Coronavirus; fright, flight or fight.

One week ago, my colleagues in the United States had announced a "work-from-home policy", today my brother says his company has cancelled all face-to-face meetings, all travel and enforced a strict work from home policy. Last Friday, the Australian F1 was cancelled and since then, the daily, if not hourly changes are afoot, Victoria and ACT both announcing a State Emergency due to COVID_19. Is Coronavirus going to make you run scared or are you going to fight the big fight and be resilient in the face of this pandemic?

I know we normally say fight-or-flight-response but hear me out on this one.

In a 2020 that has had Australian Bushfires, Coronavirus and a $160Bn ASX market crash last week too, while society is at unrest, so too is this volatile economy. In all of this COVID_19 pandemic, do you go into flight mode and run away, do you get a fright and your system shuts down? I prefer to act on my philosophy on "fight", where we continue to present solutions, create alternative ways of working, act as the resilient leader amongst your peers and look the risk in the eye and say, I've got this, we'll be OK!

Sometimes when sh!t hits the fan, maybe it's a time to go and buy copious amounts of dunny roll or maybe it is a time to sit back and be grateful you're not 87 years old and highly exposed to this health scare. To those panic buying, I have empathy for you, you may seriously need to do that if that's your reaction, but to those that don't need to empty the shelves, there's still a job to be done, yes, your job, and if you're half the human you should be, the job for others too. If we don't create value during this time of uncertainty, then those that have sunken into a useless mindset, you'll likely have no job to go to, when the Earth starts spinning again. I say, let's use this time wisely while we're working from home, and staying confined, to educate ourselves, explore Artificial Intelligence, consider your dual role as a non-executive, host digital events via Zoom, read up on innovation and attempt to create a new product, study public value or gross progress index, research space, even practice mindfulness and meditation, maybe go all out and do a silent retreat. I don't know, but FFS, don't sink into a frozen state and think the world is going to end, you live in Australia, you have access to everything you need, except fast broadband ;) so just get on with it.

Let's not worry about what we can't control, and make decisions to invest in ourselves, invest time in our friendships, mentoring others, and just stand up to be more resilient. In 2030, I don't want to see an ASX with 4 banks, 2 miners and 1 health company making up 50% of the market. I want to see 4 health companies, 3 clean energy companies, 8 digital banks, 2 global education companies, and 10 emerging A.I, Blockchain and IoT companies making up 50% of the ASX50. I want to see a future that we created, a future that bold leaders stood up to in times of need. Could COVID_19 be the disruption that broke Australia's back or could it be the speed hump that altered the course towards a prosperous digital economy, underpinned with resilient and ethical leadership?

How I've reacted early to this situation: I'm still hosting two events, Perth's Innovation Governance for Non-Executives can now be a (national) digital event (register here morning of March 25th), and an Innovation led Global Goals Jam (SDGs) in Melbourne is also now a digital event that opens up national engagement (register April 2nd afternoon workshop) n.b. participants at the Global Goals Jam are some of the smartest minds in the nation from IBM, Capgemini, Cisco, Bank Australia, Victorian Government, so come and join us.

Below is an image of Microsoft global CEO Satya Nadella, who inherited a rather toxic culture when he took over the global tech giant. I highly encourage us to consider his philosophy and "Hit Refresh" during these next weeks and months, because we can all play a bigger game. “At the core, Hit Refresh, is about us humans and the unique quality we call empathy, which will become ever more valuable in a world where the torrent of technology will disrupt the status quo like never before.” – Satya Nadella from Hit Refresh.

What are your ideas to stay focused and resilient during COVID_19?