When the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center announced that it was suspending its 2020-2021 season in mid-March, that’s when New Yorkers knew that COVID was being taken seriously. Then Broadway followed. Then restaurants had to acquiesce. Times Square was empty. It was the equivalent of NYC being brought to its knees.

New Yorkers are used to changing moment to moment, but COVID and BLM challenged even the nimblest of us. Spontaneity had to step-aside for a measured approach. We had to quell our instincts to take action and sit in the present, an unfamiliar feeling in a “live-to-work” culture.

Sheltering at home caused social disparities to broil past the limits of people’s will power. If COVID made most white people grateful for their privilege, then BLM shocked them out of their reverie. The blinders necessary for the “live-to-work” mentality of the city, were now proof of complicity in accepting the unacceptable.

So in response, Human Resource departments are scrambling to find Chief Equity Officers. It’s the dilemma of the moment in organizations: how to match your intent to your actual impact when you don’t know what you don’t know.

Smaller companies run the risk of “tossing” the job to the “closest” or most vocal person of African descent, but not with the additional salary or necessary resources. The desire for equality has to come from the very, very top, but that is like voting against yourself. Equality means sharing power and money.

People resist change, especially when it directly works against them. Fear inspires blame. Such stress fuels conflict. The US American historic landscape is fraught with inequalities. The lid on the racial pressure cooker could no longer hold. Half the country see it as a bad thing and half see it as progress.

NYC is back, but it’s not business as usual. We have experienced a paradigm shift, around working, loving, co-existing and existing. The professional landscape is no longer just black in white. It has emerged to value the richness that comes when a single story is expanded beyond one world-view.

New York City took a gut-punch, but despite the exodus, people are still shuffling from place to place trying to get to their destinations. Parking is still hard to find. The coffee shop lines are out the door and people have returned to the business of doing their business. Work means health insurance. No work means no affordable health care. It’s the one place that US Americans struggle for their freedom and where we really felt the loss of it during COVID.

In a NY Times Op-Ed, Jerry Seinfeld, NYC’s quintessential comedian, complained about the people who fled and lauded the virtues of those who stayed (he was in the “country”). There is no doubt the city is licking its wounds, but when we are back to the business of complaining about the complainers, then it’s safe to say that New York is getting its mojo back.

Countless white people were introduced to our privilege and complacency, whether we liked it or not. The books White Privilege and How to Be and Anti-Racists are now must reads for anyone who wants to return to an equitable workplace. It’s not natural to accept differing world-views, but it is human to evolve.

When they say that New York is a city that doesn’t sleep, COVID challenged that aspect of its brand. Just as Spring returns every year, New York will need some time to feel back in full bloom. People are licking the wounds of their prior apathy. There is healing to be done.

Global societies have traditionally rewarded those who conform, but the future looks poised for shifting blame to responsibly. When decision makers are able to respond to the changes necessary for the next steps, they may not like what they find . That change will not be comfortable for many, but it will be a step close to closing the gap between our stated values and our actions.