Make no mistake: The direct and indirect consequences of COVID-19 are heartbreaking, awful and a tragedy.
Alas, as the virus ravages through the world, in many industries and professions it also separates the divas from the pros. Divas need everything to be perfect for the show to go on. Pros dig in, find their way through, work together as a team, accept reality for what it is, adjust and do what needs to be done.
As Ayn Rand once said: “You can ignore reality. But you can not ignore the consequences of ignoring reality.”
In industry after industry and profession after profession I witness many holding out for a return to the world as it was before COVID and, in the meantime, either sitting on the sidelines waiting for the flood to subside, or delivering the same-old, same-old and wondering why nobody is buying.
On the other hand, there are those who are digging in, making the hard decisions, thinking and rethinking how they can best solve their customer’s “jobs to be done“ in the new reality. It ain’t easy and it ain‘t pretty — and yet, they don’t complain. They just get on with the program.
If there is one thing I know about the future, the world post-COVID (or with-COVID): We need all of us to do our very best work. To build and rebuild. To create something new (and hopefully better). Or – as my dear friend Jeffrey Rogers asks: “Don’t ask what you want from the future. Ask what the future needs from you.”
P.S. Join Jeffrey and I on a two-week journey into the future in our FutureFWD program. Check it out here!