There are three "magic" words you may learn to emerge from Covid-19 even stronger than before

Covid19 represents such a challenge for us, for our companies, and for our society, as we had not seen for a long time. There are, anyway, three words we may learn to emerge from Covid19 even stronger than before. I know they may sound strange, unfamiliar, maybe even difficult to pronounce. Nevertheless, they may completely change your future, today.

Transilience = ability to adapt to an abrupt change or variation. Covid19 clearly represents an “abrupt change or variation" in our world, and it is expected we may live more frequent disruptive changes, in our next future. This is due to the acceleration of many trends in our society, either positive (e.g. technological and medical progresses) or negative (e.g. climate change, bio-disruption). As, quoting Albert Einstein: “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change”, we will need lots of intelligence in the years to come.

Antifragility = property of systems that increase in capability to thrive as a result of stressors, shocks, volatility, noise, mistakes, faults, attacks, or failures. As a response to Covid19, we are seeing companies and organizations at large having completely different reactions and impact. Very often, those grounded on an antifragile core are facing this disruption conquering market share and improving their future outlook.

Exaptation = shift in the function of a trait during evolution. For example, a trait can evolve because it served one particular function, but subsequently it may come to serve another. Exaptations are common in both anatomy and behaviors. Bird feathers are a classic example: initially they evolved for temperature regulation, but later were adapted for flight. To be noted that, when feathers were initially used to aid in flight, they were doing so exaptively; however, as they have since been shaped by natural selection to improve flight, they are now best regarded as adaptations for flight. Many behaviors are changing due to Covid19, but we may expect these new habits and changes in our way of working, studying, living, will last after Covid19 and will serve new purposes, "exaptively".

Are you transilient, antifragile, and able to leverage the exaptation generated by Covid?

Please share any example you may have of people and/or companies successfully adopting these habits.

We all have something to learn... and something to share!