Business Traveler, Dec/Jan 2021

D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1 b u s i n e s s t r a v e l e r u s a c o m 1 0 ADAPT OR DIE By Mike Hallman President and CEO of air medical transport and travel security program Medjet GUEST COLUMN When crisis strikes companies have two basic choices in how they react adapt or die If that sounds Darwinian it is Darwin said it It is not the strongest of the species that survives nor the most intelligent that survives It is the one that is most adaptable to change The COVID 19 virus has challenged every business in the world Billions of people millions of businesses have been impacted and even the biggest sturdiest and smartest of global brands have struggled Adapt or die is a business mantra I have long embraced and while uncertainty complexity and ambiguity may seem constant in the day to day life of running a business nothing has made me feel crisis quite so viscerally as when this COVID 19 pandemic hit We are a travel related business If a traveler is sick or injured and hospitalized 150 miles or more from home we get them moved to their home hospital A few years ago we added pandemic response to our security membership As you can imagine with so many members needing to get home as borders shut down and then nobody traveling it has been a brutal last nine months With vaccines seemingly imminent and a new Harvard study showing air travel to be much less risky than people would think I spent some time reflecting on the key lessons I learned through all of this and the five biggest beliefs I clung to that helped our company weather the storm I am grateful that we retained all our employees came through for our members under incredible duress and are finally seeing sales tick upwards for the first time since March 1 Always maintain agility This is a year round endeavor While many organizations think they are agile many discovered they were not during this crisis We have a great board and I spend a lot of time over the course of a normal year nurturing a deep understanding among them of what this company does and what our core values are We have a highly interconnected staff This made all the difference in our ability to collaborate innovate communicate to and service our members in the face of daily sometimes hourly dynamic change 2 Accept the circumstances and evolve Denial is not an option 3 Take risks There is nothing like a crisis to spur innovation While at first governmental restrictions CDC guidelines and our rules and regulations were among many reasons we could not transport COVID infected members we worked closely with our affiliates and medical consultants modified our own rules and regulations got buy in from our board to absorb the extra costs at no additional cost to members making it a potentially large financial risk and began adding medical transport home for COVID in specific territories as they opened up 4 Dont stop marketing We knew it would be a dark spring and summer financially but we also knew people were at home keeping the faith and dreaming of exotic locations once a vaccine was available We took that opportunity to introduce them to the concept of our program for when they were ready to travel again That branding and consumer education is paying off 5No matter what keep to your core values When I went to Notre Dame the business schools mantra was The primary function of commerce is service to mankind I am lucky to be running a business that helps people sometimes during their darkest scariest hours Service is our companys core value so when it comes to money versus people we will always put people first That goes for my team too the most valuable asset for a service business It takes a tight team to adapt quickly and survive Protect them Mike Hallman has been involved with Medjets business operations since 1998 becoming President and CEO in 2018 A CPA with more than 42 years of business and finance experience Hallman has helped make Medjet the industry leading air medical transport and travel security membership program and the preferred program for thousands of organizations including AARP Morgan Stanley and the NFL medjet com The five biggest things to remember when dealing with crisis Sponsored By