As the global pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus continues to destabilize our work, our lives, and even our health, it is more important than ever to examine our emotional responses and learn from them.

The Harvard Business Review recently interviewed David Kessler, author of Finding Meaning: The Sixth Stage of Grief, to discuss why it’s important to acknowledge the grief you may be feeling, how to manage it, and how he believes we will find meaning in it.

We at ELI have felt much of the grief of the world these past few weeks, but must remind ourselves what we can learn from our own responses, and how we must all work together to heal now and in the future.

Charlie Munger, partner of Warren Buffett, gave a speech in 1995 that expertly ties behavioral psychology to problem-solving in business.

As we are looking at one of the most drastic examples of the power of human behavior to keep us healthy or spread illness, it seems apt to reflect on the lessons Munger teaches here. Watch the talk and read the transcript below.

In another talk from the 1990s, we reflect on a speech from John Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare under Lyndon B. Johnson, given to McKinsey & Company employees.

In his speech, Gardner addresses a tendency among many of us to lose a passion to grow, learn, and achieve. He is sure not to imply that he means we should all strive to be the top of our fields, as he says "...that isn't the point of life anyway..." but rather emphasizes how much of our true potential can be lost to complacency, by expectations, and by external forces.

While we have the time, let us take the time to examine ourselves, and find solace in Former-Secretary Gardner's words:

There's something I know about you that you may or may not know about yourself. You have within you more resources of energy than have ever been tapped, more talent than has ever been exploited, more strength than has ever been tested, more to give than you have ever given.

"Institutions with large endowments and storied reputations are bound to survive. But what about community colleges and open-access institutions, which serve the most vulnerable and underrepresented students?"

See how some are finding hope for the future of higher education, in spite of the immediate and long term difficulties of the current pandemic, and think about how we can apply this to our own lives.

Jim Collins, author and consultant for a variety of businesses, had the opportunity to speak with Admiral James Stockdale, a survivor of a prison camp in the Vietnam War. In their conversation, a fascinating logical paradox emerged, one that Collins has since dubbed the Stockdale Paradox. He frames it as the ability to embrace unwavering faith that you will prevail with the need to confront the "brutal facts that are right in front of you."

As the Admiral said:

You must never ever ever confuse, on the one hand, the need for absolute, unwavering faith that you can prevail despite [the] constraints with, on the other hand, the need for the discipline to begin by confronting the brutal facts, whatever they are.

While we are faced with the most brutal of facts, we must remember that the stories we tell ourselves are never more important than when we are in times of uncertainty and peril.