Adjusting to the New Normal
Uncertainty continues to rule the roost as we near the end of the first quarter of 2021. And with that many questions abound and remain in the back of our minds (and those of most we know).
Will we return to the status quo after lockdowns 2.0 or 3.0 ease, or will we remain in this amoebic state of transition? Will we go back into offices & cities for work, or stay at home? Will we want to stay in apartments again or will we migrate to larger open spaces? Will the physical and virtual continue to blend? Will conservatism & frugality be the new norm?
Beyond COVID19, will we continue to be germophobes, or will we feel comfortable in hugging our loved ones without fear of any ‘transfers’? Has COVID19 delivered a deadly blow to the ‘Sharing Economy’ or will we see its Renaissance into a more resilient 2.0 version? Will we accept being tracked & traced, while living in surveillance states in the name of science, safety, and security for all? Will the genies of nationalism and selfish narcissism go back into their bottles, for humans to feel love and kindness for ‘business as usual’? Will human gatherings and knowledge exchange return to an analog format again or will video conferencing’s next iterations transfer us into worlds of augmented and virtual reality beyond our imagination?
In 1982, futurist and inventor Buckminster Fuller estimated that up until 1900, human knowledge doubled approximately every century, but by 1945 it was doubling every 25 years. And by 1982, it was doubling every 12–13 months. With the advent of the internet of things, IBM recently reckoned that will then double every 12 hours.
The pace is relentless.
As my mentor Jamie Wheal recently reminded us, that’s ‘pretty much broken our brains. Not just in the sheer volume and complexity of all of that information, but in its implications. We’re becoming acutely aware of where we’ve come from, how we got here, what’s possible, and what’s vulnerable. What we’re responsible for, what we’re powerless over. And it’s a lot to process.’
While answers about this ever-shifting future and all the related implications are not definitive and certainly not easy to process due to their sheer volume, engaging in a deliberate process for imagining futures scenarios can help us better prepare for this tomorrow, and be far better equipped to transition to the new worlds out there, which are coming our way anyway.
Could this ‘Great Reset’ many are talking about, all the way from WEF to the local papers, mark the dawn of a re-emergence of human creativity, innovation, and flourishing?
There’s only one way to find out…
