The D.C., Maryland, and Virginia region (the DMV) is prosperous, but it is no secret that opportunities to participate in that prosperity are not shared fairly and that disparity often follows racial divides. This lack of economic equity is a moral failing and holds us back from reaching our full potential as a thriving, productive community. Join us for a meaningful and substantive conversation on how companies and local governments can address inequities and help shape an economy that gives everyone a chance to succeed.

Moderator: Michael Akin, President of LINK Strategic Partners

Panelists:
Cordell Carter, II, Executive Director, Socrates Program, Aspen Institute
Denise Rolark Barnes, Publisher, The Washington Informer
Jaqueline N. Tucker, Race and Social Equity Officer, City of Alexandria
Tony Waller, Senior Director of Diversity Relations, Walmart

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What does equity mean?

Michael Akin, president of LINK Strategic Partners, begun the discussion by asking each of the panelists to define the term “equity.” Each panelist approached the answer slightly differently, but two themes emerged.

First, it means that all people must be able to succeed. Denise Rolark Barnes, Publisher of The Washington Informer, recalled a quote from Jesse Jackson about the need to level the playing field, making the point that equity is about fairness in how we are able to succeed in this world. This is the starting point.

Second, it means that we must meet people where they are and recognize that different groups of people have different needs because of historical factors. Jaqueline Tucker, Race and Social Equity Officer for the City of Alexandria, explained that race is the primary predictor of health, income, and wealth in this country due to historical marginalization that held non-white groups of people back from opportunity. While equality means we are all treated the same way, equity means everyone is being given what they need precisely to bring them up to a fair starting line, which may mean that some communities require different or additional measures or investment.

Tony Waller, Senior Director of Diversity Relations at Walmart, put it simply: “Equality is making sure everyone has shoes. Equity means everyone has shoes that fit.”

What can a major retailer do?

Tony Waller acknowledged that in 2015, the country was having the same conversations and many companies came out with corporate statements. Now, five years later, nothing has changed. Companies need to change their response.

Tony described the steps that Walmart is taking to make a substantive and not just symbolic impact on racism and racial equity. Those steps start in Walmart’s supply chain, where the company is examining what changes it can make to its procurement requirements to accommodate more small and minority-owned businesses, to beyond its stores, where it is helping neighboring shops rebuild after being damaged in the riots.

Walmart’s management is looking at the jobs and advancement opportunities it provides and asking if more should be done for people of color. For example, they are asking how they may be able to help people who were previously incarcerated come back to the workforce. Walmart is also examining what it can do to help people of color access better healthcare that meets their needs.

Walmart’s CEO recently made a statement about all these commitments and asked that workers who are not on board with the program seek employment elsewhere. This conviction meant a lot, said Tony, and is a strong demonstration of leadership in a difficult time.

What can a local government do?

Jaqueline Tucker provided an expert history lesson of the laws that have created the situation we are in today. She explained that for hundreds of years, laws explicitly discriminated against Black people by denying them freedom, the right to vote, the right to attend certain schools, or the right to buy a house. Eventually, the law achieved racial neutrality, where everybody legally has the same privileges regardless of their race.

However, we now know that racial neutrality is not enough to make our society equal because Black and historically marginalized communities do not have the same history of wealth-building and investment—we have not reckoned with our past, according to Jaqueline. She pointed out that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed and exacerbated these disadvantages.

She says that some local governments, like Alexandria, are now proactively designing policies, procedures, programs, institutions, budgets, and so on to help deliver what people need to succeed. For example, Alexandria focused its communications during the COVID-19 pandemic on the communities who would be most vulnerable rather than targeting everyone equally. It has also formed a community response group that not only includes people of color, but compensates them for their time, knowing that not everyone can easily volunteer.

What can a media company do?

Denise Rolark Barnes explained the value of the Black press. Newspapers like hers have been telling the story of Black Americans for decades—stories that do not always get told in other publications. She pointed out that regular readers of The Washington Informer would not be surprised to learn about police brutality or faults in our criminal justice system, since those are stories that are covered regularly.

Denise also made that point that the Black press does not just cover stories that matter to Black Americans, they track those stories and follow-up on their outcomes.

What can a nonprofit do?

Cordell Carter, II, Executive Director of the Socrates Program at the Aspen Institute, explained that his organization is dedicated to bringing people together to share ideas. That legacy may have started years ago with white men, but it has expanded to include everyone.

Cordell says that in doing this work, it is important to be willing to look at yourself, be sensitive, and know that you do not have all the right answers. He points to today’s protesters and observes that many are marching with “signs in one hand and books in the other,” searching to understand our current condition intellectually. This is important and can support the ground-up movement we need where people across sectors and backgrounds contribute to being a part of the change we need.

Action Items

Michael Akin asked each panelist to provide one action item for the event participants.

Tony Waller suggested that everyone commit to having one difficult conversation with someone in which both people end the conversation better. Give the other party the opportunity to express where they are and better understand where you are.

Denise Rolark Barnes suggested that each participant, if they can, support a Black-owned business. Get to establish a new business relationship or get to know a new business owner in your community.

Jaqueline Tucker recommends we all follow the three A’s: Assume, Assess, and Act. Assume that your institution has white supremacy and white privilege embedded in it. Assess your staff, payscale, policies, and more to understand what should be changed to improve diversity, inclusion, and equity. Finally, act—do the work and be committed to the outcome.

Cordell Carter, II implores us to read. His reading list:

• The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How our Government Segregated America, by Richard Rothstein
• White Fragility: Why It’s So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism, by Robin DiAngelo
• Stamped from the Beginning: The History of Racist Ideas in America and How to Be an Antiracist, by Ibram X. Kendi
• A Letter to My Nephew, by James Baldwin
• PowerNomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America, by Dr. Claude Anderson

Lastly, Jack McDougle, President and CEO of the Greater Washington Board of Trade, asked that everybody approach the work of creating racial equity as one region. We cannot be satisfied with leveling the playing field in some neighborhoods and not others.

As communities across the United States gradually relax social distancing restrictions, many are anxiously wondering what will come next. Fortunately for us, we can learn from the experience of other communities around the world that are ahead of us on the pandemic curve. In this discussion, several Board of Trade members describe how their companies’ operations in China have evolved.

Moderator: James Robinson, Global Lead, Geo-Commerce, APCO Worldwide

Panelists:
Al Hankins, Manager of Procurement and Contracts, Bechtel
James Shepherd, Head of Research, Greater China, Cushman & Wakefield
Jeff Astle, Managing Director, APCO Shanghai

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Early Days

When the pandemic struck, the Chinese government acted quickly and exercised their strong authority to close facilities, taking a lot of decision-making out of the hands of businesses. Jeff Astle, Managing Director of APCO Shanghai noted that staff in his office were much more adaptable to working remotely than he had expected. The biggest setbacks came with not being able to build relationships with clients face-to-face.

Al Hankins, Manager of Procurement and Contracts at Bechtel, explained that his company’s first priority in the early days of the pandemic in China was to ensure their workers were protected with appropriate sanitation gear and policies. He says that Bechtel also stayed resilient by immediately establishing a COVID-19 crisis group that provided clear and consistent communications to all workers. They were also willing to “right-size” their operations—Al noted that their debt-free, privately-held status enables them to be nimble.

Current Conditions

Life and business in China are beginning to resemble normal times again, according to our panelists. James Shepherd, Head of Research in Greater China at Cushman & Wakefield, said that the shutdown in China did not last long and that the worst of the crisis passed quickly. Once shutdown orders were lifted, his office started by bringing back only the workers who need to be physically present to do their job. As the threat reduced, more staff began returning to the office on a voluntary basis. His office also ramped up cleaning, provided hand sanitizer, upgraded HVAC systems, began checking workers’ temperatures, and implemented new requirements for wearing masks and limiting the number of people in a meeting. Overall, he said that the shutdown and reopening process was incredibly smooth. “Blink and you would miss it,” said James.

Some changes will stick around. Jeff Astle shared his expectation that the technologies that were quickly adapted to enable fully remote work will stay because they have made work more productive and dynamic. Al Hankins said that Bechtel is now embracing remote work, whereas before the pandemic the culture of the company led most employees to work from the office.

Market Changes

James Shepherd noted that retailers and businesses with a strong online presence did fine during the shutdown but companies without a strong online presence took a hard hit. Many developers in China have moved toward the residential real estate market, which is considered a safe haven, and away from the commercial real estate market. Though James does not expect many companies to go fully remote indefinitely, he noted that they do tend to have the upper hand with developers in this moment.

Overall, for commercial real estate, James expects that two trends will cancel each other out: some companies are moving more of their staff to remote work, and others are expanding their office space to give each employee in the office more space and allow for social distancing.

Looking across the Chinese economy, Jeff Astle noted that some sectors are doing better than they were before the pandemic, and some are taking a hit. Overall, he estimates that the economy is at about 70-90% of normal capacity. James Shepherd agreed but said he expected the economy to rebound very quickly.

Lessons Learned: Be flexible, but speak clearly and consistently.

As a global company, Bechtel faced many different rules and regulations across markets. Al explained that their approach was to be flexible and to accommodate those differences so that they could maintain relationships with stakeholders wherever they were. Managing staff travel was especially difficult when each country began limiting immigration or closing borders. Al explained that their first move was to differentiate between essential and nonessential travel, even being creative and finding new ways to conduct inspections over video. Overall, Al is optimistic because Bechtel was able to honor service agreements and move forward with the projects it had planned because it had stayed flexible and adaptable.

Pointing to Al’s account of Bechtel’s early pandemic response, James agreed that clear and consistent communication with employees is critical during big operational changes. He acknowledged that culturally there are differences between the United States and China that work to China’s advantage, such as a general willingness to wear masks. But whatever your company policies are, clearly asserting them will slow the spread of the virus and will be reassuring to employees concerned for their safety.

Today’s TD Bank Morning Star Speaker Series event featured a practical and thought-provoking presentation on disruptive growth from business expert Charlene Li. This presentation and her book, The Disruptive Mindset, will be exceptionally value for all business leaders who wish to chart a winning course forward in the months and years ahead.

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Visit Charlene Li’s website to download the slides from this presentation, access a free copy of her eBook, and more.

About Charlene Li

For the past two decades, Charlene Li has been helping people see the future. She’s an expert on digital transformation, leadership, customer experience, and the future of work, and the author of six books, including the New York Times bestseller Open Leadership and the coauthor of the critically acclaimed book Groundswell. Her latest book is the bestseller The Disruption Mindset. She’s also an entrepreneur, the Founder and Senior Fellow at Altimeter, a disruptive analyst firm that was acquired in 2015 by Prophet. Charlene was named one of the Top 50 Leadership Innovators by Inc, and one of the most creative people in business by Fast Company. She serves on the regional board of YPO, a global network of 28,000 CEOs. Charlene graduated magna cum laude from Harvard College and received her MBA from Harvard Business School. She lives in San Francisco.

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Restaurants and hotels across the Washington metro region are beginning to welcome back customers and employees after many weeks of full or partial pandemic-related closures. However, they are not returning to business as usual. To meet customer expectations and comply with state and District social distancing orders, they must explore very different service models. In this webinar, we discussed those changes and what they mean for the bottom line and the guest experience.

Moderator: Jay Coldren, Managing Director, Eat + Drink, Streetsense

Panelists:

• Elliott L. Ferguson, President & CEO, Destination DC
• Kathy E. Hollinger, President & CEO, Restaurant Association of Metropolitan Washington
• Jorge Perez, President and COO Regional Portfolio Properties, MGM Resorts International

Read coverage of this webinar in WTOP.

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As our region begins the process of reopening, there are so many factors to be considered by public officials, businesses, restaurants, communities, and individuals. Key will be restoring public trust and rebuilding confidence. But where do we start?

In mid-May, the Rosslyn BID launched Rosslyn Ready, a comprehensive and customizable reentry program designed by experts to help Rosslyn’s businesses and restaurants quickly adapt to public health requirements now that Stay at Home orders are being lifted. A series of digital resources, webinars, and other tools will help businesses build a reentry plan that they can confidently execute as they modify their operations with social distancing, hygiene, and legal considerations in mind.

In the spirit of regionalism, the Rosslyn BID is now making this valuable program available to any company or community leader in the DMV. Though the Rosslyn Ready materials follow Virginia guidance and requirements, they are easily adapted by others in the District or Maryland and can serve as a helpful model for companies and the organizations that support them.

Drawing from the guidance in the Rosslyn Ready program, leading experts explain the operational and human resources changes that companies should make when welcoming back customers and employees.

Speakers:

Mary-Claire Burick, President of the Rosslyn BID
Janet Pogue McLaurin, Workplace Leader, Principal, Gensler
Jay Coldren, Managing Director, Eat + Drink, Streetsense
Henry Hillmann, Director of Disaster Services, Hillmann Consulting
Mark Viani, Shareholder, Bean Kinney & Korman PC

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Four key ideas from this discussion

1) Offices are not dead, but they will be different.

With the vast majority of “desk job” workers working from home—and apparently remaining productive—many have naturally asked if companies should give up offices for good. Janet Pogue McLaurin, Principal at Gensler, shared survey data showing that most employees actually do want to return to the office because they miss the feeling of belonging to a professional community and having daily, impromptu interaction with their colleagues. Only twelve percent wish to work from home full-time.

But that does not mean that office life should be the same as it was before. Employees have high expectations around social distancing and will be looking for clear systems and protocols. They also want the ability to work from home part time so that they can still enjoy some of the benefits of that arrangement. Employers can use that to their advantage to meet those social distancing expectations by establishing staggered shifts for workers and new policies for how many hours employees must be present in the office or who needs to be present in meetings.

See Gensler’s 2020 work from home survey data.

2) Companies need to establish, publish, and enforce new workplace policies.

Mark Viani, a shareholder at Bean Kinney & Korman PC, described how companies should approach workplace policies related to COVID-19. First, the policy should follow guidance from the Center for Disease Control (CDC). The company policy may not be very robust—it may simply lay out a list of requirements, such as employees must wear masks and stay home if they have a fever. What is important is that the policy is concrete, published and accessible to all employees, and updated if CDC guidance changes.

Having this established policy in place allows an employer to document instances of noncompliance and treat those instances like other violations of established company policies. Be sure to make it very clear what is guideline and what is policy, so employees know what they will be held accountable for.

Mark Viani advised that companies conduct daily wellness checks with staff, which includes a temperature scan. This is recommended by the CDC and can be done noninvasively with a thermal temperature reader.

Janet Pogue McLaurin at Gensler also recommended that companies create “Welcome Back” kits for employees to orient them to new policies, help them adjust, and offer opportunities to share concerns or struggles. Employers can even film video tours of the office to point out new office features and where behaviors are expected to change, like wiping down the copy maker or coffee pot handle after use.

3) To ready your office, think through every physical detail of office life.

Henry Hillmann, Director of Disaster Services at Hillmann Consulting, explained that employee hygiene and social distancing are the best tools for stopping the spread of disease. How your office is configured and the policies you put in place can make a tremendous difference.

It is important to think through every step of a typical employee’s path through the office, starting at the parking garage or entry and including their desk, the common spaces, copy machine, meeting rooms, bathrooms, and more. Start with the spaces you control (which may not be all spaces if you are a tenant) and look for low-hanging fruit improvements that can be made with little time and cost. This may include:

• Leaving hand sanitizer pumps in all common areas
• Installing foot petals on the doors so that they can be opened without hands, or permanently propping them open
• Spreading desks out if they are too close together
• Ordering large quantities of sanitation supplies, such as sanitation wipes, that can be placed at every desk and around the office
• Creating markers for distanced cuing in front of reception desks and other places people naturally line up
• Adding Plexiglas “sneeze guards” or other barriers between desks

Next, talk to your landlord about the policies and upgrades that can be made for the rest of the office building. Work with your landlord to coordinate with other tenants to create a good shared experience and encourage the right behaviors. You may also wish to explore high-tech and more expensive investments, such as touchless elevators or air purification systems.

If an office space has been completely unused for weeks or months, a few steps should be taken to be sure it is safe for reentry. Flush out stagnant water in the plumbing by running the faucets, coffee machines, and other places with water lines. Run the HVAC systems to fill the space with fresh air. Make sure no employee left food in their desk that is now rotten.

4) Restaurants also need to rethink everything—and for customers, this means a very different dining experience.

Jay Coldren, Managing Director of Eat + Drink at Streetsense, noted that we are all eager to be able to dine in a restaurant again, calling restaurants “a stage where we live important moments of our lives.”

He explained that restaurants that are reopening for on-site dining are navigating big changes beyond standard workplace policies and upgrades like the ones described above for office buildings. A few examples:

• Per orders in VA and many other jurisdictions, they have reopened their outdoor seating first and placed extra distance between tables.
• Many are adopting lower-touch service models that reduce the amount of time a server is at the table, such as QR codes on the tables that allow customers to order and pay for food with their smartphones. (There is a full section of the Rosslyn Ready toolkit that explores technology that restaurants can use to facilitate ordering and payment in a more contactless way.)
• In the past, restaurants tried to clean tables quickly and discreetly, but now they are putting on a “sanitation theater” and making sure to wipe down every surface—including ketchup bottles—so that customers feel safe.

Looking ahead, more changes are coming. Restaurants now are operating at a fraction of the capacity they once had and are unable to be profitable this way. To reach higher sales volumes, they may explore Plexiglas dividers between tables, streamlined take-out operations, higher reliance on reservations rather than walk-in customers, and other changes that will ultimately alter the dining experience. Some restaurant owners fear that these changes will inconvenience and bother customers, but Jay Coldren stresses that these changes will reassure most customers and help to increase sales.

Jay also noted that restaurants struggle when government policies are different in DC, MD, and VA and sometimes are event different between towns and counties. These policies all address the same things, like the percent of capacity allowed inside and outside, but little differences and misaligned timeframes make it hard for restaurants with multiple locations to adapt. A regional approach to these regulations would be in the best interest of the restaurant community.

When businesses can reopen, most will face new expectations for how they protect workers and customers. Building on the insights gained in the first two parts of this series, we will explore those expectations and the financial and operational challenges they create. This discussion will cover company needs, efforts to meet those needs, and forecasts for the future. The goal is to help professionals in all industries better prepare for the road ahead.

Speakers:

• Moderator: Evan Kraus, Managing Director in Washington, APCO Worldwide
• Larry Di Rita, Greater Washington, D.C. Market President, Bank of America
• Cy Kouhestani, Sr. VP of Leasing & Asset Management, Brookfield Properties
• Stephanie Smith, Senior Public Policy Manager, UBER

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Maryland, Virginia, and the District each have phased plans for reopening the economy. On this briefing call, government leaders who have led the development of those plans explain how each jurisdiction has approached this challenge and what Phase One will look like in each jurisdiction and across the region.

Moderator: Roy McGrath, IOM, CAE, CEO and Chairman of Maryland Environmental Service

Speakers:

• Eugene D. Kinlow, Director of the Office for Federal and Regional Affairs, Executive Office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia
• Kelly M. Schulz, Secretary, Maryland Department of Commerce
• Angela Navarro, Deputy Secretary of Commerce and Trade, Commonwealth of Virginia

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Widespread testing, contact tracing, an effective treatment for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, abundant personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline workers, and eventually a vaccine are all critical for controlling outbreaks and saving lives. A two-week downward trajectory in cases is the widely accepted criteria for beginning to relax social distancing orders. In this discussion, health leaders from across the region explain how these puzzle pieces fit together and the research, development, and production efforts behind securing each piece, with status updates from Maryland, Virginia, and the District.

Moderator: Jack McDougle, President & CEO of the Greater Washington Board of Trade

Speakers:

• Dr. Lisa Lockerd Maragakis, Senior Director of Infection Prevention, The Johns Hopkins Health System
• Dr. Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director, American Public Health Association
• Dr. Laurie Forlano, Deputy Commissioner for Population Health, Virginia Department of Health
• Fran Phillips, R.N., Deputy Secretary for Public Health Services, Maryland Department of Health
• Dr. John Davies Cole, State Epidemiologist, District of Colombia

Our economic recovery will depend on a robust, functional transportation system—and that system is currently in financial jeopardy as would-be travelers stay home. In this virtual conversation, Tom Dohrmann, cofounder and lead of McKinsey & Company’s Public Sector Practice, shares analysis from McKinsey on national trends. He then moderates a conversation with Paul Wiedefeld, General Manager and CEO of WMATA; Ricky Smith, Executive Director of BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport; and Jack Potter, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA).

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On current passenger numbers and facility operations

The pandemic has stopped most travel in its tracks—a much larger reduction in travel than after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 or the financial crisis of 2008, according to analysis from McKinsey. The panelists confirmed that Metro and all three regional airports are currently only serving a fraction of their normal number of passengers. Metro rail is down 94%, Metro Bus is down 74%, BWI is down 92% (which is actually up from 97% last week) and MWAA’s airports, Regan National and Dulles International, are down 97%.

The dramatic reduction in riders and passengers combined with social distancing requirements has changed operations at Metro and the airports. Trains are now running less frequently, most stores in the airports are closed, masks are required or strongly encouraged, and Plexiglas dividers have been installed on busses and throughout the airports to protect bus drivers and other workers who interface with the public.

Ricky Smith, Executive Director of BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport, noted that airports are a part of a national and international network and are therefore only as safe as the airports they connect to. Therefore, a consistent, national approach to airport sanitation and operations is needed. FAA and TSA are exploring a system-wide plan now.

On cash flow and capital investments

Revenue has obviously taken a nose-dive for Metro and the airports. Metro is projecting $800 million in losses through 2021. Paul Wiedefeld, General Manager and CEO of WMATA, noted that Metro is attempting to maximize funding from the CARES Act so that it depends less on DC, MD, and VA, which are also facing budget crises.

Jack Potter, President and CEO of the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), explained that most airports have very large debt burdens—up to 40% of their costs are servicing debt. The airports will therefore dip into the net remaining revenue carried over from previous years to meet this obligation. CARES Act funds are also helping.

Despite financial woes, Metro and the airports are continuing to make investments in their facilities to keep them functional and safe. Though some capital investments projects have been put off due to financial restrictions, many are moving forward as planned—and in fact, the reduction in travelers is allowing some projects to move forward more quickly than they would have under normal conditions. Paul Weidefeld said that Metro is moving forward with phase two of the Silver Line and the platform repairs west of Ballston.

Forecasts for the fall and beyond

Jack Potter said that MWAA projects that air travel will be back to 50% of what is considered normal by the end of 2020. They are modeling numerous scenarios for 2021, from a healthy rebound with 80-90% recovery to a sluggish, 30-50% recovery. He said that they are attempting to be flexible, to continually research and analyze, and avoid the temptation to rush to conclusions.

Paul Weidefeld acknowledged that Metro riders must feel safe if they are to return to taking the metro. He noted that Metro cleaning crews are now cleaning during the day, an activity usually reserved for the night, so that riders see the work being done in front of them. Metro will also enforce mask use and will try to limit the number of riders so that everyone can practice social distancing. He asked that employers with workers who are working from home bring those workers back to an office setting gradually so that Metro is not overwhelmed with too many riders to safely serve.