es compasiva o indiferente. Esto no parece una idea

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nueva, pero con el estado emocional actual de los consumidores y trabajadores, se suma al desafío. Y descubrir nuevas formas de cuidar a los trabajadores y clientes hoy presentará a las pequeñas empresas nuevas oportunidades para innovar y crecer.

9. El liderazgo ha adquirido un significado más profundo en los negocios. Nuestros trabajadores y clientes ahora están descubriendo un mundo desconocido y está cambiando más rápido que nunca.

Los líderes de pequeñas empresas necesitarán desarrollar sus habilidades de inteligencia emocional para manejar la incertidumbre de manera responsable y dirigir su negocio con confianza, incluso cuando el dueño del negocio no tenga todas las respuestas.

10. Los empleadores deberán redefinir los beneficios laborales. La realidad del nuevo lugar de trabajo ha cambiado, y los trabajadores

necesitarán orientación y apoyo para adaptarse. Muchas compañías están invirtiendo en el rediseño de paquetes de compensación para incluir los gastos de la oficina en el hogar, horarios de trabajo flexibles y sistemas de entorno de trabajo virtual.

A medida que se desarrollen los planes para reabrir la economía en Estados Unidos, los propietarios de pequeñas empresas deberán investigar cómo encontrar nuevos clientes, cómo vender de nuevas maneras, comprender cómo las cadenas de suministro impactan sus resultados y cómo proteger a sus trabajadores en un mundo post-COVID. Muchos argumentan que los cambios son buenos, pero “bueno” para el propietario de una pequeña empresa es un término relativo.

ENGLISH TRANSLATION

10 Ways the Pandemic Has Changed the Way We Do Business As states across the country start talking about “reopening America,” small-business owners find themselves pivoting their business models almost overnight. With the reality of a new normal setting in in a post-COVID world, small businesses now have to adapt to the changes this pandemic has created for consumer behaviors and supply chains around the world. Here are a few ways the pandemic has changed the way we do business today: 1. As more consumers get used to the idea of buying almost everything online, small-business owners need to have resilient systems to handle surges in online purchasing and protecting data.

2. Small-business owners need to think of new ways to create positive and safe experiences with their customers so they will feel confident to shop again once the threat of the virus recedes.

3. We have entered the virtual era and it impacts everyone. The pandemic has blurred the lines between work and home life.

Anything that can be done virtually will be done virtually.

4. Every business will need to have a public health plan for their workers and customers. Shopping and health experiences will go hand in hand. Small businesses will need to play a part in a healthy ecosystem to be a winner in the new economy.

5. As more people stay home, home spending will rise. Our homes will be our workplaces, and it will be important to make sure our little nest is comfortable. Small businesses that will rise in a post-COVID economy will need to consider more carefully what consumers and workers need to make their home comfortable, productive and safe.

6. To stand out, small businesses will need to invest in becoming authorities within their industry. Customers will depend on credible recommendations to make smart purchasing decisions and small business owners will need to think about how to provide confidence

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in their service or product, whether it is certifications, offering video education or partnerships.

Online commerce will be priority. The winners will be small businesses that have a digital commerce mindset and grow their existing offerings online.

Excellent customer service will be the differentiator between a business that is compassionate or indifferent. This does not seem like a new idea but, with the current emotional state of consumers and workers, adds to the challenge. And uncovering new ways to take care of workers and customers today will present small businesses with new opportunities to innovate and grow.

Leadership has taken a deeper meaning in business. Our workers and customers are now discovering an unfamiliar world and it is changing faster than ever. Small-business leaders will need to build on their emotional intelligence skills to handle uncertainty responsibly and lead their business with confidence, even when the business owner does not have all the answers.

Employers will need to redefine work benefits. The reality of the new workplace has changed, and workers will need guidance and support to adapt. Many companies are investing in redesigning compensation packages to include home-office expenses, flexible work schedules and virtual work environment systems.

As the plans to reopen the economy in America unfold, small-business owners will need to do their research on how find new clients, how to sell in new ways, understand how supply chains impact their bottom line, and how to protect their workers in a post-COVID world. Many argue the changes are good, but “good” for a small-business owner is a relative term.

Edgar Rafael Olivo es educador empresarial bilingüe, experto en economía y colaborador de varios medios de comunicación.

Es director de varias organizaciones sin fines de lucro y le apasiona la educación. Está certificado en finanzas y análisis de datos y tiene un título en negocios de la Universidad Estatal de Arizona.

Edgar Rafael Olivo is a bilingual business educator, economic advisor and contributor for several media outlets. He’s a nonprofit executive who is passionate about education. He is certified in finance and data analytics and holds a business degree from Arizona State University.

Para ideas de historias, comentarios y para conectarse con nuestro editor en español, envíenos un correo electrónico a ennegocios@inbusinessphx.com.

For story ideas, comments and connect with our Spanish editor, please email us at ennegocios@inbusinessphx.com.

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PACKAGED TO IMPRESS

Big Data Principles Help Brands Understand Market Position What brands should look at to make strategic decisions and plan for the future

by Frances Zelazny

Frances Zelazny is a seasoned marketing strategist and business development professional with more than 20 years of experience in successfully building and scaling startup technology companies.

Zelazny is currently the CMO of Signals Analytics, where she drives the company’s transformational positioning as a category leader in the advanced analytics market, contributing to its aggressive growth.

With next-generation advanced analytics, Signals Analytics powers the future of market intelligence with the scale and speed of AI. The configurable data platform connects and classifies countless rich, external sources into unified contextual data, and augments analytic applications with unparalleled accuracy and scale to surface granular trends and predictive insights. signals-analytics.com

A recent article in The Guardian discussed how big data can track the COVID economic slump; similar to what this shows of how economists are looking at new economic markers thanks to big data, there are signals that brands should be looking at to make strategic decisions for long-term planning.

Some of the signals may seem obvious but, for many brands, figuring out what is important and actionable is not so simple. Take, for example, the recent social unrest and the newly energized Black Lives Matter movement. In the weeks following George Floyd’s death, which served as the impetus for nationwide protests, some brands were quick to speak out in support of the movement, many fearing repercussions if they did not do so. Many brands took steps to confront racism within their companies and committed to higher employee diversity, while others made donations in support of BLM. Some companies went so far as to change their branding due to racist undertones in the name, logo, mascot or history of the brand. But many questions abound: • What sort of brand activities as a response to BLM have been well received by consumers?

• What proportion of people would boycott a brand that didn’t support BLM? • What proportion of people would boycott a brand that had racist origins?

• What would it take for a brand to leave behind its racist origins for good?

• What was the consumer reaction to a particular brand’s announcement of intended activity?

• How should brands tailor rebranding announcements to avoid alienating consumers?

• How do brands support the movement without overshadowing their overall brand messaging?

By analyzing different market signals and obtaining good situational awareness, it’s possible to find the answers

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By analyzing different market signals and obtaining good situational awareness, it’s possible to find answers to a broad range of strategic business questions.

to these and broader strategic business questions like uncovering new product areas to invest in, prioritizing portfolio development, incorporating emerging ingredients, repositioning a marketing campaign, promoting a marketing message to a specific audience, tailoring an offering and a marketing strategy to a particular online channel, surfacing white space opportunities, assessing partnering, licensing and M&A opportunities and more.

Well-developed situational awareness means knowledge of what has happened in the past, what is currently happening and what potentially might happen. It’s a term with roots in the military, where it is linked to making effective decisions in the tactical environment. Winning in combat involves observing an adversary’s current moves, predicting what will happen next and being able to react before it occurs. Situational awareness is also a necessity in business; the more data that comes in, and the more connected and contextual that data is, the better situational awareness the business leader will have.

Data is more readily available than ever, but it comes from disparate sources and in various formats; according to Solutions Review’s data management report last year, more than 80% of it is unstructured and therefore, up until now, mostly unused. Going deep into product reviews, patent filings, sales data, social listening, key opinion leaders, blogs, forums and more can give brands the insight they need to plan for the future. Connecting these different sources makes it possible to then see the big picture and have a single source of truth that is timely and actionable.

Advances in artificial intelligence and in natural language processing (NLP) make this possible in a way that businesses can easily implement. Today’s configurable data platforms can automatically collect all the data and prepare it for analysis, identifying and removing incomplete, inaccurate or irrelevant components and parsing out key structural elements while extracting meaning and context (i.e., specific benefit or

STRATEGIES FOR WORKING REMOTELY feature, ingredient or sentiment). The accuracy of the output and the reliability of the insights and predictions that will be gleaned from the process, however, is highly dependent on the sophistication of the NLP and the requisite taxonomies and models that are used.

For those who are able to successfully implement advanced analytics, the pay-off is huge. According to a recent Deloitte study, organizations with the highest propensity to leveraging data-driven insights in their decision-making processes were twice as likely to significantly exceed their business goals. Other research shows companies that do implement analytics successfully are 23 times more likely to acquire new customers and 19 times more likely to be profitable.

HOW ONE COMPANY TRIPLED PRODUCT OUTCOMES

Nomad Foods is one company that figured it out and, as a result, was able to triple product success outcomes and drive sustainable growth, even with product lines that were previously faltering and even through the current pandemic. Originally, like most of its peers, the company leveraged traditional market research and social listening to inform its product decisions. Many of the insights it ended up with were limited to a single domain (e.g., observations of consumer behaviors); dependent on analysts’ opinions, rather than objective data sets; and/or were identified too late in the trend cycle to be actionable and valuable. Predictive analytics were more focused on media spend as opposed to sales forecasting.

However, once the company made the switch to advanced analytics that tapped into external data, it was able to identify relevant macro trends in their infancy and tie them to what was happening with its product portfolio. This then led the company to new ways of managing the product development lifecycle and uncovering new products to bring to market.

Advanced analytics has, essentially, removed much of the guesswork around innovation by helping the company identify where to focus its investments and efforts. The depth and breadth of insights has resulted in a number of demonstrable business wins, notably a three-fold increase in new product launches that remain on store shelves for more than two years, no small feat in a market where, as Inc. Magazine recently reported, 95% of new products fail.

More recently, Nomad successfully launched a new line of frozen pea-protein-based meat alternatives based on white space opportunities identified through the Signals Analytics platform. By looking at the volume of consumer discussions on the topic as compared to product availability on the market, it became clear that this was an unmet need that the company was well-positioned to capitalize on. By further examining sentiment analysis, brand managers were also able to shape product messaging around specific claims that would resonate with target consumers.

The Talent War Talent is the foundation of every success story from Silicon Valley to Wall Street to Main Street, and even on the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan. After all, an organization’s people, not its product or service, are its strongest competitive advantage. When it comes to winning on talent, no one does it better or more consistently than the U.S. Special Operations community. Their success comes down to their people and a widely held foundational belief: Talent + Leadership = Victory.

The Talent War explores how U.S. Special Operations Forces assess, select and develop their world-class talent. Readers will learn how to adopt a talent mindset, the single greatest weapon in the war for talent, and use it to hire, train and develop the right people and put them in the best positions to make decisions that allow the organization to retake the advantage and win the war.

The Talent War: How Special Operations and Great Organizations Win on Talent Mike Sarraille, George Randle and Josh Cotton

294 pages

Lioncrest Publishing

$24.99

Allies and Advocates Allies and Advocates: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Culture delivers a powerful and useful message about inclusion and diversity in everyday life. Author Amber Cabral, a celebrated inclusion strategist, speaker and writer, shows readers how to move away from discriminatory and unjust behaviors to supporting and building meaningful connections with people across our diverse backgrounds and identities.

Perfect for anyone who works in a professional environment, Allies and Advocates is especially useful for those in middle and upper management and those involved in the training and orientation of employees.

For those looking forward to building a culture of inclusivity at work or in personal relationships, and want to learn how to use their privilege to be a better ally, this book is a must-have.

Allies and Advocates: Creating an Inclusive and Equitable Culture Amber Cabral

192 pages

Wiley

Available 11/17/2020

$22

Team Work Team Work presents a new approach to creating healthy, fulfilling, successful teams, and it all starts with individuals who put the team before themselves. The modern workplace is built on teamwork, but for many workers this structure

‘BUSINESS AS USUAL’ PLANNING WILL NOT WORK NOW

Since the start of the pandemic, brand manufacturers have been trying to react and evolve, and there are more changes on the horizon. From understanding how consumer needs are shifting, to what the impact of the recession is on spending patterns and wallet share, to uncovering new opportunities for the future, what has become clear for most leaders is that business as usual in planning for 2021 and beyond will simply not work. An effective approach will rely on three pillars: data, effective AI and analytics, and focusing on key business questions. More data and connected data are needed so that decision-makers can de-risk their future and feel more confident about the decisions they need to make today. But at the end of the day, proper planning begins with a specific goal or business question in mind. Once that is in place, it is possible to start beginning to look into the future.

Available 11/10/2020

feels like a necessary evil — an impediment rather than a perpetuator of success and fulfillment. The traditional approach to teamwork often pits individuals against one another with a “me-first” mentality, leading to dysfunctional teams that fail to accomplish their purpose. Fortunately, there is a better way to work. In this salient book, Russ Sarratt and Rusty Chadwick provide a framework for a different kind of team — one where personal excellence and sacrificial service at the individual level changes the narrative of the larger group.

Team Work: 13 Timeless Principles for Creating Success and Fulfillment as a Team Member Russ Sarratt and Rusty Chadwick Fidelis Books

Today’s configurable data platforms can automatically collect all the data and prepare it for analysis, identifying and removing incomplete, inaccurate or irrelevant components and parsing out key structural elements while extracting meaning and context.

192 pages Available 11/24/2020

$24

NOV. 45 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

MINDING THEIR BUSINESS

Alta Southwest: Nurturing Valued Resources and New Talent Consulting engineering firm founders left retirement to pursue their dreams

by Kassidy McDonald

Some of Alta Southwest’s standout projects include the City of Phoenix’s light rail expansion project, which they have been involved in for the last three years. The City of Phoenix recently extended its involvement with the project to help with Phase II of the Northwest Expansion, which will extend the light rail west on Dunlap Avenue and across the I-17.

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Before Dan Vermeer and Dan Speck founded their consulting engineering firm, Alta Southwest, they were happily retired.

The last thing on their minds was starting a business, until they both realized that their invaluable contacts in the industry and business management expertise could be the start of something great. Creating a name and reputation for Alta Southwest didn’t come without navigating a few roadblocks along the way.

Learning how to ask for help, paying attention to details and building a reliable reputation have allowed the former retirees to succeed with a customer-focused business model.

Before starting Alta Southwest in 2017, Vermeer had more than 20 years of experience at Waste Management and served as the area vice president, while Speck spent more than 40 years in the industry and a long career at Kiewit in the mining, materials and testing industries that ranged from mine site engineering to executive management. In 2017, when the duo played around with the idea of starting their own business, they recognized their combined decades of expertise positioned them to become great business partners.

“Our extensive experience in the corporate world allowed us to leverage meaningful contacts and was key in maintaining continued success these past three years,” Speck says. “Having truly established ourselves as professionals in the industry before launching our company has allowed us to provide the best service in the Valley.”

However, once the business launched, they soon realized the devil is in the details.

“When we were first starting out, I was thinking bigger picture about our company and soon realized I needed to seek help putting processes and policies in place to ensure the well-being of our employees,” Vermeer relates. “We initially struggled with routine business processes that can really make a difference — like doing market research, knowing the best branding techniques and putting benefits in place for our employees.”

Vermeer and Speck learned they couldn’t be shy about asking for help and quickly hired accountants, created an

HR department and sought out resources available to small business owners that allowed the company to quickly take off. They also worked to attract the best employees in the business; they wanted the brightest technicians, engineers and surveyors in the industry, but first they had to create a compensation plan to attract and retain the best talent.

“We want our employees to feel that they have a meaningful career with our company, and when we were first starting our business, we looked back to what was important to us as employees before we became owners,” Speck says. “We offer all our employees an attractive benefits package, but what I think is unique to our company is that we were able to create a training program, which allows our employees to learn on the job while getting trained by the best professionals in the state.”

The company assists employees with obtaining necessary certifications and offers extensive training opportunities upon hiring. They also have created an internship program at both their Tempe and Tucson offices where all interns may have the opportunity to join the team full time upon graduating.

Vermeer and Speck also learned that the most important aspect of running a successful business was to train their employees to provide the most excellent customer service possible. This includes getting a project done in a timely manner, making themselves available to communicate effectively with clients and taking their time to assure quality work product.

“Reputation is everything in this industry,” Vermeer says.

“That’s why one of the most important pillars of our business is to treat every client like family and execute each job to the best of our abilities, which has allowed us to become one of the fastest-growing engineering firms in the state.”

Having the right contacts and resources to start a business and executing each job with precision, the founders have been able to persevere and grow year after year. The founders now manage more than 85 employees and look forward to hiring 15 to 20 additional employees within the year.

Alta Southwest altasouthwest.com

According to the Cumming insight report for 2020, construction activity is on the rise for Phoenix and construction volume is expected to rise by 5.7% this year after it dropped by 1.1% in 2019.

BUSINESS GIVES BACK

Social Impact

Four Peaks Brewing: All for Teachers Local brewing company

by Tyler Butler

Four Peaks Brewing Company has a storied past in Arizona.

The founders have a track record of both honoring history and innovating for the future all at once. This began with their first location in Tempe, a mission revival-style brick factory, which is still standing strong after more than 100 years and continues today with their inspiring community outreach efforts.

Having their start funded from the resale of large vessels perfect for serving beer, otherwise known as Grundy tanks, the founders of Four Peaks are accustomed to finding solutions to everyday problems. Nearly three years after the idea for Four Peaks was hatched, they finally opened the brewery. Now, two decades later, they’ve maintained that neighborhood pub mentality while proposing and eventually partnering up with Anheuser-Busch to share their unique brews beyond Arizona and into the world.

This success is thanks in large part to their flagship beer, Kilt Lifter. Having won multiple medals at the Great American Beer Festival and World Beer Cup for this brew, Kilt Lifter has been the cornerstone of their business. Kilt Lifter’s popularity has not only served as 60% of Four Peaks’ overall brew and the No. 1 locally made beer in Arizona, but it has facilitated the overwhelming success of their 2020 Four Peaks for Teachers campaign.

This initiative started one day as Jim Scussel, Four Peaks Brewing Company co-founder, overheard a few regulars who happened to be teachers venting about how much money they spend on school supplies each year. Scussel recognized the plight these educators were experiencing and created the Four Peaks for Teachers program in 2011.

In the program’s first year, the Four Peaks team engaged the brewpub’s customers to donate school supplies directly to the brewery. The bartenders and servers boxed everything up and handed out school supply kits to 350 teachers that first year. The program has grown every year since. Now in its tenth year, the initiative was specifically created to help reduce the financial burden on teachers in the Southwest, many of whom spend hundreds of dollars on school supplies each year without reimbursement.

In fact, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, 94% of teachers spend their own money to stock their classrooms with the necessary supplies and resources.

On average, a teacher will put forth nearly $500 annually, although many were found to spend nearly double that amount. This need is something that has not only become apparent but has reached a critical tipping point as schools struggle to even open for in-person learning.

Four Peaks for Teachers now raises funds through both direct donations and Four Peaks’ beer sales. The current program takes these financial donations, then purchases the supplies teachers most need — from scissors and staplers to pencils and paper. Four Peaks employees take these items and create kits to hand out for free in multiple cities and states.

This year, the brewery’s goal is to distribute 10,000 kits to teachers in Arizona, New Mexico and Nevada.

In order to accomplish this lofty goal, Four Peaks got started back in July. The company began setting aside a portion of sales for its popular Scottish ale, Kilt Lifter. In September, these funds were used to purchase, fill and distribute kits of school supplies to 10,000 teachers. As more Kilt Lifter was sold and more direct donations made, the volume of supplies that was able to be included in each kit also expanded. The program has continued to grow every year. Four Peaks has scaled these efforts by adding more kit pick-up locations.

Teachers from New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona had the chance to pick up these precious kits in 2020.

Jess Neill, a teacher and instructional coach for the Laveen Elementary School District, has participated in Four Peaks for Teachers since the program’s inception nine years ago. “Part of why Four Peaks for Teachers is so great,” she says, “is because the kits that are donated come with those things young teachers assume they’re automatically given. And the costs of those items add up.” Neill says she spent $1,000 on supplies during a nine-month period early in her teaching career, and, though the school district she’s in currently is much better about providing equipment for teachers, she still spends hundreds of dollars a year on extra supplies for her students.

“In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need Four Peaks for Teachers,” says Neill. “But it’s good to know we have it.” Thanks to Four Peaks Brewing Company’s consistent innovation and solution-oriented leadership style, the educators in the markets where they operate will have an additional boost in their classrooms in a time when everyone could use a lift in their spirits.

Four Peaks for Teachers program now raises funds through both direct donations and Four Peaks’ beer sales. Customers located outside Four Peaks Brewing Company’s distribution footprint can also make a direct, tax-deductible donation to the program and teachers interested in reserving a free school supply kit can do so at fourpeaksforteachers.org.

Tyler Butler (“Tyler Butler | Giving in Style”), founder and CEO of 11Eleven Consulting, is a corporate social responsibility practitioner and expert leader in the corporate citizenship space. She has served on numerous national and local boards and is often cited as a subject matter expert by Forbes, Entrepreneur, U.S. News & World Report and more.

11elevenconsulting.com givinginstyle.net

Photos courtesy of Four Peaks

Four Peaks Brewing Company fourpeaks.com Four Peaks for Teachers fourpeaksforteachers.org

Four Peaks Brewing Company co-founder Jim Scussel created the Four Peaks for Teachers program in 2011 after overhearing a group of customers — who were teachers — venting about how much of their own money they had to spend for classroom supplies.

NOV. 47 2020 INBUSINESSPHX.COM

Economy

DEVELOPING & GROWING BUSINESS DYNAMICS

Education-Related Businesses Are Addressing the Pandemic Nearly all education businesses have been impacted by COVID-19.

Here’s how one, in particular, is adapting.

by Paul Fleming

Regardless of future format(s) for learning, it is projected that there will be long-term mental health difficulties for students, parents and educators, a sad prognosis supported by nearly every mental health professional resource. Like much of the country’s response to providing services during COVID-19, virtual delivery of mental health assistance will make more inroads for consistent use. While an effective alternative for the delivery of mental health services, virtual counseling should be only one of several modalities for helping people.

For 38 years, Paul Fleming has led management and marketing in the fields of substance abuse treatment, and national programs for employee assistance and student assistance. His Arizona companies, Jorgensen Brooks Group and Student Assistance Programs & Training Services, operate from Tucson and Phoenix. studentassistanceprograms.net

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COVID-19 will change how we live -- some of it forever — and education may be one of the more affected areas of life. Out of necessity, K-12 schools, colleges and universities have transitioned to remote “virtual learning.” Teachers and instructors are now communicating with students via personal computers, and lesson plans have been altered to online formats. Despite these accommodations, concerns remain high among key stakeholders that a delay in returning to an in-person, school-based education will bring an irretrievable loss of central elements to traditional education businesses and institutions.

HOW EDUCATION BUSINESSES HAVE ADAPTED THEIR STRUCTURES

To adjust to the current circumstances, education businesses have been challenged with the task of making services, normally available for students in-person, virtually accessible. As the pandemic unfolds, companies like Student Assistance Programs and Training Services, which provides immediate crisis intervention and scheduled counseling for students, have made central adaptations to operations, including changing the delivery of counseling services from the primary and preferred modality of in-person to exclusively telephonic and virtual formats.

This shift was facilitated by the quick reaction of counselors in the business’ provider network, an unexpected benefit that included additional counseling hours from many therapists.

Not only were operations moved entirely online, but the company also had to accommodate the significant increase in requests for counseling, initially with confusion and anxiety about COVID-19 itself, followed by concerns from parents, students and educators about how to conduct meaningful educational practices in quarantined environments. As the pandemic progressed, these concerns deepened to include the challenge of whether or not students and educators should return to school and under what conditions they should return to face-to-face learning.

INSTITUTIONS NEED TO ADJUST TO THIS NEW EDUCATIONAL LANDSCAPE

For students of any age, “going to school” is a ritual of experiences beyond formal learning. In the community of a school, students meet other cultures and behaviors, build their personalities and test their thinking, with guidance and support from professional educators. When necessary, schools even provide counseling services or direct students to options for mental health care, and, for too many students, schools may be their only opportunity to receive such critical help; this being especially true in minority communities.

Education may be one of the more affected areas of life as the pandemic has required many industries to change their processes and business structures.

With the shift to online learning, the loss of stabilizing resources offered by schools makes the pandemic more acute for many students. College and university groups have increased the use of virtual counseling by 200% since the start of the pandemic, but many schools are still tentative to invest.

Funding for mental health in school districts has long been insufficient given the need, and COVID-19 has made that fact a difficult reality. Young people have always needed and deserved better attention to their issues. Beyond commitment and dollars, the in-school approach to mental health services, even when supported by good community mental health resources, provides for less than 15% of a student’s living hours in a year.

Perhaps not a problem for those families with good insurance but certainly a problem for students from low-income families, a lack of resources is detrimental to students, especially now.

Basic medical and mental health services provided through schools are further hampered by the lack of school nurses. In fact, 25% of schools reported having no nurse, and 40% of schools reported being understaffed. What is more concerning is that 30% of students are estimated to receive their primary mental health counseling through their school.

What is needed is an “always open” approach to student mental health, drawing on multiple, integrated public and private sector services.

HOW WILL EDUCATION BUSINESSES FARE MOVING FORWARD

In a post-pandemic world, an electronic delivery method of teaching and related services will increase. A prime driver of virtual communication will be the depletion of experienced teachers leaving due to planned retirement or reacting to being in a classroom during an unpredictable time.

But what must not be lost are the reasons for being in school: It is a community that offers socialization with other children and exposure to cultures that is unmatched.

Education builds personality and challenges students — all with the guidance and support of professional educators.

Therefore, if the current landscape continues, it’s critical that educational institutions provide readily available resources and programs for all students that help support these reasons.

American educational institutions have never faced such a crisis in their fundamental operations and purpose, and they will continue to adjust to the present circumstances.

The pandemic has required many industries to change their processes and business structures. With concentrated efforts to assist students’ growth and provide them with access to resources during this unprecedented time, educational institutions can support students during this challenging time.

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LAW MATTERS TO BUSINESS

Are Overtime Rules Enforceable?

And other concerns for safeguarding businesses from legal risk during and after the COVID-19 pandemic

by Robert S. Reder

Seven months into 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic has changed nearly every aspect of life. Even mundane matters like working out has changed (you now need a gym reservation). Working at home, remote learning, social distancing and mask mandates are only the surface of what challenges face our personal and professional lives this year and beyond. This article offers some basic, practical employment law and business guidance to help owners navigate this new reality.

EMPLOYMENT POLICIES UPDATE

Robert S. Reder is the managing partner of Blythe Grace PLLC. For more than 15 years, Reder has represented individuals, small businesses and large companies located in Arizona and nationwide.

In his litigation and dispute resolution practices, he has represented clients in cases ranging from small breach of contract actions to complex commercial disputes. blythegrace.com

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While some businesses find that employees remain productive working from home and have added a remote work option, other businesses now require that their employees return to the office. Regardless of whether employees are at home or in office, employers would be wise to update their employment policies, which, it is to be hoped, are set forth in a formal employee handbook.

The main concern must be the health and productivity of the employees, without which a business will suffer. So, it is important to either update the handbook (or create a supplement to that handbook) with CDC- and OSHA-compliant policies that mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in the office.

If a company is large enough, its business leaders should consider staggering employee work schedules to ensure that employees in the office can properly socially distance. Having PPE supplies available in the office is also a good idea — hand sanitizer, single-use masks and disposable gloves are some suggestions. Also, it’s important that businesses have posted in an area of the business which all employees may access both the required employment law posters and the poster supplements issued by the CDC and OSHA (available directly from the CDC and OSHA websites).

Regarding work-from-home employees, businesses may hold those employees to the same standard as their in-office employees. During business hours, employees must still comply with applicable company policies. Employees must also be as available and responsive as they would be in the office, and employers can implement systems (such as a software monitoring program) to ensure employees are working.

Employers may also require a negative COVID-19 test as a predicate to an employee returning to work. But employers need to be aware and take care: The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s guidance on which type of test is appropriate under the regulations has changed several times since the start of the pandemic. Typically, current EEOC guidance is available on its website; there is no need to hire a lawyer to answer every legal question. Of course, businesses should notify all employees in writing of any policy changes.

Finally, while Arizona has no specific overtime law, the Fair Labor Standards Act requires that “covered employees”

working for “covered employers” be paid time and a half for every hour more than 40 worked in a single week. Unless an employee falls within an exemption to the FLSA — of which there are many — employers must still pay overtime.

But, presuming the employer has a policy that an employee must obtain supervisor approval before working overtime, if the employee violates that policy the company may pay the overtime and terminate the employee (or at least provide a written warning). Employers need to remember that, even if the hours an employee has worked were not authorized, the employer must still pay the employee for that time worked.

INSURANCE AUDIT

Concerning insurance, businesses should contact an insurance agent to, at a minimum, review any workers’ compensation, commercial liability, cyber liability and business interruption policies to determine if those coverages apply to pandemics, employees working from home, loss of revenue, and the like. Many business insurance policies have exclusions specifying there is no coverage for losses related to employee work-from-home claims, so all businesses who have employees working from home should review both the coverage terms and the exclusions of any policy.

Our law firm just completed this process where we looked at the following coverages: workers’ compensation, general commercial liability, employment practices liability and cyber liability. This audit determined that our specific policies do cover employees working from home (other than with respect to employee injuries at home, which are excluded from the commercial liability coverage but not the workers’ compensation policy). Policies, of course, may differ depending on the carrier.

Another key policy to look at while examining insurance coverage is business interruption coverage. During the height of COVID-19-mandated shutdowns, many insurance claims were denied by the carrier as an “act of God” or “force majeure.”

Many policies include these provisions, which generally state that “acts of God” such as a viral pandemic excuse contractual performance, such as a loss payout under a policy arising from a pandemic. Each business should review all policies to be aware of any coverage gaps and, where possible, shore up those gaps.

Many business insurance policies have exclusions specifying there is no coverage for losses related to employee work-from-home claims, so all businesses who have employees working from home should review both the coverage terms and the exclusions of any policy.

Meet Uncertain Times with Confidence.

Quarles & Brady understands your COVID -19 business issues and provides advice and solutions to your challenges.

VISIT OUR COVID-19 MICROSITE AT WWW.QUARLES.COM for current information on how legislation and announcements resulting from the pandemic impact your employees and business operations.

FOR INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT Leonardo Loo, Phoenix Office Managing Partner, at 602.229.5638 or leonardo.loo@quarles.com.

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OUR SUBJECT IN-DEPTH

Truckers: The Hidden Heroes of COVID-19

For commerce — ‘e’ and otherwise — goods must be moved in the real world

by Jack Whatley

Jack Whatley, author of the upcoming book Human Code of Hiring: DNA of Recruitment Marketing, is a recruiting strategist who specializes in creating employer branding campaigns that position companies as the employer of choice in their market. His Driver DNA Hiring System has made Whatley the No. 1 people ops recruiting strategist for truck driving recruitment in the world. humancodeofhiring.com

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When the country was ordered to shut down to slow the spread of COVID-19, a roaring economy screeched to a halt and millions became unemployed overnight.

Many of us did our part, sheltering in place to protect each other and the most vulnerable among us. The first responders led the way in fighting the pandemic, putting their lives at risk in order to protect and serve us. From healthcare workers to law enforcement people to those working for essential businesses, they all are to be thanked and commended for their courage and commitment to the public good.

But there is one industry we haven’t heard much about as the pandemic and all its severe effects on our nation continue.

The trucking industry, more than ever, showed how important it is to our economy and to our basic survival. Through it all, commercial trucks that move most of America’s freight kept rolling down the highways.

Just imagine if we were not able to get the frontline healthcare workers the supplies they needed. How much different would the outcome be? Without the trucking industry transporting supplies to so many places, think of the nightmare that would have ensued. Hospitals would have run out of critical supplies, including personal protective equipment. Further, massive food shortages would have developed. Service stations would have run out of fuel. Mail and package delivery would have ceased.

If trucks stopped transporting, within a week ATMs would run out of cash and banks could not process transactions.

Grocery shelves would be nearly empty. There would be garbage piled up in the streets. Automobile travel would cease.

Hospitals would begin to exhaust their oxygen supplies.

So, count truck drivers and the industry as a whole among the frontline responders who deserve our thanks and praise. They went the extra miles to deliver at a time of desperate need.

Although our biggest public health crisis in more than 100 years has disrupted supply chains and inflicted financial pain on a good number of logistics companies and transportation companies, we can also remember this challenging time as one when the trucking industry delivered big-time, and its essential role in our society has never been more obvious.

The context of our challenging times and the trucking industry’s place in helping us move forward and keep fighting

remind me of two of my favorite quotes about logistics. One is from General Dwight D. Eisenhower, our 34th president: “You will not find it difficult to prove that battles, campaigns, and even wars have been won or lost primarily because of logistics.”

Another comes from Tom Peters, an American writer on business management practices: “Leaders win through logistics. Vision, sure. Strategy, yes. But when you go to war, you need to have both toilet paper and bullets at the right place at the right time. In other words, you must win through superior logistics.”

Superior logistics in the trucking industry is one of the critical factors why we are able to get through this pandemic.

Without any disruption to the delivery of medical supplies to our hospitals, of food to grocery stores, of fuel to service stations, and on and on, we are able to keep moving forward.

In an average year, the U.S. trucking industry logs 432.9 billion miles – enough to encircle the world 17 million times.

You see trucks everywhere in normal times, and, as the pandemic shut us down or largely slowed us down, they were still out there, easily taken for granted, perhaps, because they’re as dependable as the sun.

The pandemic has indeed shone a spotlight on trucking and its value to our economy and to society as a whole.

Almost 70% of the goods we use every day are transported by trucks. Trucking is responsible for almost 6% of the jobs in America, and we need 900,000 more people to meet the new demand for truck drivers. The number of trucking jobs is expected to grow by 6% by 2026. Trucking is a diverse industry as well; more than 40% of the jobs are held by people belonging to minorities.

And with the new shopping trends of purchasing online and having products delivered to your doorstep, the importance trucking plays in our lives continues to increase in the new economy. The pandemic accelerated the growth in e-commerce as more customers preferred the safety and convenience of shopping online.

Through it all, professional truck drivers and everyone in this vital, essential industry has delivered — to markets, homes, hospitals, everywhere. And whatever the future brings in this uncertain world, you absolutely know that trucking is one of the few things you can continue to count on.

Phoenix remains home to one of the giants in the trucking industry — KnightSwift Transportation Holdings Inc. — which was formed in 2017 when Phoenixbased companies Knight Transportation and Swift Transportation merged in 2017.

INVESTING IN COMMUNITY

Virtual Events: Embrace the Opportunities

Strategies to maximize return on this fundraising vehicle

by Jeri Kendle

A recent study conducted by Charity Navigator and Reuters News gauging the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector showed 83% of respondents are suffering financially. The pandemic has also restricted their ability to raise critical funds; 74.6% of nonprofits reported cancelling in-person fundraising events. Nonprofits struggle to envision an online event that has the same impact, emotion and community as an in-person event, and a virtual event poses a daunting task that requires research, time and money. For nonprofits still on the fence, it is time to move past fears and embrace the opportunities of a virtual fundraising event.

While many elements of a virtual fundraiser are the same, the delivery vehicle is different, requiring a strong team and compelling communication to engage donors. The following components are key for a successful virtual fundraiser.

Team. As with any fundraiser, planning and an effective team are essential to your success. Roles include: • A strong project manager to organize every aspect of the event; • Staff to create and manage communications; • A database manager to coordinate registration, enter donations and be point person for donor questions and support; • A graphic designer and videographer to create a professional tone; • A strong team member to research, test and manage fundraising software and streaming platform; and • Volunteer leaders, or table captains, who are vital for promoting and expanding the event through their networks.

Technology. Before researching technology, it’s important to determine the elements and format for the event. Will the event be pre-recorded, live or a hybrid? Will it incorporate an auction, live music or awards? The next step is researching streaming platforms and fundraising software. There are many event fundraising software products, such as MobileCause, OneCause, Give Smart and Classy, to name a few. Options for live streaming platforms include Zoom, Vimeo, FaceBook and YouTube (Live and Premiere). Criteria to consider in the decision-making process include customer service, technical support, fund transfers and references from fundraising professionals.

Communicate. Communicate. Communicate. This may be a new experience for many donors, so it is crucial to communicate clearly, and often. Organizations have lost donors because they did not communicate something as

simple as how to view their event. Fall 2020 and spring 2021 will see more competition in the virtual event space, making it crucial to set each event apart from the others. An online event page can be used to share important information about a nonprofit’s mission and accomplishments as well as for registration and donations. It is also a place to feature sponsors, a message from the event chair, and to highlight unique silent auction items. Since the event page sets the tone for the event, it’s a great place for some fun and creativity.

A communications timeline should be set up for the weeks and days before and immediately following the event. Donors who are less “tech-savvy” may require extra guidance on how to participate virtually, so it’s wise to ensure someone is available to answer questions before and during the event.

Tell Your Story. It can be difficult to engage an in-person audience, but as we pivot to a virtual event, we compete with news feeds, online shopping, even laundry, all of which create distractions for a remote audience. An important tip for an engaging program – keep it short. Recent data shows that viewers lose interest after the first 15 minutes. It’s best to keep the program length to no more than 30-45 minutes, depending on content. Virtual events offer opportunity to have fun, but it’s important to include elements of emotion to authentically connect donors with the nonprofit’s mission.

Just ASK. The secret to a powerful ask is selecting someone connected to the organization who is authentic, passionate and clearly outlines the ways donors may support the organization. Making it easy to donate on the event page will improve results, as may locating the ask earlier in the program than with an in-person event. Also, events will likely have a long life on YouTube, so consideration should be given to making it easy for someone to donate who is watching the event months down the road.

Nationally, the number of gifts and average gift size has increased with virtual fundraisers, and nonprofits are reporting significant savings in venue, food, beverage and staff costs – delivering a better bottom line.

Virtual fundraising events will be part of a nonprofit’s fundraising toolkit for years to come. While we miss the feeling of community at in-person events, it has been nice to sit back and learn about the important work being done in our community while wearing our bunny slippers.

According to Maureen Jorden, Chief Development Officer at Southwest Autism Research & Research Center, their recent virtual fundraiser saw a 15% increase in their average gift size and a 10% increase in the number of gifts received.

There are many advantages to a virtual fundraiser. Nonprofits may access new markets and increase their reach by widely sharing the event with their constituents, volunteer leaders and social media. And sponsors are responding positively to a virtual format; it provides them with greater exposure for a longer period of time.

Jeri Kendle is a consultant with The Phoenix Philanthropy Group, an Arizonabased international consulting firm serving nonprofit organizations as well as institutional and individual philanthropists. phoenixphilanthropy.com

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WE VALUE WHAT WE OWN

2021 Genesis GV80

2021 Genesis GV80 MSRP: $48,900 City: 21 mpg Hwy.: 25 mpg Trans.: 8-speed automatic 0–60: 6.2 sec.

Going beyond the objective of rethinking luxury, the Genesis GV80 ushers in a new era of what a modern luxury SUV should be. Drivers will enjoy power that builds seamlessly with the 2.5-liter turbocharged engine or experience the available 3.5-liter twin turbo engine. For maximum performance, an available all-wheel-drive system can deliver power to all four wheels, making low traction a thing of the past.

With a mantra of “less is more,” the GV80’s exterior design highlights the beauty of white space while delivering a punctuating presence. A refined crest grille acts as the perfect centerpiece to complement the horizontally dynamic exterior theme. The interior builds upon the athletic elegance found on the outside with available VIP amenities, like the second-row heated, ventilated and power-reclining seats.

Equally at home on the road less traveled or in the midst of a daily commute, the GV80 midsize SUV is wired with user-friendly technology to both enhance the drive and help keep its passengers safe. Drivers can pilot this sporty SUV like never before, as they control the GV80 remotely using the key fob and Remote Smart Park Assist to pull into tight parking spaces. Further reducing stress levels is GV80’s advanced safety suite, which can even assist in merging into traffic after parallel parking.

The worry-free ownership experience includes complimentary scheduled maintenance for three years or 36,000 miles, whichever comes first, plus complimentary oil changes every normally scheduled maintenance appointment.

For performance, comfort and the excitement of a roomy SUV that knows what a driver needs in a vehicle, this newly available model is the height of usefulness. Available fall 2020.

—Mike Hunter Genesis genesis.com

Standing Out with a Personal Touch Business leaders have seen lead-generating and relationship-building opportunities like networking events and coffee meetups evaporate amidst the coronavirus pandemic. But

DON’T MISS OUT!

Get a year of In Business Magazine. Subscribe now at inbusinessphx.com

businesses can navigate the “new reality” of normal business operations while mitigating the spread of the coronavirus with help from automated handwritten letter technology.

Handwritten letters, being inherently personal, can be a substitute for that personal touch that is severely lacking during these socially distanced times. Simply Noted makes it easy to create meaningful, scalable, powerful and real penwritten communication.

cards and thank you notes, and much more. There are a variety of pre-loaded handwriting styles — or, for a small fee, customers can add their own handwriting as one of the fonts.

Once the note design and text are set, Simply Noted’s proprietary technology crafts the note or letter, addresses the envelope and sends the letter in the mail. Simply Noted also has several program integrations available to automate the process and save even more time.

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—Rick Elmore, founder of Simply Noted (simplynoted.com)

Genesis Concierge The easiest and newest way to shop for a vehicle, Genesis Concierge is a Genesis Cares program offering complimentary personal shopping services. Prospective buyers can connect with a concierge to ask questions, book a test drive, request information or even check inventory. “Whatever you need. On your terms.” genesis.com

Photos courtesy of (top, left), Simply Noted (bottom)

An online platform makes it easy to design and automate handwritten notes for all occasions, such as following up with leads, welcoming new employees, sending holiday

MEALS THAT MATTER “Power lunches” encompass all styles of dining in the era of COVID.

QUESADILLA Four quesadillas with cheese and choice of salsas and mesquite grilled meat; price range $6.99–$8.99 Pictured with steak: $8.99

Mr. Mesquite Taqueria: Mexican Street Food Experience Not just surviving through COVID-19, but thriving

CHICKEN TACOS Filled with chicken, pico de gallo, pickled onions and cheese $2.79

BURRITO Choice of mesquite-grilled meat served with rice, beans, grilled onions, salsa, guacamole, sour cream, cheese and fresh toppings; price range $4.99 (bean burrito)–$8.99 Pictured with steak: $8.99

Brothers Ahmad and Naser Alatrash are co-founders, with Will Abdallah, of Mr. Mesquite Taqueria.

The restaurant industry is a tough one in even the very best of times, but anyone navigating 2020 can attest that this year has created even more challenges and hurdles for today’s hospitality business owners. It wasn’t something my brother and I, who are Phoenix natives, expected to face so soon after launching our first Mr. Mesquite Taqueria in Old Town Scottsdale in 2015 — but it’s the reality we now have. So, rather than worry about the things we can’t control, we’ve chosen to focus on those that we can — and so far, it’s served us pretty well.

When we opened our first walk-up counter in 2015, we did so with a relatively simple plan: Prepare fresh, authentic, mesquitegrilled Mexican street food that comforts, fulfills and satisfies.

With our “build your own”-style menu, guests can choose tacos, a burrito, quesadilla or protein bowl, and from there add their choice of mesquite-grilled meat, veggies or add-ons.

The simplest plans are often the easiest to execute, and, while our small stand rapidly grew into seven brick-andmortar locations (with two more on the way in Gilbert and on

Happy Valley Road), leading us to update our business model accordingly, we never lost focus on what we set out to do in the first place.

Perhaps that’s why we’ve managed to navigate the twists and turns that 2020 has thrown at us with relative ease, and it may, too, be why we’ve managed to adapt to the new changes brought about by social-distancing mandates, to-go-only regulations and similar hurdles.

We’re not naïve to the fact that we can’t conduct business as usual — but we’re also not giving up when we can modify our existing business model to better accommodate changing times.

How? For starters, we’ve taken every possible precaution to protect both our staff and our patrons. In addition to having all staff members wear masks, we’ve taken extra socialdistancing precautions, implemented extensive new cleaning procedures and otherwise set new standards that instill confidence in staff and guests alike.

We’ve also ramped up our efforts with regard to making our offerings extra to-go friendly. We offer party platters, buffetstyle catering opportunities, bulk-and-freeze items and our full menu available in a to-go format. And while it undeniably takes time to implement new procedures and set new standards of operation and cleanliness, our hard work appears to be paying off, as we are opening a total of four Mr. Mesquite eateries in 2020.

So, we welcome back with open arms those who are ready and eager to get back to in-person dining as well as those who prefer to enjoy our smoky, wood-grilled street food in the comfort of their own home or office — and extend our applause for helping keep small businesses, and our dreams, afloat.

Mr. Mesquite Taqueria eatmrmesquite.com

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Arizona Restaurant Association Foundation Relief Fund: The Arizona Restaurant Association, through its 501(c)3 Education Foundation has formed a relief fund to activate immediate funding for Arizona restaurant workers. Donations accepted online. azrestaurantstrong.com

Photos courtesy of Mr. Mesquite Taqueria

by Ahmad and Naser Alatrash

GLOBAL CHAMBER

®

Global Chamber® Events

WINTER 2020

globalchamber.org/events

November 4, 4 p.m. PT Globinar on Caregiving in the Workplace November 5, 8 a.m. PT Globinar Women in Global Leadership, Costa Rica (in Spanish) November 13, 8 a.m. PT Globinar Next Steps to Grow for 2nd Stage Firms November 17, 11 a.m. PT Globinar Women in Global Leadership, Tucson Spotlight Event December 3, 3 p.m. PT Grow Globally Fair PHX December 8, 8 a.m. PT Globinar Trade Forecast 2021 with Globalization Partners

Inside this Section

Connecting to New Clients and Opportunities within a Pandemic

by Cesar Trabanco, Global Chamber®

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Women in Global Leadership – Mayor Kate Gallego

Insights on Women and Men in Global Leadership

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Leveraging Our Trusted Network to Grow Your Business

Wrap-up Export League by Global Chamber Phoenix®

It’s a new day out here for better and for worse, and either way it’s a new reality, and so we regularly share ideas to leverage virtual opportunities for members to find more success.

Global Chamber shifted at the start of the pandemic to a virtual platform that has been assisting our members to grow in a variety of ways. The main thing that we’ve always done and continue to do every day is make warm introductions of members to executives that we know who could become clients, partners or resources for their business growth.

We’ve also always done globinars, which are our own educational webinars created by Global Chamber that assist members to reach the next level with information to grow and succeed. We’ve upped the number of these, and we’re also sharing pertinent programs by our members and collaborators — totaling more than 100 coming up at any time. Our signature events continue, and we sometimes break up the meetings at the end to connect members with each other within the metro or across metros — like our events International

State of the Metro, Women in Global Leadership and Global Innovation Summit and Grow Globally Fair.

We also are presenting virtual meetings that connect our members to other members and opportunities — like Virtual Dining, pictured above with a recent networking dinner across metro regions over an Italian meal. Other programs like this include League of Extraordinaries (speed dating for business service providers), League of Opportunities (introduction of new business opportunities by members), Export League (connecting exporters to international clients) and Online Global Women Networking. Our members connect to grow!

I spoke at a globinar with members of the global tribe at Global Chamber® to discuss how to be more effective and proactive with selling across metros and borders within a pandemic. It was educational and fun to hear each of the speakers contribute tips and ideas, and there was significant agreement on the value of having and leveraging a trusted network. Lucie Newcomb, founder GlobalChamber.org

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and president of NewComm Global Group, talked about a higher bar for return on investment (ROI) these days and how to overcome that in the sales process. She’s a deeply connected expert in global business, and so she updated us on key factors in global markets. The following are among the points she noted: • Now is the time (during the pandemic) to nurture and go deeper with customers, prospects and partners — customer intimacy development, as it was once known.

Good opportunities here.

• It is the time to activate and re-energize trusted networks, forwarding brief, value-added opportunities and solutions and making key introductions on request.

Counterintuitively, it’s also a good time to lean in a little bit as well for specific needs.

• Sales cycles are longer now, as many customers are working from home and juggling kids with distance learning and other pandemic effects. As such, the bar for ROI is even higher than usual; likewise for business efficiencies.

• Relationship-building, nurturing and selling is an advanced selling level. It is not a path for dismissing sales metrics and skills; on the contrary, it’s a time to sharpen skills and intent with augmented levels of sincerity, empathy, et cetera.

• Attention, always challenged by noise, is at an alltime scarce level. So, being clear and patient, as gentle repetition, preferably accompanied by a value-added resource, may often be required. For example: “Here’s an article on that technology you were researching. And, by the way, have you had a chance to review our proposal yet?”

Larry Harte of Global Chamber Cincinnati talked about some of his key growth techniques.

• Emotion vs. logic. Build a relationship with clients and prospective clients to encourage their use of the heart to decide to move forward, supplemented by logic.

• Qualify hard; close easier. Pick your prospects up front who are more likely to “get it,” and that makes closing much easier, too.

• Pick the right person. Be aware of who you need to speak with and pick the right ones to make the decisions needed.

• Use a CRM system. Capture key information in the system and have a process to follow up. He talked about how they rank opportunities as a “top 40” and then follow up with 10 every week.

Cesar Trabanco is VP of Member Services at Global Chamber, based in Puerto Rico.

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Global Chamber®

Women in Global Leadership – Mayor Kate Gallego

by Doug Bruhnke, Global Chamber®

Global Chamber® “Women in Global Leadership” events began five years ago in our early days. Last month, we were pleased to include the co-developer of the idea, Jaime Daddona of Squire Patton Boggs, as one of the illustrious panel of leaders in 2020. Thank you, Jaime!

We were also honored to feature Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego at the fifth annual event. Mayor Gallego is the youngest of all big city mayors in the United States, and in her first term she has already successfully led a multibillion-dollar investment by Taiwan semiconductor TSMC in the city. Phoenix has also pioneered Export League to assist 12 regional companies reach new clients around the world. What a great start!

At this year’s globinar, we welcomed a panel of global leaders to share their views on the topic of gender balance and workplace fairness and equity. We now always have a man on this annual panel to address the challenges and opportunities from a male perspective, and this year it was Dean Sanjeev Khagram of Thunderbird School of Global Management. Dean Khagram spoke eloquently on the need for progress and things he’s doing to create change. Thank you as well to Elizabeth Fretheim of Nikola Corporation and Laura Franco French of the City of Phoenix for their time and talent!

The objective of the program is to hear from leaders who have been fostering diverse working environments in order to achieve more business success. We hope that attendees found the insights helpful to make more progress in their career, company and circle of influence. If you missed it, contact us to get a link to watch the discussion. The following are some of the highlights from this year’s event: • Mayor Gallego shared what she learned through the process of landing TSMC. • Co-moderator Mel Sanderson had insights on the Mayor’s leadership.

• Women CEO in America’s top 3000 firms have doubled in 10 years, up to 6%.

• Top country in the world with most women top executives? Thailand, at 30%.

• Woman-led businesses in the U.S. would combine to be the fifthlargest company.

Special thanks to our sponsors City of Phoenix, Thunderbird School of Global Management, Sunflower Bank, Lee & Associates and Squire Patton Boggs.

Doug Bruhnke is founder and CEO of Global Chamber.

Global Chamber®

Global Chamber Phoenix and Tucson Global Chamber® is a growing and collaborating community of CEOs, executives and leaders in 525 metro regions around the world taking on global business and advancing growth and success. Contact us at info@globalchamber.org or (480) 595-5000.

Chairman/CEO Sponsors

Insights on Women and Men in Global Leadership

by Yvonne Luker, Global Chamber

®

We hosted a globinar with the team at Reesmarx titled “Insights on Women and Men in Global Leadership.” The conversation covered women and men in the workplace, including progress made and next steps — globally. Our approach was informational on the progress women have made, and we also heard from strong women and men in business talk about their growth, struggles, lessons and mentors. Contact us for the full video.

Topics covered included: • Benefit of having a woman’s perspective for global growth • Benefit of having women on the executive team and board of directors • Women not asking for enough when taking a new role • Women always looking at why they are not fit for roles vs why they are • Women worried about how they are perceived by being direct • Structural issues such as pay gaps and how to overcome them • Women looking at seniority very differently from men • Why teamwork can work so well — balance of skills and emotional intelligence This conversation was helpful for both women and men as they navigate leadership challenges in today’s world. One of the

compelling stories shared was from Lynn Bamford, president of Defense & Power, Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Bamford shared that earlier in her career, she was on an executive team that was undergoing a merger with another company, and one of the male executives at the other company was sending clear signs questioning Bamford, very likely because of her being a woman. What followed was Bamford confronting the situation very transparently and professionally. You’ll want to hear what happened next — definitely listen to Bamford’s story, as it will be helpful and informative for all leaders as they confront challenges from others.

All the speakers had a lot to contribute, and here is a brief summary of Bamford’s tips: 1. Don’t assume – ask plenty of questions and understand first.

2. Let your work product speak for your contributions.

3. Don’t be biased in your actions at work.

4. Lean forward and be part of the conversation(s).

5. Use your knowledge of sports to build relationships with men.

6. Be able to have touch conversations (like the story highlighted above).

7. Be authentic — show empathy, be humble and be a team player.

Yvonne Luker is managing director at Global Chamber.

Dickinson Wright Spencer Fane Squire Patton Boggs Thunderbird School of Global Management Vistra Group President Sponsors Bank of America BBVA Compass Bank BMO Harris Bank Cresa Phoenix R&A CPAs Special Global Advisors Hank Marshall, UK Honorary Consul in Arizona Melissa Sanderson Leila Aridi Afas, Toyota Michael Patterson, Spencer Fane Kiyoko Toyama, Japanese Friendship Garden Jimmy Douglas, Tesla Electric Cars Eduardo Gonzalez, 258 Consulting Susan Shultz, The Board Institute Committees All Metros, Industries and Regions Contacts CEO/Founder: Doug Bruhnke, doug@globalchamber.org Business Services: Cesar Trabanco, cesar@globalchamber.org Membership: Yvonne Luker yvonne@globalchamber.org Deputy Director: Mike Langley mike.langley@globalchamber.org

GlobalChamber.org

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Leveraging Our Trusted Network to Grow Your Business

by Doug Bruhnke, Global Chamber®

Are you prepared to grow in the next phase? The global tribe at Global Chamber® is a large network of globally minded leaders located around the world in 525 metro regions who are serious about growing business across metro regions and borders. Each member is trusted because he or she has demonstrated the characteristics to earn that trust. We’ve used the new pandemic reality to expand the size of our community to more than 40 million leaders, and we’ve grown the capabilities of our network to help members grow.

If you and I trust each other and we each have a trusted network, shouldn’t I trust someone that you recommend, and vice-versa? This approach accelerates business development versus the cold biz dev techniques out there. Why search for a needle in a haystack and risk working with someone you don’t know when you can directly access trusted, vetted clients and resources?

What makes someone trusted? There are about 35 characteristics that we consider when adding new members to our community: That he or she is capable, honest, ethical, accountable, responsible, “word is their bond,” professional, good listener, easy to work with, a get-things-done leader, a do-what-they-say-and-say-what-they-do person, systematic, reliable, experienced, trained, a do-the-right-thing mindset, reasonable, flexible, resilient, adaptable, aware, enlightened, transparent, candid, globally minded, cognizant of the big picture, humble, balanced, fair, respectful, giving, supportive, client-centric, caring about others, passionate and enthusiastic. Does that just about cover it for you?

Why is trust important? To actually do business and get things done, we need to rely on other people. If we can’t rely on them, it takes more time to get things done and the risk of failure is higher. Conversely when we work with someone we trust, communications are faster and we’re more comfortable, because even when things go off the rails — and they can — we know we have a lot higher chance of getting things back on track.

How to grow your trusted network? If you do international business like me for more than 33 years, you’ll by now have a pretty good network. I was particularly blessed by working in more than 100 businesses across 100-plus countries. I used to think I knew everybody — ha! Then, as we grew Global Chamber with wellconnected leaders in each metro around the world, it became clear that I sure don’t! But WOW, collectively our global network now knows nearly everyone! Step by step, day by day, we’re getting there.

We’re also finding new technologies to find more good people for our network, like tapping into databases and vetting the people we find. We’re also using artificial intelligence to find the right people and screen/test them. That is what’s happening behind the scenes

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Global Chamber®

at Global Chamber every day: finding, vetting, growing, connecting, evaluating, and on and on.

How can warm introductions and connections help? The warm introductions process at Global Chamber is based first on our having a large and growing trusted network and also asking questions of members to understand who they wish to meet — the best new prospective clients, new opportunities, new resources and more.

Because we know and have confidence in both parties being introduced, there’s a greater than 90% chance that a conversation will occur, and so there’s a good chance that a deal will happen — now or in the future.

Due diligence tips and techniques for members. When you speak with a Global Chamber member who has been with us for a while, you can feel good that the person fits most or all of the characteristic named above. Always be careful, but when you connect with the global tribe you’re starting at a good place. There are five main ways that we do due diligence to keep the global tribe a safe and trusted community to do business. We do these checks with every prospective member and monitor along the way as we make warm introductions every day and throughout the years.

1. LinkedIn (and other networks). Usually, when someone comes to Global Chamber they are introduced in through someone we know.

So, we’re feeling really good about those people right away — warm introductions matter! Many times, though, people find us and reach out. In both circumstances we start with a review of their background in LinkedIn. How well connected are they? Is there a picture? What does their career look like and is their background filled in, with no holes? Does it all make sense? If not, that’s a basis for our next conversation. Do they have recommendations, and what is the ratio of recommendations given versus received? If there’s little information there, that’s honestly troubling — is there another source? And for everyone, check other networks to confirm consistency (see #2).

2. Google/web search. Do a web search on the person and company. Do basic searches on their names and also do searches with keywords like “success story” and “lawsuit” to see good and bad out there. If something bad shows up, it doesn’t mean that you don’t work with them, but it can be a warning sign and a point to discuss.

3. The nonsense test. Sometimes, we’ll notice a prospective member is active in social media supporting ideas or positions that are not truthful, or that are corrupt or unethical. In the past three-plus years, this kind of issue has surfaced more in the U.S., and it can be an issue around the world, too. The truth is important, and we need it

in business and society. Corruption makes trade much more difficult, and we just can’t have the global tribe supporting it or engaged with it.

If there is nonsense like this being communicated by any prospective member, including denying basic truth and facts, it makes it difficult to recommend him or her to others. It’s rare that someone interested in global business acts or talks like this, but it’s not unheard of, and so it’s another thing we look at with prospects, to preserve the integrity of our business community.

4. Email and communications. A simple first test we do is to look at whether the person has an email signature. That’s an indication of whether they’re thinking about others and/or serious about growth.

Sometimes those in a lifestyle business mode don’t want new business and so they don’t really care to brand themselves and their firm — and that’s likely not a member of the global tribe. It they haven’t made it easy for people to contact them, that’s not a deal-killer but it’s an indicator of potential issues. Beyond that, how about their timeliness, respect for others’ time, listening and overall demeanor? Are they organized? Do they show up on time? Do they share responsibility for setting up meetings? Do they spend their time talking about themselves and their business instead of asking questions and finding ways to move the needle forward together?

5. What others say. Today’s social media, including LinkedIn, allows sharing how folks feel about other people and businesses. This is another datapoint for us to determine trust. What do we see out there and how heartfelt are the comments? Invariably, in a warm intro — especially when it’s done right — there is positive emotion tied in.

One of my favorite people — Charles Bernard of Criteria for Success — introduces people into Global Chamber and it feels like a warm hand-off. We want to speak with these people because Charles does such a good job of explaining why we need to talk, and we’re already feeling good about them from his description. We aspire to be as good as Charles in our warm intros! A good place for recommendations is LinkedIn, discussed above. What are they actually saying?

“To attain knowledge, add every day.

To attain wisdom, remove every day.” —Lao Tzu As we grow the global tribe, we also have some people either not joining because they’ve self-selected out or we don’t actively pursue them because we wouldn’t be comfortable introducing them to members. There’s some culling that goes on, too. This goes right to the heart of both building a trusted network and leveraging it successfully.

Here are examples of when it doesn’t necessarily work for some folks joining the global tribe.

• Lone wolfs. Some folks just like doing things on their own, including building their own network, staying alone. It’s a strategy incredibly off target for people and firms looking to grow. I’ve always thought that some of these folks can be saved from their own thinking, and we’ve had a few come in over time. I wish there were more; we can really help. So, we welcome these, and realize that they are ready when they’re ready.

• Freebies. These are the folks who either don’t have the budget or the mentality to be part of a global network. One person on my mind here is a woman who, when encouraged by one of our best members to join, wanted just to hang out and tap in for free. Look, if someone has economic issues, we can make it work every time by being flexible.

But she didn’t even go there; it went right to free only. That approach undervalues what the global tribe brings to someone’s business, and that’s not OK. • Takers only. There are some folks we haven’t broken the code on yet. One is a woman whom we’ve supported for years as a collaborator and, quite literally, nothing has ever come back. We collaborated because it seems like an amazing win-win, but one-way doesn’t work. How could we introduce her to the global tribe if she doesn’t understand win-win collaboration? This is a tough one to overcome.

• Too political. We have members who rely on selling to the government and God bless them, they say the right things to win deals on both sides of the aisle. Luis Ramirez is an example of that — what a great leader, full of competence and integrity! We also love elected officials from every party when they help with trade and are honest and full of integrity, like Republican Mayor Jim Lane (Scottsdale) and Democratic Mayor Kate Gallego (Phoenix). That said, we’ve had a few prospective members get too political in their conversations, and that can be uncomfortable in these days when there are divergent opinions about handling things like COVID-19. We’re all business and business success within a framework of truth and ethics, and we look to preserve that safe community, politics-free.

• Unbalanced. We expect everyone to have balance and respect for others. There are a couple of voicemails on my phone from a fellow who took my honesty, transparency and request for civility quite personally, and then he tried to project his problems onto me in several rambling messages that were abusive to others and quite threatening to me, too. We demand balance in business and life — and disrespect will not be tolerated.

• Unethical. This also does not work with us. We’ve had only a few of these in our first five years, and one more recent one was a case where we had seen some hints of impropriety and so did proactive checking to discover a bunch of bad things. We cut ties and he became quite abusive when we did that. He started to project onto others what he apparently did, including abusing women. That’s unacceptable.

The world is a big place with all sorts of people. That’s why we’ve defined who we want in our network, across cultures, and continually work to create the “perfect” network. We don’t always get it right the first time, but we keep working to make it better. This is not about good and bad people, it’s about the character of whom we want to work with — the ideal trusted network. So, that’s why we do what we do, for our members. We love our global tribe! We work every day to grow our trusted network to help members grow across metros and borders. It’s never been this important to have a trusted network.

Make your life a little easier and be in the global tribe to be trusted and leverage the growing trusted network.

Doug Bruhnke is founder and CEO of Global Chamber.

GlobalChamber.org

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Wrap-up Export League by Global Chamber Phoenix®

by Yvonne Luker, Global Chamber®

Global Chamber® Phoenix completed the first Export League this summer with top exporters in metro Phoenix gaining “warm introductions” in order for them to reach their next new markets, virtually. Originally, we had planned to do an in-person exporter “pitch” event at Grand Canyon University and pick the top 12 exporters as determined by judges, assisting those 12 firms in their next exporting country activities. COVID-19 got in the way! But we found a way to make it work by having the judging be virtual, via Zoom.

Export League by Global Chamber is an initiative for exporters, conceived in a special collaboration with City of Phoenix to help regional companies reach more clients and partners around the world. Thank you to Hank Marshall of City of Phoenix for your collaboration!

Thank you to all the exporters in Phoenix, in metro Phoenix and in the State of Arizona who applied to gain access to warm introductions, special education opportunities and connections to the best regional exporting resources. That was fun!

Watch for the next program.

The judges included Mike Patterson of Spencer Fane, Susan Shultz of the Board Institute, Eduardo Gonzalez of 258 Consulting, Ryan Sachs of V. Alexander and Hank Marshall at City of Phoenix. Congratulations to all the companies that were selected as top exporters. They were judged to be the most likely companies to gain business from virtual connections — and they proved us correct!

There are many factors associated with selecting them, including their experience, capabilities, past success, ability to sell in a virtual meeting and a variety of intangible factors that only globies understand.

Thanks as well to the companies who were not selected; watch for more opportunities in the future! There’s a reason why every company doesn’t export — it takes special capabilities to sell across metros and borders, especially in a virtual world. And we have

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Global Chamber®

been so impressed by all the companies that were selected. We have been honored to work with you!

Here are the stars of Export League PHX: • Delta Technology / Key Contact: Paul Soucek. Delta Technology provides fully integrated automated production solutions that lower costs, increase throughput, enhance safety, improve quality and lower overall risk.

• Firearms Export / Key Contact: Robert Bagnato. Firearms Export is licensed by the U.S. State Department and Department of Commerce Bureau of Industry and Security to export firearms and related items from the United State Munitions List, including firearms, ammunition, components of firearms, and some rifle scopes, optical sights and more.

• GlobalMed / Key Contact: Neal Schoenbach. GlobalMed powers the world’s largest, most advanced virtual health programs by designing and manufacturing integrated software and hardware telemedicine solutions for patients in the continuum of care.

• Hownd / Key Contact: Brandon Willey. Hownd is a software platform that generates effortless foot traffic from new and returning consumers for local business owners worldwide. There is zero-risk since the business pays only when Hownd delivers results.

• Humate / Key Contact: Dennis Yellowhorse Jones. Humate produces “humate,” an organic mineral used tor organic, conventional agriculture, soil remediation, and as a food supplement for animals. In business for more than 30 years and selling product worldwide, its largest customer is the Dole Food Company.

• MistAmerica / Key Contact: Jon Marsh. MistAmerica manufactures and supplies high-quality misting solutions for cooling, including world-class ruby-orifice nozzles for the finest mist/fog, Mist360 line of ceiling-mount outdoor cooling fans, Type 316LSS mist lines, full line of misting pumps, solutions for sanitizing, dust and odor control and more.

• Rowpar Pharmaceuticals / Key Contact: Jim Ratcliff. Rowpar Pharma offers CloSYS oral care products, which are uniquely formulated to be highly effective without the burn or irritation of other brands. These are always alcohol-free, dye-free, sulfate-free and pHbalanced, branded Gentlest. Oral Care. Ever.® • STEM Sports® / Key Contact: Jeff Golner. STEM Sports provides turnkey K-8 supplemental curriculum using basketball, football, golf, soccer, volleyball, BMX and other sports as real-life applications to drive STEM-based, hands-on learning in classrooms and after-school programs.

• Symbiont Nutrition / Key Contact: Mark Holt. Symbiont Nutrition has a unique patented natural protein delivery technology used in various feeds for animals. The firm researches, designs and produces products that replicate Mother Nature to improve animal nutrition, immunology, reproduction and management tools.

• Tru-Color Paint / Key Contact: Scott Cohen. Tru-Color Paint produces and distributes custom, accurate paints for modelers of automobiles, boats, planes and military equipment requiring authentic reproduction.

• True Salt / Key Contact: Brian Pierce.

True Salt is the fastest-growing new salt brand in the Foodservice and Retail sectors.

It serves more than 28 states and ships more than 150,000 pounds of product monthly, servicing more than 400 restaurants and hotels within the United States.

• Wisdom Natural Brands / Key Contact: Michael May. Wisdom Natural Brands is the manufacturer of SweetLeaf® Sweeteners — premium, natural and organic zero-calorie sugar replacements, featuring high-purity organic stevia and organic monk fruit powdered and liquid sweeteners, coffee, tea and water enhancers and more.

Yvonne Luker is managing director at Global Chamber.

Alatrash, Ahmad, 56

Elmore, Rick, 54

Mollon, Heather, 20

Smith, Jeremy, 18

Alatrash, Naser, 56

Fehling, Matthew, 10

Monahan, Brooke L., 31

Speck, Dan, 46

Anand, Kishlay, 26

Fleck, Jolean, 28

Mulgannon, Dennis, 13

Sumney, Todd, 17

Aulerich, Kyle, 15

Fleming, Paul, 48

Mussman, Jason, 17

Thompson, Anabell Castro, 28

Bedwell, Matthew, 13

Gallego, Kate, Mayor, 58

Neill, Jess, 47

Tonk, Lina, 22

Berg, David, 31

Goodwin, Bill, 29

Peyton, Patricia, 64

Topete, Reyes, 20

Bruhnke, Doug, 57

Hawkins, D. Lamar, 11

Randle, George, 45

Vermeer, Dan, 46

Butler, Tyler, 47

Johnson, Eric, 30

Reder, Robert S., 50

Wegner, Andrew, 17

Cabral, Amber, 45

Jordan, Stephen, 10

Richards, Ashley, 15

Whatley, Jack, 52

Chadwick, Rusty, 45

Kendle, Jeri, 53

Rogers, Paige, 30

Wurth, Philip, 17

Christ, Cara M., 9

Leรณn, Tomรกs, 28

Sabetta, Kristina, 30

Wyman, Nicholas, 16

Cotton, Josh, 45

Leventhal, Doug, 10

Sarraille, Mike, 45

Yaskin, Keith, 12

Dale, Claire, 64

Lydon, Anthony, 18

Sarratt, Russ, 45

Zelazny, Frances, 44

Elisco, Brian, 26

Mizzi, Joe, 14

Shepard, Kim, 27

Abrazo Health, 26

CorkBird, 13

IWSI America, 16

Regency Specialties, 17

Akos, 26

COVID Testing To You, 20

Jabz, 13

Robert Half, 14

Alta Southwest, 46

Cox Communications, 13

Jive, 8

Signals Analytics, 44

Amazing Lash Studio, 12

Delta Dental of Arizona, 20, 28

JLL, 17, 18

Simply Noted, 54

ApostleTech, 11

Desert Financial Credit Union, 10

Jorgensen Brooks Group, 48

Snell & Wilmer, 49

Arizona Commerce Authority, 2, 66

Desert Financial Wealth Management, 5

Kiterocket, 65

Student Assistance Programs & Training Services, 48

Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing, 23

Diamond Realty Investments, 18

Arizona Community Foundation, 7

Divvy, 6

Arizona Department of Health Services, 9

E Squared Marketing, 15

Auscura, 20 Better Business Bureau Pacific Southwest, 10

Equality Health, 13, 28, 51 Evergreen Devco, Inc., 10 Fintrepid Solutions, 13

Blythe Grace PLLC, 50

First Bank, 8

BuildCenter, 20

Flip Side Communications, LLC, The, 12

Cake, 55

Four Peaks Brewing, 47

Central Arizona Supply, 18

Genesis, 54

Cigna, 27

Global Chamber, 57

Colliers International in Arizona, 17

Guidant Law Firm, 11

Companies in Motion, 64

HomeSmart International, 17 isolved, 22

In each issue of In Business Magazine, we list both companies and indivuduals for quick reference. See the stories for links to more.

Laveen Elementary School District, 47 Lee & Associates, Arizona, 18 MeMD, 29 Merit Partners, Inc., 18 Mr. Mesquite Taqueria, 56 MST Solutions, 22

Sundt Construction, 17 UMB, 23 UnitedHealthcare, 21 WaveMAX Laundry, 13 WealthVP, 11

MTX, 11 Mythion Games, 15

CHECK US OUT

OptumCare, 3 Peer and Family Career Academy, 30 Phoenix Philanthropy Group, The, 53

/InBusinessPHX

PHX Beer Co., 13

@InBusinessPHX

Quarles & Brady, 30, 31, 51 Redirect Health, 31

Bold listings are advertisers supporting this issue of In Business Magazine.

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Physical Intelligence – Key to Workplace Performance Intelligence isn’t just about what’s in our head, but also in our body

by Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton

We’re all familiar with cognitive intelligence (IQ) and emotional intelligence (EQ); what about physical intelligence? Right now, hundreds of chemicals racing through each of our bodies (in our bloodstream and nervous system) largely dictate how we think, feel, speak and behave. Most of us operate at the mercy of those chemicals — experiencing thoughts, reactions and emotions — without realizing that we can strategically influence them.

Physical Intelligence is the ability to detect and actively manage the balance of certain key chemicals so that we can achieve more, stress less, and live and work more happily.

Physical Intelligence enables us to approach our work environment more thoughtfully, ensuring that we’re supporting our own and our team’s performance by managing our physiology.

Organizations that have adopted Physical Intelligence have experienced a measurable impact on business outcomes, including double-digit revenue growth; a 12.5% increase in commercial success of their deals; increased operating efficiency, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction scores; and enhanced innovation. Here are some Physical Intelligence tips for creating a work environment that will enhance performance.

CONFIDENCE AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION

Sit and stand up straight. Sitting hunched over screens inhibits acetylcholine (a balance chemical essential for recovery) from reaching our brain and impedes our breathing, raising CO2, elevating cortisol (stress hormone), and reducing the quality of our cognitive function and mental and emotional performance. In other words, posture really matters.

Practice paced breathing at least 10 minutes daily.

Paced breathing (diaphragmatically, in through the nose and out through the mouth) produces DHEA, a vitality chemical so powerful that synthetic DHEA is a banned substance for Olympic athletes yet we can produce it naturally every day through paced breathing. It also releases acetylcholine, empowering us to feel mentally and emotionally stable and confident, handling situations with clarity, balance and control.

Claire Dale and Patricia Peyton are the directors of Companies in Motion and authors of award-winning best-seller Physical Intelligence (Simon & Schuster), available now in ebook and hardback, priced at $13.79. companiesinmotion.com simonandschuster.co.uk/ books

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TRUST-BASED CULTURES

Neuroeconomist Paul Zak’s research reports that in organizations that share information broadly and intentionally build relationships and networks, and where leaders ask for support, there is 76% more engagement, people have 106% more energy, they are 50% more productive, 29% more satisfied with their lives, have 13% fewer days sick and 40% fewer cases of burnout. He has tested oxytocin (our social bonding and trust chemical) in the bloodstream of thousands of employees across many industries and cultures and has found that trust and purpose reinforce each other, raising oxytocin levels over a longer period.

Schedule Recovery Time: Another key component of trust-based, high-oxytocin cultures is balancing periods of intense effort with relaxation and recovery. Many people are working harder or longer hours, with fewer boundaries. We should counter that with restorative activities; after pushing ourselves hard, we need time to recover or we risk burnout.

How to: Write “REST” in blocks in your calendar each week and honor them: Retreat (take a break from all digital devices, media, social media, etc.), Eat (healthy food: lean protein, vegetables, fruit, limited simple carbohydrates, sugar and alcohol), Sleep (seven to nine hours per night) and Treat (healthy restorative treats: bike ride, hot bath, playing with children, beautiful music, whatever you find restorative).

CREATIVITY

We sometimes find ourselves staring at the computer screen waiting for creative inspiration. Turns out that is the last place we should be. When working online, dopamine (a reward chemical) is produced in greater quantities because we are able to achieve more and reach our goals faster. Constantly experiencing novelty keeps us engaged, possibly even addicted, over extended periods of time. However, extensive screen time often leads to muscular tension in our shoulders, which has a negative impact on the quality of our thinking and our confidence levels.

How to promote creativity: Close your eyes and calm your mind. Trust, novelty, vitality and positive mood all increase our chances of having creative ideas.

Shift your perspective. Dopamine is the most important chemical for creativity. It enables connections across multiple areas of the brain, including vision and imagination. It is released when things are novel, fun and when you look at them from different perspectives. If your creativity is blocked and you cannot move, shift your perspective and look at something you find beautiful in nature or art.

Walk or move around often throughout the day. Stanford University research indicates that people are 45% more likely to have a high-quality new idea while walking (outside or inside, even on a treadmill).

Soak up the sun. Daylight releases serotonin (a happiness chemical), which makes us feel lighter and more flexible.

Creativity is a form of flexibility.

Groups, too, will find their collective performance improve when members incorporate these physical intelligence tips into their routine.

Organizations that have adopted Physical Intelligence have experienced a measurable impact on business outcomes, including double-digit revenue growth; a 12.5% increase in commercial success of their deals; increased operating efficiency, customer satisfaction and employee satisfaction scores; and enhanced innovation.

Stay Healthy.

Return Smarter.

Return Stronger.

With public health top of mind, Arizona is moving forward safely and responsibly together.

Since the start, the state of Arizona has worked hard to keep Arizonans safe and healthy while slowing the spread of COVID-19. By continuing to follow the data and recommendations of public health officials, we can safely move forward with the next steps of Arizona’s economic recovery. And as our state’s businesses gradually reopen their operations, the Arizona Commerce Authority is here to continue offering tools and resources for families, workers and businesses to return stronger.

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