[First published in May 2020, but the lesssons are just as relevant today.]

We are living in the midst of the deepest recession in human history. The International Monetary Fund expects a 3% decline in global GDP this year, the European Union’s economy will contract by 7.4% and perhaps most pessimistically the International Labor Organization expects an equivalent of 305 million full times jobs to be have been lost by the end of June. In every direction, there is a new story of doom and gloom.

I have seen this before, although on a smaller scale.

I graduated with an MBA diploma from INSEAD in France, at possibly the worst time – in July 2009, during the last great recession. Since the crash of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the last 18 months had led to a worsening economy with millions of jobs being shed.

Personally, I had a tremendous challenge on my hands. I needed to land a job after a significant financial investment in the MBA. I had no prior professional networks in Europe, hav...