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5 Years After COVID — Leadership Lessons That Still Matter
It’s been five years since COVID-19 upended our lives, but its impact still shapes how we live and lead. For me, that lesson is personal.
In the middle of the pandemic, I found myself on the floor of my bathroom in Jersey City, New Jersey, battling what I initially believed was moderate COVID-19. I later learned it was a profound and serious case. I was hallucinating, feverish, and calling out for my long-deceased mother — a desperate instinct when I felt powerless.
Recovery took months, and while I was fortunate to survive, the aftermath lingered. I later sustained spinal and neck injuries from a car accident while returning from my first vaccination. Despite these setbacks, I know I was one of the lucky ones — too many others didn’t make it.
COVID changed more than our health — it reshaped leadership itself. Disruption is no longer the exception; it’s the new normal.
I’ve been making bread for the last year. This is something my fiancé started, and I have been working ever since to perfect and expand my skills in baking bread, scones, and various cakes. Sometimes I end up with a soggy bottom or an exploding loaf where I add too much or too little, but I “Persevere”, not just because that is my old school moto but because I have grown to recognize that does not go to plan in life is a failure. It is a learning experience to do better and easier next time.