Brain Dump

Life under quarantine has allowed me the luxury to hit the ‘pause button’ and contemplate the myriad changes this hath wrought.  

You have ample warning of a brain dump of random musings and observations.  Flee, flee now while there is time.

Consider the following:  

What do I truly need?  Versus what have I been told I want?  

The air is cleaner, there’s less noise and even Ma Nature seems to be enjoying the hiatus from humanity.  

Who will be the economic winners once the dust settles?  Will there be a demand for pandemic risk assessment specialists?  Or perhaps consultants who build system redundancy?   

We may be witness to the rise of the data center and regular and routine contactless transaction businesses.

Related is e-commerce AND the companies that deliver your stuff to your doorstep.  Last week a Penske panel truck pulled into the drive.  I thought it was the man from the motorsports dealer coming to pickup the lawn tractor and 4-wheeler for servicing.  Instead, out popped our regular UPS guy bringing the dog food. I asked - Where's your  brown truck?  Is it broke?  He replied - We ran out of trucks and we're renting these to expand the fleet.  Tip of the iceberg.

And of course there is online banking and bill-paying, streaming entertainment and video conferencing.  Will expanded workforce flexibility become more the norm?  Will traditional offices shrink in size?  Will we return to the 'Old Way' of conducting business and commerce?    

Healthcare priorities are likely to experience a reordering – with a placeholder now created for expanded telemedicine and digital health monitoring.    

Large social gatherings, packed sporting venues, the big wedding or funeral along with cruise ships may fall in popularity.  At least until there is a vaccine. 

The economic engine of small business – from the hairdresser or barber, your favorite watering hole or restaurant – they’ll still be there yet perhaps in smaller numbers.  It may be awhile until I'm willing to force my way thru the crowd at a bar to order an adult beverage. 

Department stores may well become a fond memory while grocery stores just might become the new anchor tenant.   

After almost four decades this recently-retired financial advisor has pondered if this experience gives new rise to the robo-advisor.  Or will the public crave a personal, hi-touch, relationship with a living, breathing financial advisor?  Or will the natural selection process of market capitalism give birth to something else? 

Police states and authoritarian regimes found in places like China, Russia, Venezuela, North Korea and Iran – do they emerge strengthened or weakened?  

Will the recent erosion of confidence - on the part of some Americans - in facts, evidence, science, learning and teaching be reversed?  Or will some Americans conclude that wishing for things to be true - or believing only in those things that conform neatly to an established belief system is best.  I think for most of us the dissonance of an altered reality is messy and uncomfortable - yet sometimes a necessary and good thing..   

It's looking like the anti-vaxxer movement isn't going away anytime soon.Who knew?

COVID-19 doesn’t give a tinker’s damn about your political opinions.  And the only way out of this mess is by addressing the challenges we face without political bias.   

The truth has always mattered.  And never more than at this moment in time. 

Crises tend to reveal the core character of our leaders in business and government.  What great future leaders will emerge on the other side?    

In government will incumbency continue to hold sway or will the emergency give rise to new faces?  

What will change (or not change) as a consequence of the November election.   

What I know for sure is that functioning government at all levels both here and abroad is at the top of my list.

There's more - but I'll leave it at that.