Welcome to The Pivot Pod, where we'll figure out together what's next for small business. Hosted by Frances Cook, with a new expert on each episode.

The Covid-19 crisis came out of nowhere, and has changed everything about how we live and do business.

But this sort of situation isn’t entirely unprecedented – indeed part of New Zealand has gone through something with key similarities.

When the Christchurch earthquakes struck in 2011, the area faced two tragedies; one to deal with the dead and injured, the other to figure out how to rebuild their lives and livelihoods, in a dramatically changed city.

So what did they learn then about adapting in the face of difficulty?

On the latest Pivot Pod I spoke to Leeann Watson, chief executive of Canterbury employers chamber of commerce.

We discussed the similarities and differences between the quake and Covid-19 impacts, strategies that helped business get through the quakes, and why hoping that life will go back to normal is doomed to fail.

If you have a question about this podcast, or question you'd like answered in the next one, come and talk to me about it. I'm on Facebook here https://www.facebook.com/FrancesCookJournalist/ Instagram here https://www.instagram.com/francescooknz/ and Twitter here https://twitter.com/FrancesCook