Skift Take
Senior leaders turned back the clock at a roundtable to describe how the crisis unfolded — sharing how unofficial back channels helped them get a headstart, keeping employees safe.
Facebook leaned heavily on different “sources of truth” to manage the coronavirus crisis at the start of the year, including the advice of one doctor who called the pandemic before it was officially recognized.
Speaking recently at a "Covid-19 Health & Security Lessons Learned" roundtable, risk experts described how they processed the news and data that flowed into their organizations, while they also shared predictions on what shape the next crisis will take.
“Part of our job is to discern information, and to ascertain what is important and valuable, and what may not be," said Erin Wilk, head of global security communications and travel safety at Facebook.
What proved to be extremely valuable was a trusted partner in the Asia-Pacific region that, at the start of the year, flagged the outbreak to Facebook's security leadership team.
Wilk said this made her think something was different. "We did feel we needed to pause and get our heads around it," she said. Crisis action team activations then took place, including four days of sitting in "war rooms" with Facebook's leadership team.
Pivotal Moments
Facebook also relied on medical experts, including health and security services firm International SOS, which held the virtual roundtable on Thur
