Barring getting a vaccine sooner than expected, it seems like we’re in for a longer haul than expected with this once-in-a-century pandemic. Businesses, schools and sports are probably going to be a shell of themselves until the end of the year. There is no denying the fact that we have managed this situation poorly. Americans have had it so good for so long, it possible we thought we were invincible – that we were too good for a pandemic to beat us. Hopefully, we know better by now, and for those of us who are lucky enough to make it to the other side, we need to start thinking about what is next.
Economically, the remnants of the Corona Virus recession will be with us for a lot longer than we expected. A few million businesses will go under permanently, people will travel less, more of us will work from home, and therefore, in my view, every surviving company in the world should start writing a new business plan. You can be certain that things will never be the same again. We already know that companies like Amazon, Netflix, Apple and Microsoft will emerge stronger than before the pandemic, but who else? It’s time for everyone to do more deep thinking about how your business will be affected and how you need to change. Because trust me, everyone needs to brace themselves for some serious changes. The first thing you should do is talk to your kids more about technology, the services they use, the way they communicate and how they get things done. Then we all need to go back to school and start learning again. If there was ever a time to invest in yourselves, this is the time. And please…wear a mask.
Over the last few weeks, I have had the opportunity to speak at the T3 Conference in Florida…I surprised the audience when I explained how the issue of diversity has been framed incorrectly, and has for the most part alienated the business community.
Elon Musk dropped by the Real Time with Bill Maher show recently for an interview with the host. Maher, who considers himself a liberal is an obvious fan of the CEO of Tesla and Space X. The centerpiece of their conversation was their discussion regarding what Musk called the “woke mind virus” or what I prefer to call “cancel culture”.
People sometimes get me wrong. They think that because I talk a lot about giving back and living modestly, I must not care about money. On the contrary, I care a lot about money because I understand how our system works.