Will You Be the Netflix of COVID-19?

COVID-19 has changed the way we live forever. Once the curve flattens and restrictions are lifted, there is no going back to “normal.” This is especially so as we anticipate future waves or future pandemics. COVID-19 is a disruptor. It has disrupted our lives in unprecedented ways. It has halted the economy and ravaged the health care system. Sadly, it has taken many lives and left others weakened. But it has also presented us with great opportunity. As the yin and yang of life goes, for every devastation there is a renaissance. We will either emerge as Blockbuster or Netflix.

Our world has often been improved by conscientious disruptors. Those market participants who rebuke the way we have always done it and ask boldly, “What if we did something different?” Netflix is one of my favorite conscientious disruptors. I remember fondly how much fun it was to go to Blockbuster with my friends on a Friday night to pick out movies. First, we picked out videocassettes. Then when one of our parents upgraded, we picked out DVDs. If we were really fancy, we could get Bluray. But there was always the not so fun rush to get the movie back before it was due. That meant another trip to the store which meant asking our parents to drive us again. Once we started we driving, it meant forgetting about it and driving around with it on front seat of our car. That always sucked! Renting movies always took two trips and major vigilance to avoid late fees or worse, lose the rental! 

And then came Netflix. You could rent movies and return them via mail. No more trips to the store. And even better, no rigid return dates. Winning! Netflix took the inconvenience out of movie rentals and totally transformed the home movie experience. Long story short, Netflix disrupted the home movie industry and totally redefined the social experience associated with it. We went from congregating at the Blockbusters to “Netflix and chillin’” in our own homes. Netflix took out the postal man and introduced livestreaming and now you can get movies with no human interaction at all. Netflix also took out Blockbuster. Netflix offered Blockbuster the opportunity to purchase the company for $50 million, but the Blockbuster CEO thought it was a joke and, well, now the jokes on Blockbuster. Blockbuster filed for bankruptcy protection in 2010 and the last corporate Blockbuster store closed in 2014.

So what can we learn about life post-COVID-19 from Netflix and Blockbuster?

There can be an entire college major on it actually, but I'll stick to important points.

Socializing and Social Distancing

One of the most remarkable impacts of COVID-19 is the obliteration of large group gatherings. Overnight, we went from gathering at musical events, sporting events, malls and festivals to small group gatherings of 10 people or less—six feet apart. We can’t even gather to bury our dead. What will this do to our social lives? As an introvert, I have not missed large group gatherings at all—I have mastered the art of being alone in a crowd—but I severely miss the opera, symphony, museum and live music events. I have always preferred to shop online, so I don’t necessarily miss the mall. But I do miss my friends. I miss putting on a fabulous outfit and going to the social event du jour. I can’t help but wonder if I will ever get to wear my fabulous white dress to the annual All-White Party that I look forward to. 

But here is the Netflix of socializing post-COVID-19. Mindfulness. As we venture beyond the safety of sheltering-in-place, we are forced to be mindful about where we go. Is this really necessary? How can I optimize my time out? What can I eliminate? Avoiding the perils of coronavirus transmission through human contact has made us more mindful. As restrictions are lifting, we pause and ask ourselves, “Is it really worth it to go out now?” My nails look like a hot mess, but I am not willing to risk exposure just yet. 

Mindfulness is a gift that will help us all focus on the interactions that really matter. As we decide to re-engage in society, we should be more mindful about the outcome of the interactions we embrace—well no more hugs maybe. As I have been isolated from those I hold dear, I treasure those relationships more and desire to ensure that I have more meaningful interactions with the people who mean the most to me. We can no longer take our loved ones for granted. COVID-19 struck down many young people in their prime and took many vulnerable seniors without mercy. 

Around Day 30 of isolation, I began to wander, “If this is it, what is it really?” I began to ponder upon the loved ones that I “may never see again” and reflect upon the quality of our relationships. If I never see them again, are there any regrets? I also reflected on how I will love them when I do see them again. How will I be more intentional in ensuring that whatever time we have together, it the best experience it can be.

COVID-19 has compelled me to create more meaningful experiences rather than just showing up because “it’s the place to be.” As I reintegrate into society, I am committed to ensuring that I make the most out of every interaction and create the best memory that I can. I have no desire to waste my time with people who aren’t adding value to my life. And likewise, I don’t want to waste anyone else’s time by not giving them the best of me.

Redefining Health and Wellness

It has always been important to take care of ourselves, but COVID-19 revealed how underlying health conditions make us even more vulnerable. The virus took out the young and healthy, but it ran rampant among those with underlying health conditions, especially respiratory issues. COVID-19 highlighted the deadly effects of health disparities among African-Americans yet created an opportunity for health care providers to make a difference in the lives of the communities they serve and to truly be on the cusp of creating sustainable health and wellness strategies for African-Americans. It also pulled back the covers on the intersection between health and politics and the dangers of polarizing communities in the shadows of a health crises that is a threat to all. 

COVID-19 has ravaged the health care system and exposed the inadequacies and weaknesses that threaten the literal health of the nation. Sadly, it has put our great health defenders at risk and many of those on the frontline have fallen. As a nation, we cannot withstand our health care system being a Blockbuster. Our literal lives depend on our health care delivery system emerging like Netflix. We must take advantage of opportunities to redefine and redesign a more efficient and effective way to deliver health care. While universal health care may not be the answer, we do need a better integrated payor system. We must learn from the response failures and commit to a non-partisan overhaul driven by health care providers not politicians. 

In the aftermath of the pandemic, we should all be committed to improved health and wellness for all. The health of one has the ability to impact the health of all. Access to health care is an economic issue not a moral one. When those who need it do not have access to treatments, medications, and means to heal, their illness has the ability to shut our entire economy down. Just imagine what happens when the woman who has no health insurance who has been infected with the coronavirus but has no money to get treated or resources to know what to do to protect herself gets on a crowded subway in New York. Imagine when that scenario multiplies in that same subway. When those people get off the subway, they spread the result so that inequity across the city and beyond. When one is unhealthy, we all are at risk for becoming unhealthy. COVID-19 has shown us why eliminating health disparities and health inequities is a matter of national security. 

Taking Care of Business—Virtually!

One of the most drastic changes that COVID-19 has imposed is forcing us all to work from home. “It could have been handled in an email” now has a greater meaning! For many businesses that professed the absolute necessity of everyone working in the same building, handling every matter by face-to-face meetings, and a rigid adherence to business hierarchies, traditions, and dress codes, literally overnight have embraced virtual business models and decentralization. I must tell you, working from home has been my favorite part of sheltering-at-home. All of my legal work can be handled virtually. I write emails and call people for a living. Whether I am in my law office or my home office makes absolutely no difference. In fact, I am more efficient working from home and I have maintained a better life balance. 

The virtual workplace has been given a bad rap for years. Many businesses have shunned this work model out of fear that people won’t really “work” from home or that decentralization of the workplace will cause employers to lose control over the workforce. When faced with the choice of shut down or permit virtual workspaces, many employers quickly threw caution to the wind and jumped into the virtual workplace head first. Most have been pleasantly surprised that productivity and efficiency have not suffered. 

I remember being in a meeting ten years ago debating flexible work schedules for working moms with my healthcare executive colleagues and a hospital administrator vehemently protested against letting people work from home because we couldn’t ensure that they would actually be working every minute of the eight hour day. I found this ironic and extremely amusing when I thought about the senior team member across the table that literally read the local newspaper for 2 hours every day—at his desk—on the clock. I made a sheepishly disguised “general” comment that we could not prevent people from being unproductive at work either. “Who knows? People could be reading newspapers are work.” Pettiness notwithstanding, my point was not well-received and we did not consider flexible work schedules.

Most people are not less productive when working independently. In fact, many productivity barriers are removed. Traffic being the number one culprit. Instead of spending hours in traffic, many telecommuters are able to “go to the office” more refreshed and less stressed out. Working in comfort and convenience can increase productivity. Some workers work longer and more concentrated hours when working from home. 

To be fair, not all home office environments are conducive to improved productivity and working without distractions. This is especially so when the home has also become school. As productive as you may be, it is difficult to manage schooling children while you are trying to complete your work tasks. There is not enough multi-tasking in the world for that! Even for homes without children, where there are multiple workers, there may be turfwars over office space and competing conference calls and video meetings. The speakerphone is no less annoying in the home office than at the office office. Unless everyone in the house works the same schedule, it can be difficult to maintain the peace then the person still at work needs quiet and everyone else is “off work” or “out of school.”

And speaking of homeschooling, COVID-19 has turned education on its head. The pre-coronavirus homeschool community and higher education had adopted online learning as a means of delivery for years. But the closures of campuses across the nation now mean EVERYbody is learning online. Educators that have not become proficient in technology are now scrambling to learn these newfangled platforms. Home learning has once again highlighted disparities where students are in homes that don’t have wi-fi or they don’t have a computer at home. It has also ripped the rug back on how many students depend on school for food and safety. But learning at home has created some other revelations. Test scores and standardized testing that were so important before are now not important. Home access to the internet and devices has been made readily available to many students—for free. How and when students come back to the campus remains uncertain, but it highly likely that more hybrid learning environments will become the norm. 

And then there are the people who cannot work from home.  Those who have jobs that cannot be done from a computer. The skilled laborers, health care workers, hair and beauty workers, cleaning services, and thousands of service workers who physically cannot do their job without human interaction at a physical location in the marketplace. Surely some have found a virtual or delivery model their business and created new income streams. But so many others only have layoffs and furloughs as options. Those who are “essential” workers who must show up face the perils of exposure and are put in harm’s way to deliver essential services.

But will we go back to business and schooling as usual?

I really hope not.

I really don’t want to go back to the way it was.

I really don’t believe any of us should.

Our lives, relationships and work should not go back to the way it has always been. For as many reasons as COVID-19 has been devastating, there are many more reasons that it has been beneficial.

Adapting to life in response to COVID-19 has freed us from norm, caused us to throw away the box, and has blown up the comfort-zone that has coupled our way of thinking with Blockbuster’s assessment of the Netflix deal as a joke.

We now have permission to think differently. We now have permission to live differently. We now have permission to deal with people differently. We now have permission to work differently. We now have permission to learn and teach differently. We now have permission to deliver health care in a manner that truly seeks to remove disparities, improve access and improve outcomes. 

We now have permission to create something better.

So as we ride the waves of coronavirus and emerge from the bunkers when the science says it’s safe, let’s commit to be Netflix not Blockbuster.

Let us commit to be more mindful about how and why we do the things we do and be deliberate about creating the best experiences in the most meaningful way with the people who mean the most. We must be more mindful about how we invest our time in life, school, work, and relationships and be deliberate in ensuring a return that allows us to live our best life.

Let us commit to recognizing the true value of people. Everyone is essential to this economy. We all contribute to the rise and collapse of the market. There must be a system that gives everyone the opportunity to have access to health care, have access to effective education, have access to workforce training, and have the ability to make a living wage. We must value social programs that improve that access as much as we value stimulus packages that give aid to corporations. Both are forms of socialism, yet helping people is unAmerican when helping corporations is patriotic. We must cast aside political ideologies on either side of the aisle that don’t permit a realistic, honest, and data-driven approach to participating in the American economy. 

Let us be motivated and determined to be prepared, be proactive, and be progressive for the next health threat around the corner. While the coronavirus pandemic hit us by surprise, it was no surprise. History and biology told us this was coming. We may not have known it would be 2020, but we knew it was going to happen. We cannot allow politicians to replace science with rhetoric and partisanship. We cannot ignore data and pretend it is a hoax or fake media. We cannot replace evidence-based information with propaganda and liberties with the truth that are the stuff of satire and parody. The only real surprise about COVID-19 is how unprepared we were.

Let us be committed to developing systems that embrace innovation, agility and continuous improvement. We can start believing in science again for starters. We must make data-driven decisions that are not poisoned by politics, hate, intolerance, and outright lies. We must seek to use technology to truly improve the lives of humans.

And finally, we must remember why being Netflix is import. Darwin told us. The dinosaurs showed us. Blockbuster is the case study for the ages. Either we evolve or we cease to exist. 

So as we seek to get moving after the grinding halt that COVID-19 has imposed, let us embrace this disruption as an opportunity achieve measurable, sustainable, and breakthrough success. Here are 10 steps to become the Netflix of COVID-19:

1.        We must stop using “what we’ve always done” as a compass.

2.        We must be courageous enough and willing to totally abandon current strategy to implement the best strategy at the right time.

3.        We cannot overanalyze when the “right time” is. We cannot overanalyze. Period.

4.        We must start with the “way it should be done” as our compass.

5.        We must be creative, innovative, well-informed, rationally coordinated, and well-equipped.

6.        We must have unrestricted vision, but we cannot ignore the brutal realities.

7.        We must work on components concurrently and avoid a solely-sequential implementation.

8.        We must communicate. Not just talk. Not just go to meetings—virtually or in person. Not just receive lots of information. Communicate in a way that rationally connects all the information based on the evidence.

9.        We must stop assuming we know all the answers. We must be willing to get input from experts, peers, stakeholders, end-users—and yes, the scientists.

10.      We must not be afraid to “offend someone” or “hurt someone’s feelings” or “make someone angry” when the right decision means the world has to change or the right decision is not what they would choose—or finding an artful and professional way to say, “That’s that dumbest thing I’ve ever heard! Did you really think that through?”

Whether this is the beginning or the end depends how we decide to change. As a leader, you must appreciate that change is inevitable. Will you be the leader that sees the change coming, takes it seriously and creates the next and best version of your life and business? Or will you be the leader who is caught in hubris and thinks the change in front of your face is a joke?

It’s up to you to decide.

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Dr. Stephanie D. Barnes is a writer who moonlights as an attorney. Her legal practice focuses on business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property, and legal guidance on complex business transactions. Dr. Stephanie D. Barnes is also an awarding winning author on leadership, gender equality and women’s rights. She is the host of the talk show and podcast, Conversations from the C-Suite: The Girlfriend’s Guide to Being A CEO. This project is the first in her media cache of impactful content to empower and enrich women and girls. She helps women to become great leaders in business, corporate, and community through C-Suite Women’s Network. She has been featured in the Harvard Business Review, Personal Excellence Magazine, and the Huffington Post. Dr. Stephanie D. Barnes is the CEO of The Fruition Group, LLC, a company that specializes in professional and personal leadership development, strategic planning, and organizational and performance excellence strategies. She is an internationally acclaimed speaker, TEDx Presenter and coach. Dr. Stephanie received her law degree from Harvard Law School and her PhD in Organizational Leadership from The Chicago School of Professional Psychology. For more information, go to www.drstephaniedbarnes.com.