It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Many of our assumptions about how this year will play out have been jettisoned. But while all the protocols to contain the coronavirus (like social distancing and restricted travel) have created great hardship, there is also great opportunity.
Sales of home office furniture is booming. Demand for bandwidth is suddenly spiking. Companies like Zoom can’t sell enough nor hire enough. These are likely long-term shifts.
Certainly the travel and energy industries have taken it on the chin, but boomers have a huge appetite for travel experiences and it is hard to imagine a dramatic and permanent reduction in world energy consumption. Plus who really wants to depend on OPEC or Russia for our energy security? These will likely be short-term shifts.
As any recent shopping trip out for toilet paper will illustrate: Panic is contagious. Yet so are optimism, steadiness, and courage. Let your people see these and other forward-looking qualities from you.
The more you talk about and plan for the future, the more they will think about those things too. There is a future coming. Are we going to hesitate, or shall we accelerate?
And on the subject of acceleration…Keep an eye out for an invitation for a webinar on April 7th with me and Bala Balasubramaniam, founder of Innovations Minds, with whom I have created a collaborative partnership. The subject is Accelerate or Hesitate? Leading Innovation in Uncertain Times. This will be one of many webinars and other resources I will be producing to help leaders during these times. I am committed to accelerating and want to help you do that too!
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