Through the Looking Glass in a Pandemic: Inside of a Global Comms Corporation, Navigating COVID-19 on Top of Structural Change

ABSTRACT

This chapter explores one marketer's perspective inside of a large global corporation in the communication software market, during the time of COVID-19 where the events of the novel coronavirus are compounded by organizational changes made by new leadership that acquired the company prior to the pandemic (a venture capital firm). The venture capital leadership is interim leadership, who work by acquiring companies, using their contracted leadership to make them more efficient while also replacing themselves with another team of new leadership, ultimately moving on to the next acquisition project. With this known model in place, staffing changes—and cuts—were expected prior to COVID-19, but are felt more deeply by the impact of a non-existent job market in a growing global depression and the low morale associated with it. Interim leadership is further challenged by being virtually unknown, attempting to build relationships remotely, and working against resentment from staffing cuts, restructuring, and clashing office cultures from various acquisitions. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.