Impact of the coronavirus crisis could ripple through every layers of our social fabric.”[i]
The Guardian
The question that everybody is asking how can we return to business as usual or the way things were. And now it seems that the future of work is fundamentally changed. Or, what is the ‘New Normal’ going to look like? Everyone wants to know about new norms. Everyone is speculating. The new normal will consists of new norms: new patterns of social behavior, new expectations, new needs, and new requirements.
This new edition of Working It: Disruption Rules COVID edition is a voyage into the ‘new normal’ of work using the 7P’s framework. We believe the paradigm shifts will fundamentally change the economy, and create new opportunities for new business models and providers. In the COVID edition, we talk about the one way trip of retail business models, consumer behavior, production status, and supply chains.
The ‘new normal’ will go through stages in 2020 and into 2021 and beyond. Let’s look at congregating folks. In the short term of most of 2020, we know that many large audience and group meetings will be canceled or are virtual. Conventions are online. Summer and fall colleges are online. Cambridge University is all online during the 2020 – 2021 school yea . Sports events toast. Large church gatherings broken into smaller groups. Resort meetings, Macau gambling, or Vegas extravaganzas are limited or called off.
The images and choices sometime seem dystopian. Just look at the list of new norms: Closed borders. Passports. Risk assurance certificates. Lockdowns. CCTV. Temperature checks. Tracing. Constant sanitization. Blood testing. Sporadic hot spots. Daily blood (antibody) testing. Global test and trace. Social distancing. Faking tests. Coughing harassment. Compulsory segregation. Compulsor quarantining. Discrimination. Privilege. Unexpected deaths. Welcome to the COVID brave new world.
Work Lesson Earned: The world of work as we knew it is gone. The scars of the ‘new normal’ of work will linger for years and possibly for generations.
[i] ‘A New Normal: What Do You Want a Future Shaped by COVID To Look Like?’, Guardian, April 20, 2020.