I’m worried sick about some businesses and totally impressed by others that have responded quickly, some brilliantly. The range of problems caused by the coronavirus could not be broader. Just among my own clients and contacts efforts span everything from shifting operations into home offices to establishing iron clad disinfecting and distancing protocols to tracking daily changes in governmental regulations across hundreds of countries to sourcing new materials and retooling machines to creating systems for online ordering and delivery to making momentous workforce decisions to switching from plated meals to take and bake options. All while the world continues to shift under their feet.
These three words might be the best advice I can ever give you to address difficult and uncomfortable situations.
As I am writing this, it is a spectacular day here in New Hampshire. The sun is absolutely brilliant and I’m watching my solar panels app trace a perfect sinusoidal curve that means we will soon be back to generating more than enough electricity to supply our home and a good portion of the energy needed for our electric car. Long before spring makes itself felt in our bones, that smooth, broadening curve alerts us to the rising trajectory of the sun. We blink into the glare and guess how many more days until the afternoon rays completely clear the tall pines to the southwest so that the generation curve can continue its perfect arc.
It’s Leap Day. A whole extra bonus day! And, yet, it doesn’t feel that way. Here I am finishing my newsletter instead of doing something unusual on this gift we receive only once every four years. Why? Because I didn’t recognize the gift, protect it, and plan ahead to savor it. I could have made this a celebratory day shared with good friends. I didn’t. There is an important lesson in this.
I have received many newsletters from colleagues filled with predictions for 2020 so I decided to do the same! In my own way, of course!
Out of all the books I read this year, four stood out as definitely the most memorable. All four opened my eyes to perspectives and facts that were new to me.
Recently, a colleague called me after reading one of my articles where I introduce my concept of cognitive objects and cognitive processes. The result for me was quite the scolding! “Why aren’t you screaming these concepts from the rooftop?!?!”
Let’s get one thing straight right off the bat. This is not a partisan article. This article is about process. I’m very much a process person and if there is one process I care about, perhaps more than any other, it is our democratic system of government that has kept us safe and prosperous for an impressive number of years.