NOT THE NEW NORMAL
If you are like me, you have been hearing a lot of everyone’s new favorite phrase, we are “living in the new normal.” The only problem is, we aren’t. There is no “new normal” right now. I repeat, there is no “new normal” right now. Like the term “social distancing,” we are experiencing another misnomer. The appropriate description for how we interact is “physical distancing,” not “social distancing.” And all we hear now with media, leaders, and quite frankly most any authority, is that we are “living in the new normal.”
Right now, dependent on where you may be living, you are most likely still sheltering in place, or living by the moment. By Monday nearly 30% of the states will begin a reopening of their markets. This next phase is most appropriately described as the “transitional norm.” This phase will evolve over time, as markets open up and most certainly as the response to Covid evolves. May will not look like June, just like August will most likely not look like September. It will be an iterative process for us all and could vary by region and how the fight against the virus progresses or regresses. Hardly new or normal.
The “new normal” will not exist until we have some combination of herd immunity, effective drug therapies and/or a vaccine. I am an optimist and I see light at the end of the tunnel in early ’21. But regardless of when it happens, that is when the “new normal” will begin.
So, as anxious as some are to declare us at a “new normal,“ sorry to say, we just aren’t there yet. But happy to say, when we get there, it will be light years better than where we are this moment, significantly better than the transitional normal and a whole lot more reminiscent of the way we existed Pre-Covid, albeit with new social rules, guidelines and behavioral norms around hygiene.
I challenge us all to reflect on this from a personal and business leadership perspective, as we consider our “transitional norm” as safer at home and shelter in place guidelines begin to lift around the world.
Managing Director | Technical Presales, New Business Development
1 年Michael, thanks for sharing!
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4 年We are in a transition. Like the peaceful warrior sitting Satori ~ Meditating under the tree waiting for the dust to settle within ~ patiently until the lightning strikes as inspiration motivation and a clear path is revealed
CEO, Virtual Brand Group ? Scaling global revenue across Games, Brands & Content ? ROBLOX innovator ? TV creator ? IP Magician ? X-MSFT
4 年Agreed. It's too early to know where we are going and what will be.
Strategy Advisor / Communications & Business Development
4 年Yes. Precise language matters in the stories we tell ourselves. Great post.
Owner
4 年Precisely! I don’t know what the new normal will be, but it’s not this. Post 9-11 we stopped flying. Then we started flying and then we traveled more air miles than ever before. What changed? TSA. And that was sufficient for us. Will we go back to how it was pre-COVID-19? I don’t know. However, I do know that Americans, in particular, are not very good at being told what they can and cannot do. Once there is a comfort level with the control of the virus, then we’ll start to understand what the new normal is.