Leap Year Lookback: Pivots, Pandemics, and the Path Forward

Four years ago.

What a difference a leap year makes.

As we celebrated leap year a couple weeks ago, it reminded me of the last time we did. Four years ago during leap year, there were rumblings of some scary virus that was very contagious and causing great concern. By the time we hit March 11th, the world had basically shuttered all the doors and windows.

Businesses closed. Professional sports and events closed. Restaurants, hotels, and Broadway no less….all closed.

We all learned how to “pivot” and Zoom to meetings.

I remember thinking at the time, “this could be bad…it might be a couple of months before we return to normal.”

That would have been nice.

Now here we are four years later. It does feel like we are “back to normal,” but in reality everything has changed so much.

How we work and meet is forever altered and continuing to change. Technology is being driven by Artificial Intelligence, which is doing it’s own pivoting on what seems a daily basis. While shaking hands has become acceptable again, so has the respect been given to those who don’t want to shake, but rather nod; and to those desiring wearing face masks in public.

The lesson we should learn is that “normal” means rapid change, even when it feels like nothing has changed. It means being strategic and flexible. It requires anyone in business to be trying to ride the wave instead of being swallowed up by it.

The biggest question you should be asking yourself is what does your client or customer want in four years. Heck, they probably don’t even know, but that doesn’t mean you should be trying to get there for them. We have too many avenues to grow and create business in new an varied ways to be stuck doing the same old thing because it’s working today.

Remember that great observation from hockey legend, Wane Gretzky. He talked about skating to where the puck was going, not where it was.

The puck is sliding down the ice at a rapid pace in our businesses and lives. What will the next leap year find for you and your business and career?

Why don’t you start building it today?

Keep Chasing Unleashed.

Quote of the Week:

“Surprise is the greatest gift which life can grant us.”?

~ Boris Pasternak, 20th century Russian novelist

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