It’s been quite some time since my last post, so to say things have been busy would be quite the understatement (I’m sure that applies to most of us). I’ve had the chance to see firsthand some of the COVID impact on businesses; new protocols, risk management, and customer demand fluctuations (up and down) have all been very eye opening in this unique time.
As I step back and take a (brief) pause, I am left with a few takeaways that I’d like to share from my recent experiences:
1) Businesses will succeed or fail based on the quality of their people and the commitment and support the leadership provides to them, Until we reach the point of widespread AI and Robotics, we need, and are, an environment of people and community. One of the most powerful compliments I received lately was the appreciation for the handling of a COVID case. People need to be informed and reassured in times of uncertainty. It provides them clarity and comfort, and it gains respect. However, this does need to work both ways. All of us need to elevate our behaviors even more when emotions can be raw and nerves frayed.
2) Live your life! I’ve also seen too many people become sheltered and live in fear of this disease. While I may be in the minority in my opinion, there remain things far worse in the world right now. Be careful, be smart, respect others, but don’t let this change your life anymore than it already has. We still only go through this experience once, and we need to enjoy all of it. Have no regrets!
3) The world has changed, and much of it we haven’t really begun to see the long term impact yet. I shared recently a post on LinkedIn I saw outlining the emergence of new jobs in the next *5* years due to COVID. Many tried and true traditional jobs (data entry, accounting, customer service, factory workers) are forecasted to see a dramatic decline in the next few years. Others, such as AI, IoT, seemingly all things digital, data analysis (of a variety of types), will see even more accelerated growth than what was believed just 10 months ago. While this change will be inevitable, the reminders all around us; the need to work from home, be socially distant, and automate more processes, just lend further credence that this will be the way of the future world.
The more the world is getting automated, the more we need (and the more challenging it will be), to retain our humanity; our kindness and our joy.
Those that can do all of this successfully, will be the pioneers of the future.
Darren