I think we are past ‘the world has changed’ and would question if that actually happened. Tell me how the world has changed when the rich get richer, the middle class is still shrinking, and people are suffering. The planet is still in peril.

Perhaps business performance, profit and efficiency declined, projects disappeared, and the global workforce has been reduced. Nothing really new.

The conversation has changed, and the pandemic made that happen.

But look at the bright side, personal relationships are more intimate. People close to each other are closer than before. One thing is very clear to me, we will all (need to) re-evaluate, rebuild and restart our relationships. How we reconnect with each other and concentrate on what’s meaningful and what matters most. The same is true with the relationships we have with brands. How businesses align with consumers’ values, how they engage, behave, how they show up. This, by the way, is the change.

And people as well as companies that think long and hard about this, about their purpose and their ambitions, do something about it – most importantly, the right thing – will prevail.

Which brings me to what I really want to address: working not from the office. In the creative field, this may become an issue. Although technology has helped us a great deal through this crisis, there is no doubt in my mind that people are craving human contact, ideation, collaboration and exchange of thoughts in person. The ’limitations’ of the past eight months in terms of being spontaneous have had a massive toll on healthy creative thinking.

What I hate about this ‘twilight zone’ we live in, is that we all work so many more hours. For what exactly? Better ideas? Don’t think so. To keep yourself busy? Maybe.

But here is the good news:

The opportunities moving forward are amazing. For people, brands and businesses. The opportunity is course correction. And NOW is the time for that.

If what you do is not meaningful, don’t ¬¬do it. Whatever you do, focus on what matters most and forget everything else. Blow shit up. Believe in yourself.

If there is one thing we are learning from this crisis, it’s this:
Don’t try and rebuild ‘normal’. Normal isn’t working. Never has. Never will.