The Premonition
A Pandemic Story
by Michael Lewis
The Premonition: A Pandemic Story is vintage Michael Lewis storytelling. He creates engaging Hollywood scenes featuring everyday heroes and bureaucratic villains, who all play key roles in Covid-19’s deadly journey. True to form in Lewis’ Moneyball, The Blind Side and Flash Boys, he spotlights behind-the-scenes nerds who obsess over their subject area, formulate innovative models and risk it all when ostracized by those in power. Sadly, in this case, the stakes go beyond winning games and insider trading to millions of preventable deaths.
Lewis drew some flak for unbalanced criticism of the CDC. That said, The Premonition is a lesson in leadership and crisis response. Two classes of leaders emerge: those driven by ego and those driven to solve the pandemic, even if it means losing their job and reputation. Though easy to cast blame, the book raises questions that will help each of us prepare for the next time. Given the state of factory farming in the U.S., it’s likely we’ll see more outbreaks, as predicted in How to Survive a Pandemic by Michael Greger, M.D., FACLM.
For me, the book inspired a few key takeaways worth considering:
What lessons will politicians, public health officials and business leaders take away? Will public health officials look within their culture to make changes?
What systems do we put into place to prevent outbreaks? What actions are most effective in stopping the spread?
And more personally, what type of leader are you? Is your team afraid to give you bad news? How do you respond to crises? What did Covid-19 teach you about yourself and your business?