What World Will We Encounter When We Go Outside?
We are aware of the crisis we are in, and that whether the future will be better or worse than when we close our houses with us inside all depends on how we build it now.
It is an excellent time to think about a hopeful future, with confidence in our capacity as a society to build a more sustainable and inclusive world.
To envision the future, we must know how to reflect and draw lessons from the debacle that the coronavirus is causing in human and economic terms.
We must decide to give rise to a more resilient society, which lives in a healthy ecosystem with a diversified economy, equality, and capability of producing minimums.
The fragile economic system has collapsed, and the consequences fall on the poorest, therefore we have to put the fight against inequality back at the center of the economy.
When we leave our houses, we will congratulate and embrace, but it will be a true success if those who have lost their lives in this pandemic are the mobilizer to move forward on eradicating infectious diseases and become aware of improving our health systems.
The same situation applies to climate change, we acknowledge that there is an emergency, however we do not take sufficient and necessary measures.
The home-work experiment will lead us to think more broadly about the future business model, workforce, and leadership.
Who would have thought that social distancing and remote work would unite people?
The codes of remote work, until we were sent to work from home, were to avoid any signs that would reveal we were working from home. Now leaders must send the message that not only is this now acceptable, but it is also a must.
We are facing a new culture in the workplace, in which there is a desire for real connection. We work remotely; however, even when people are socially distant, there is a genuine urge to see each other. This is not surprising, given that humans are social creatures.
People everywhere want to be loved and want to belong. That is why in these uncertain times we are discovering that more and more people ask to use video in calls that were voice only a month ago. And it's not about dressing; in fact, it's the opposite of the Instagram era. People want to be seen for who they really are, not just how they want to be perceived. The more authentic they are, the better.
The "how are you" really means "how are you today?": it was generally just a filler, something people say to fill a void. These days, every conversation begins with honest questions about how people and their loved ones are doing. Individuals are being genuine in their questions and answers.
We are still creatures of habit. In a time when things feel anything but ordinary, we try to preserve a sense of normalcy. People who used to eat lunch with colleagues once or twice a week eat together on Facetime. They meet at the end of the week to spend virtual happy hours, more frequently, and with many more people than when they tried to do the same face to face.
One day we will shake hands again; the social distance between us will be reduced after having been separated for an extended period of time, and we will profoundly appreciate being together.
- Coach Leandro Borello
