Yesterday I was thinking about this whole “back to normal” thing that we are now experiencing. You know, COVID-19 vaccinations, and herd immunity, re-opening the economy and institutions, all of the things that are happening around us right now after over 12 months of a very decidedly not normal world. Public schools in WA state are beginning full in person education next week. I just bought tickets to a Mariners baseball game. Life is heading back to normal.
And that really means all sorts of things. We are going to see people returning to working in offices, children back in schools, bars open, regular travel again.
However, the world changed dramatically 12 months ago. Businesses transitioned to a completely remote work force and no travel. Schools moved to online education. Bars are allowed to send you cocktails via Uber Eats. The genie of a modern, networked, computerized world is well and truly out of the bottle. In our desire to “get back to normal”, we haven’t realized that there is no going back. You can’t stuff the genie back in the bottle.
And this new world is going to be difficult and challenging, fast paced, and ever changing. March 11, 2020 is as much a world changing day in the history of the world as November 11, 1918 or September 11, 2001 or August 6, 1945.
I will be seeing the Mariners play baseball in person, working from home, supporting clients globally, and traveling somewhere this summer with my family. And perhaps all of that explains my thinking in joining Milton Security a few weeks ago. I had literally left my previous employer just a few days prior. In the past, I’d always taken a little while to figure out what is next, what I want to do, where I want to go. This time, though, it happened very quickly, just a couple days.
And that is part of this “new normal”. Things change. Rapidly. You have to adjust and adapt just as quickly. An opportunity to do really great things in this brave new world popped up and I jumped on it. A company by veterans, dedicated to supporting veterans, and committed to the mission of protecting clients. What could be better?
So, here I am …. and yes, there will be cigars and FUD, not just blah blah about security stuff. Meanwhile, I’m the Chief Operating Officer of a great company, working with one of my best friends, taking care of great people.
As Jim McMurry and I say to each other … #BLESSED
The past year will cause more seismic shifts. Some companies think they can simply pick up where they left off. The new reality may provide a rude wake up call on that point. People may not want to go “back”. We’ve learned a new reality and shifted priority on some of what we hold precious. Having ready access to our families for example is challenging but also awesome. We discovered resilience and dexterity that we didn’t know we had. The cost was high but the school of hard knocks demands hard fought tuition. I agree. The past 12 months will leave ripples that it will take decades to smooth out.