Simon Sinek in the video "The New Normal" says that all times are filled with immense uncertainty, there's never been a time in history that ever had certainty. It is funny when people say "During these uncertain times?". The question is how does one enjoy uncertain times and what questions do you raise. So, asking questions like what good will come from this decision or how long will this decision last. The important thing is: are we prepared for the definite uncertainty, do we have insurance, do we have savings, are we taking care of our people, are we taking care of our families, are we taking care of our community. You cannot judge the quality of a crew by how a ship performs in calm waters, you can only judge the quality of a crew by how a ship performs in rough waters. In fact, very often we actually don't know the strength of a team or a family or community until there are rough waters. We actually don't know how good our culture is until we face a crisis and so the question is are you laying a foundation that is more likely to produce a team or a group of people or a community that will come together rather than abandon and save themselves. So, ask yourselves this question that all time is uncertain and how do we guard for the future. The best companies save money, the best companies in the good times don't distribute all the money away for bonuses, but they save a lot so that when those hard times come, they're flush with cash to take care of people to manage through the hard times.
Responding to the question “How likely is it for all of us to go back to normal?”, he says that the problem with that concept is that it has the word back in it. There's no going backward ever and life, politics, culture, technology, and tastes change with time, they evolve and especially things like a pandemic are gonna change who we are, the people who went into the second world war were not the people who came out of the second world war and there was no going back and we're the same. What is fascinating is how it'll affect young people, for older people we'll go back to some of our old habits even though new ones may have been formed. But if you think about kids who grew up during the depression or doing during the war, for example, many of our grandparents or parents who lived through those times, for the rest of their lives they were frugal and miser. There's nothing wrong with them, it's because they lived through the depression. They continue to save every jam jar and reuse every piece of tin foil. It's the same as the kids who went through the pandemic during these formative years like 10, 11, 12, 13, what strange habits they will cling on to for the rest of their lives, there's no way to know for the next 10 or 20 years. Their grandkids will make fun of them for something that they do that was formed now.
Responding to the question “What can we expect for the pandemic generation?” he says that there is a liability associated with kids who are supposed to be social but who weren't social, will they be shyer, will they be more afraid. We've seen this happen with kids who have their heads down on their phones and become addicted to technology. There are teenagers who are afraid of answering the front door because there might be a stranger there. We have to be aware of it so that we can compensate as best we can for the socialization but there might be new skills. Perhaps they'll be better at reading someone's emotions just from their eyes because they haven't had the benefit of their mouth and their expressions. So, who knows what they may become way more sophisticated and better at making eye contact.
Responding to the question “What do you think creativity looks like in the wake of a pandemic?” he says that a creative type, an infinite-minded thinker embraces uncertainty and surprise and finds opportunity in the unknown. The sort of finite mindedness fears uncertainty and surprise and when you ask me, what does creativity look like in a social setting, trying to recreate what was in a new world is not creativity, trying to do just the way we did things but online is not creativity. This is how the world works, now there's a larger online dimension which we never had, there are new things that we have to guard for and against. If we were starting from scratch, what would it look like and that's where creativity can be ignited. We don't feel limited by the way we used to do things nor do we feel pressure to recreate the way we did things, there may be great things from the past that we want to bring along with us but there may be some stuff that we want to let go of as well and this is that opportunity. A lack of creativity is just trying to cling to the past, we don't want to put these organizations in formaldehyde where we simply try and preserve what was. Any organization that wants to stay relevant has to adapt with the times, things like a pandemic or any other kind of stress or chaos maybe expedite that.
