Post Pandemic Predictions

1) Formal Business Attire is Dead - after weeks in bathrobes, boxers and bunny slippers - a neck tie will feel like barbwire - high heels will feel like a bear trap. Both are dead. (I am only aware of the tie - the heels are a guess - like much of what follows here)

2) Commuting Will Be Reduced by 20% - freeing up roads and improving quality of life for all of us.

3) The College Pricing Model Will Die - if you can deliver your curriculum online - then all of the core classes could/should be done remotely - 2 years of remote access (while you hold a job or volunteer) and if your grades are good enough - you get invited on campus to build a network. Football stadiums and Cheap Beer to suffer the most.

3) The Teacher's Unions take a big hit. Their core premise - smaller classrooms - leads to a lot of ordinary and sub-ordinary teachers - many who are not SMEs in their assigned subject. (this is not a shot at teachers - I held a teaching certificate - it is recognition that there are great - average and less than average people at every occupation) Once kids use the tools available to homes-schoolers and to the rest of us - like Khan Academy - there will be a rush to let the best teachers - not just in the local school - but in the country have the biggest audiences. Ordinary teachers can be teaching assistants. The teacher won't like it - but the kids will be smarter for it.

4) College will take another hit - as skill only "degrees" are created and new pricing models arise. Lambda Academy is a free coding school - you don't pay until you have a $50,000 job or more. Then there is a payment plan once you are employed. No English Lit - No Gender Studies - Just Practical Education for job seekers. People who hire you want the skill they pay you for - not for how often you run a category while watching Jeopardy.

5) Colleges and businesses now have too much real estate. All of those fancy buildings are not as necessary as they once were. Hoteling and alternative uses of space will be created. Soon the buildings will be mausoleums to big donors and big budget egos. Expect values to decline. Crowding in to Manhattan is so January of 2020.

6) Traditional houses of worship find a new model - St. Patrick's (NYC) has been a pioneer in putting their live masses on Satellite Radio and TV. They even have a communion work around. The lecture series/power point churches have led the way on this. Being spiritually fed does not require our physical presence. Two or more can gather virtually.

7) Business Travel will never be the same - every CFO is currently cutting every boondoggle trip and golf tournament they can find. Sadly they are also cutting people. Expect a new spartan life as big business starts to act like small businesses. No bang for the buck? No bucks allocated.

8) Workers who can create value will be rewarded. If you make a career out of writing email or you are a power point ranger - your days are numbered. Money flows to value created. If we have less meetings - you will have less time to get your point across (thank God) and there will be less time for your annoying questions to extend the meeting. (you know who you are) Get in - get it done -get out - will be the valued work ethic. (should have been all along) Donut makers to suffer the most.

9) The influencer culture on social media will explode and then die. It grows because we and they have time. But if you are only interesting with professional lighting in an elaborate location - you are not interesting. When you can't get to your fabulous photo op - you will be limited to your intellectual value. Corona kills the Kardashian Clones.

10) Weddings get right-sized. Smaller personal ceremonies focused on the service and the bride and groom. Much less stress and expense. Much more joy. The reception gets renamed and is a true "after party" - after the honeymoon - after some time spent as a married couple - family and friends can gather on a less hectic day. By not calling it a "wedding reception" the cost drops by 30% - florists will suffer most.

10a) The American Spirit - Yankee Ingenuity - Free Enterprise will rebound in a number of ways I am not smart enough to predict. It may be different it also may better.