Being Resilient

Thank goodness 2021 has arrived! Has a new year ever been as welcome as 2021? While almost everyone entered 2020 with high hopes, 2020 quickly threw everyone the most surprising curveball. We faced unforeseen challenges in every aspect of our lives. As we enter 2021, it’s time to move forward and show our resilience.

Boy, did we learn how to adapt in 2020! Whether it was working at home while balancing family life. Or, getting organized in our homes while searching everywhere for toilet paper, Lysol spray and Clorox wipes. We limited our social interactions to 6 feet (10 meters) and wore masks to protect others and ourselves.

Local business suffered while tech company share prices soared. If you were in the stock market you felt some pain, but the market bounced back much quicker than many imagined. If you were working in the media tech sector (like me) that helps to deliver TV and video to consumer homes, you were busier than ever. While you might not have been a frontline worker, your ability to facilitate video delivery was of paramount importance to consumers. After all, as sports was put on hold and shopping centers, gyms and movie theaters were closed, home entertainment was critical. We learned to adapt.

The media tech sector which includes companies that help media businesses package, encode, protect, broadcast or stream video was under pressure. Yet, they also had to consider how to protect their employees. They had to trust that their employees would fulfil commitments even if they were working at home, figuring out how to balance their work lives and their family lives – and reimagining home living spaces into work and learning spaces.

Tech, perhaps more than other sector, had the tools in place to allow employees to work anywhere. Working from home meant finding a new kind of work/life balance. The traditional 9-5 workday, which was already a myth, took new twists and turns. Many employees worked their usual hours, just not at usual times. In looking at public financial statements from companies in this media tech sector – the work got done. Sales were made. Supply chains were managed. Customer expectations were set and fulfilled. Customer Support/success benefited from new-found creativity in responding to issues that might have required face-to-face visits. Tech companies learned to adapt. Honestly, they had no choice, and they may never return to pre-2020 norms.

More interesting than media tech is the business of making long and short form scripted content. Few realized how many people it took to film, produce and edit the content that we all enjoy. It’s not just the faces on the screen, it’s all the production, costume, electrical, camera, props (and more) staff behind the scenes that have been forced to adapt. This industry is what has helped us to maintain our sanity over the past 9 months. The industry finally embraced cloud technologies enabling the best and brightest to add value regardless of where they live. It has accelerated the shift in its go-to-market model. It still produces content, but the focus is on getting it in the hands of the consumer faster. The typical release windows will soon be a thing of the past. The industry is resilient – because it has to be.

As we enter 2021, we must all be resilient. We will continue to adapt. We must find balance – time to clear our heads, rest and recharge. We can’t be afraid of finding new ways of getting things done. We will continue to hope for better days. We must move forward. 

Happy New Year!