Social distancing. Work from home. Extended quarantine. Total lockdown. The past few weeks have changed lives so quickly and so dramatically. Some lives have been changed temporarily. Some forever. It pains me to think how some may not be able to completely recover from this. But for those who will survive, we will step out of our homes into a very different world. "New world" has been trending in discussions worldwide. But what is it? I also don't know the answer. But for some reason, my survival instincts are telling me that I should find out.
"The business landscape has changed fundamentally; tomorrow’s environment will be different, but no less rich in possibilities for those who are prepared." - McKinsey & Company
I found myself asking this question: are you fragile or are you agile?
Fragile breaks at the first instance of a sudden shift, agile bends and sways towards it.
Fragile panics at the first glimpse of everything that's new, agile takes time to learn it.
Fragile shuts down the smallest threat of any kind of inconvenience, agile finds ways around it.
Fragility isn't always apparent. Agility isn't always about speed.
Fragile doesn't always mean quiet. Agile doesn't always mean ostentatious.
Fragile will not accept the new normal. Agile has already done something about it.
"The Covid-19 coronavirus is becoming the accelerator for one of the greatest workplace transformations of our lifetime. How we work, exercise, shop, learn, communicate, and of course, where we work, will be changed forever!" - Forbes
Who are the main protagonists of the new normal? The innovators and the creators. The ones who created face masks from scratch. The 3D printers who created ventilators from scuba masks. The fashion designers who created washable PPEs. The content creators and artists connecting the world through music. The digital natives and the connectors— of information, education, communication. Zoom has zoomed its way on top overnight. The delivery guys who connect us to our loved ones and to all things essential— food, medicine, care packages. The cashiers, clerks, and the everyday hustlers who connect us to our basic needs. And of course those in the health sector without whom, we literally all wouldn't be alive.
"We’re not going back to normal. Social distancing is here to stay for much more than a few weeks. It will upend our way of life, in some ways forever." - MIT Technology Review
One of the things that prevailed though, are the basic human concepts of connection and fear of isolation. Social distancing and lockdowns put humans' ingenuity on hyperdrive finding ways to keep in touch, pooling resources and talents to be able to send help, and have any sense of human contact albeit in the digital world.
“In a strange way, being apart can teach us how to communicate. Online or over the phone, we never assume that the other person should be able to read our minds without us having explained what is in them. We accept that we will have to describe our days, as well as our desires, in words and pictures. The imposition of distance is a crash course in the necessities of elucidating our thoughts.” - Connecting When Disconnected, The School of Life
March 30: COVID-19 positive: 1,546, a total of 78 who've passed and 42 recoveries
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