How do we leverage this?

Covid-19 has been tough. No doubt about it.

However, there's one thing I don't doubt and that is that adversity creates opportunity.

Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. —Booker T. Washington

Here's some unseen benefits that I've been pondering lately, and I think if we recognize them early, we can leverage them once we are on the other side of this pandemic to overcome this one in a lifetime obstacle.

INNOVATION

With everyone working from home many have had to adjust how they work; they've had to learn what VPN means, or how to do a video conference call. Other businesses have had to upgrade their security to keep things safe when their teams our out in the wild.

All these things are good for moving towards a more modern IT workplace. All these things will help businesses improve efficiency, we can now cover the quick meetings with video calls rather than default to in-person meetings and save those meetings for either the important topics or the fun things (like a drink on a patio - I'm writing this on my patio right now actually).

Digital transformation is more than just technology. It's an entirely different way of working, leading, motivating, selling, and delivering what your company offers.

Cloud and Flexible Work are no longer buzzwords.

COMMUNITY

Tough times show you who's really in your court. Could we come out of this with deepened relationships and better communication skill?

Yep.

Could we come out of this with loyalty from others that we couldn't have bought?

Yep.

Will we want to help others more than we would have on a normal Tuesday?

Yep.

GLOBALISM

Now that we've seen firsthand how something such as covid-19 can affect the entire world, I believe there will be an elevation of the importance of international organizations, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

This also shows us that we no longer operate as independent countries, even if we put up borders to pretend we do, something that happens in one part of the world can create a ripple around the globe in a matter of days and no border can stop it.

We know we've needed trade agreements between countries but I feel like this pandemic will move inter-Country collaboration in a positive direction so we can solve bigger problems together.

GOVERNMENT

I believe that many people had started to question the place of government prior to Covid-19, and I believe no matter what side of politics you are on I think this pandemic will help our governments focus on what they are needed for and our citizens to expect more from them as a baseline.

I'm sure with all these areas of growth and improvement we can find business opportunities that wouldn't have existed before... and I'm talking beyond selling N95 masks.

How are you going to create more opportunity from this? I would love to hear your ideas in the comments.