Two weeks ago I posted a blog (https://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog/entry/leadership-lessons-from-the-habs-amazing-victory-over-the-maple-leafs) on the Habs amazing come from behind victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs. Montreal finished the regular season in 18th place. The team won only 24 of 56 games, the lowest seeded team to make it to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This underachieving organization has now defeated three teams including one with one of the best records during the regular season. What can businesses learn from this remarkable success? Here are five lessons to be gleaned from this amazing underdog story.

1. Results Dictate whether an Organization has the Right Team in place

The Canadiens GM made some significant additions during last year’s off season. He added a top defenseman (Joel Edmonson), three top forwards (Josh Anderson, Tyler Toffoli, Corey Perry) and a high-quality goalie (Jake Allen) to back up Carey Price. The team started the year on fire and then had an uninspiring, mediocre season. A team that was constructed to make a deep run in the playoffs was on the verge of failing to qualify.

The GM then made more changes. He fired and replaced three coaches including the head coach. He went out and added another aging but quality forward (Eric Staal) and two more defensemen (Jon Merrill, Erik Gustafson, a power play specialist). Management also made some personnel changes for the Leafs playoff series. They benched the young centre, Jesperi Kotkaniemi, and made limited use of the newly recruited defensemen. The Habs fell behind 3 games to one against the Leafs.

I was born and raised in Montreal, Quebec. From a very young age, I remember how hockey was such a big part of the life of people in Quebec. Saturday night was Hockey Night in Canada and I would be glued to our grainy black and white TV to watch the hometown Montreal Canadiens play one of the original six NHL teams.

Even though I lost my dad at a young age (car accident), my mom made sure that I had a pair of skates, a hockey stick and shin pads. I would go to the local rink to play hockey after school with boys in the neighbourhood. I remember my mom taking me to the Montreal Forum to see “Rocket” Richard and some of the other stars of that era. The love of hockey and the Habs never left me, even though I have lived in Toronto since 1976.

The game and the team have changed significantly over the years. Back in the 60s and 70s, the team was known for its home grown, French Canadian stars - - - Jean Beliveau, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Jacques Plante, Patrick Roy, Jacques Lemaire and of course, the Flower, Guy Lafleur. The team was admired for its high-speed offense and for its scoring stars. Even in the late 60s, the Montreal Canadiens had a junior team in Montreal, the Montreal Junior Canadiens. The Habs could select the top 2 players from this team every year. This changed in the early 70s and it allowed the Buffalo Sabres to draft the great Gilbert Perrault, who would have been another Habs star of that era.

When you fast forward to today, the nature of the team has changed drastically. While the Habs have a French-Canadian general manager and coach, the team had only French-Canadian player on their roster for the series with the Toronto Maple Leafs, Philip Danault. Their other French Canadian player, Jonathan Drouin, was on a leave of absence.

The Covid-19 pandemic is much more than a major health crisis that has produced massive business closures and job losses. It represents a “change agent” that will likely produce a range of impacts in Health Care, Education, Technology and in the world of Business. Some of these changes may be temporary but many of them will be permanent; they will remain long after a vaccine is found. Here are some examples of the changes taking place.

A recent study by Jonathan Dingel and Brent Neiman of the University of Chicago found that 37 percent of jobs in the U.S. can be performed from home. Webex, GoToMeetings, Microsoft Teams, Face Time and Zoom video conference calls are now a regular part of every day. While these services were in widespread use pre-Covid, they are being increasingly used by businesses, schools, churches, associations, and other organizations. Working from home has certain disadvantages (i.e. distractions, noise levels, inability to arrange impromptu face-to-face meetings with coworkers etc.) but it has certain inherent significant benefits (reduced travel time, fuel consumption and carbon emissions) that should provide many citizens with a better quality of life.

Just as important as the social and technological changes being driven by the pandemic are the changes taking place in the operations of specific business segments. Some industries (i.e. restaurants, travel, hospitality etc.) are being transformed as new processes and procedures are put in place to protect consumers and employees.

For example, restaurants are rearranging tables so their customers sit six feet apart, they are erecting plexiglass dividers to limit the exchange of potentially harmful respiratory droplets between patrons, or between patrons and employees, creating disposable menus, and ensuring their employees wear masks, gloves and other protective equipment. Similarly, airlines are making changes to their processes by performing temperature checks before passengers enter a departure gate, leaving the middle seats vacant on their flights and by more frequently sanitizing their planes.

While there are lots of great sports stories at this time of the year, the Vegas Golden Knights should rank at or near the top. Even if they don’t win another game this season, they have exceeded all expectations. They are currently among the two final teams battling for the Stanley Cup, an amazing accomplishment. While a number of other top professional hockey teams (the Penguins, Jets, Bruins, Predators, Leafs) have been eliminated, this first-year expansion team is still in the hunt. How do you explain this unprecedented success story?

Start with a Nucleus of Good People

The Golden Knights invested in good management talent. They hired a quality GM, good coaches, and support staff.

We live in a remarkable era. When people look back at this era 15 or 20 years from now, many will say that this was a golden era for jobs. Most people interested in working have jobs. Employment in Canada and the United States is at almost record levels. Looking ahead to the future, this could change dramatically. If you examine many of the core sectors and jobs in our economy, they are being transformed by technology.

Many manufacturing jobs are being replaced by robots, automation and off-shoring to counties with a lower cost structure. Low-skilled, repetitive factory jobs can now be performed by machines. Similarly, as products are being manufactured, robots allow companies to pack more products into their warehouses, and to speed up picking, so that they can put more products into rapid fulfillment. As an example, Amazon expects to hire another 100,000 workers in the next eighteen months, many of them in their fulfillment centers.

Autonomous and semi-autonomous trucks may soon be able to take most of these goods to their destinations. Many of the almost 4 million truck driving jobs in our economy, specifically the long-haul trucking jobs, could become obsolete.

Ecommerce is having a profound impact on both wholesale and retail jobs. Consumers can now place an order online and have the products delivered directly from the manufacturer to their homes, by-passing a warehouse and/or retail store. In a recent blog (http://www.dantranscon.com/index.php/blog?view=entry&id=290 ), I highlighted the number of malls and stores being closed throughout North America. While some retail jobs may be replaced by warehousing positions, many will be lost.