All tagged COVID-19
Tough times call for tough measures. But those tough measures can also be fraught with risk - both real and perceived. Biggest of all is the perception that we'll be overreacting.
But, as I discuss in today's podcast, that shouldn't worry us. The end goal and those we serve, matter far more.
Today's episode focuses on the myth of the all-rounder.
We're programmed to try and be good at everything, and when we don't hit the mark, we taught to judge ourselves negatively. But the fact is we all have spikes and, while general knowledge is a good thing, our spikes are what really matter.
I heard an interesting comment the other day at a panel of Founders and Venture Capitalists.
Someone made the observation that when the world went online during COVID, the available money went - predominantly - to ‘known’ founders (versus first time entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs that VCs didn’t know).
If there’s one thing that’s facilitated our ability to keep functioning (as normally as possible) over the last year and half (Outside of the vaccine and the healthcare community), it has be technology.
From e-commerce to productivity tools, technology has helped keep us working, playing, consuming and communicating when physical interaction was minimal to non-existent.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on how 2020 and COVID-19 has forced us to rethink how we need to approach 2021 - specifically in terms of options and agility.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's podcast take on the idea of Work From Home (WFH) and how it's changed many of our views so significantly this year. That said, I also think the idea that it's here to stay is overrated.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's podcast discusses how the pandemic has reset the equilibrium of what we thought was our "physical-virtual" balance, for good reason. This is likely to endure well after the pandemic is over.
This month's podcast closes out the year with my thoughts on the COVID-19 pandemic that's absorbed all of us this year. I'll share my perspectives on how I've assessed this impact and how I interpret its impact going forward.
Today's episode ask the inevitable question of what we can compare this situation to. Of course, there's no easy answer, so I suggest the one thing we can do to maintain some sense of control: act.
This month's podcasts focus on people - the teams we work with, the people we surround ourselves with, and how we should think about them. People make all the difference.
Today's episode focuses on the power and value of community. We weren't meant navigate the world alone, no matter what we might think. And the last few months have shown the value and need for human connection, more than ever before.
We tend to have this view that science is a ‘fixed’ subject, in the sense that we think of it as defined and permanent in nature. That once scientists have done their thing, that once the facts surrounding a specific topic have been gathered and a perspective has been reached, then that’s it. We’re done.
Of course, that’s not actually the case. Science evolves, it changes and is subject to refinement. That’s actually the value of the scientific process - that as more data is captured, as we see the interplay of different variables over time, we learn more.
It’s the one question that everyone wants answered.
When are we getting back to normal? When will Business As Usual return? Or, if you're really trying to be thoughtful: When do we get to the New Normal?
Aside from the fact that no one has the answers to those questions, there are two realities that are more relevant, at least to me:
One of the interesting byproducts of our COVID quarantine has been the amount of art that’s been created during this lockdown. And by art, I don’t just mean painting or music, what we consider to be art in the strict sense (although I do include both of those forms in my definition).
Rather, I’m referring to all forms of expression, any act of creativity, including the culinary arts.
There’s a quote I close all of my personal podcasts with that’s always appealed to me. I wrote about it in one of my earliest blog posts and it’s guided almost all of my decisions in life:
“You’re better off scared than bored.”
It isn’t my quote - I first heard it from Harvey Mackay in his book, Beware The Naked Man Who Offers You His Shirt. (And, for the record, the exact quote is, “You’re a lot better off being scared than bored”.)
Today’s podcast is about what we do when we’re trying to get ourselves back on our feet, when we’re going through hard times and we need to re-center - as an individual or as a business.
It’s about the value of First Principles and the kinds of things we need to consider, understand and adopt when we're navigating a crisis.
So in recent weeks, I’ve hosted or moderated virtual webinars, panel discussions and happy hours with people all across the world (separate from the countless virtual one-on-ones and small group meetings that have become such a mainstay for us all now).
I approached these events with some trepidation, unsure of the how the back and forth that’s necessary would happen in the virtual world, given the normal back and forth of in-person conversation (versus the sequential nature of videoconference technology) or the pronounced nature of (awkward) silence in such settings, especially ones where not everyone knows each other.
The world has changed! The old order is out! Things will never go back to the way they were!
There’s no shortage of pronouncements about how the coronavirus has fundamentally changed the way we live, work and play. No more cruises, no more constant flying, no more of the large scale social gatherings that we’ve become so accustomed to. It’s (apparently) a whole new world out there.
And so it goes with Working From Home (WFH).
When we went through the Great Recession of 2008/2009, I remember thinking to myself (perhaps consoling myself) that I would never see an economic downturn as bad as that ever again in my lifetime. I mean, the scale of the trouble at the time was such that multiple markets around the world, multiple sectors, multiple categories, all got hit at once, and the resultant economic malaise took years to overcome. Surely, something at that scale could never happen again?
Well, never say never, I guess.
In times of uncertainty, we want to look for comparisons. Situations that are analogous to what we’re going through so that we can identify trends or find indicators - some sort of sign(s) - that allow us to better predict what’s going to happen. It’s a natural thing to do. We want comfort. We want certainty. We want to see a way out.
But, of course, that’s not how things work.
For every comparison to previous pandemics, there are several others that can point to how this one is different.
That’s a word we love. It’s also a word that we tend to hold to a specific standard.
Superhuman strength. Incredible bravery. Folks who demonstrate those traits are called heroes. The determined doctors, the brave firefighter, the courageous police officer tend to fit the bill.
We can accept that. Because that individual put themselves at risk for the betterment and gain of another, almost always someone they don’t even know.
If there’s one thing that social distancing has re-emphasized, it’s the power and value of social connection. That community matters - and not only does it matter but it’s, frankly, more important than it ever has been. We’re all experiencing that, regardless of whether or not we’d conceptually bought into the idea before.
In fact, I’ve been heartened by the virtual outreach that I’ve seen everywhere - from family to friends to celebrities, in real life and across social media.
