The New New-Normal: Tertio - The Resilience Choice

"The purpose is to enable us ordinary human beings to do extraordinary things."
- Peter Drucker

The “New New-Normal” challenges us to develop a disrupter mindset that will enable us to step forward into growth, becoming opportunistic, not just resistant. 
  • Facing Volatility, we need to develop Vision and explore opportunities
  • Facing Uncertainty, we need to pursue Understanding and remain curious
  • Facing Complexity, we need to be Creative and focused
  • Facing Ambiguity, we need to become Agile and be innovative
  • Feeling Brittle, we need to build the capacity to handle risk, become resilient
  • Feeling Anxious, we need to be empathetic, become compassionate
  • Feeling Non-linear [lack of clarity], we need to be contextually intelligent
  • Feeling Incomprehensible [detached, overwhelmed], we need to be intuitive

What Resilience Really Means in the New New-Normal

Become Resilient…what does that mean? Let’s back up and begin at the beginning. 

As one Instagram influencer says: 
Do you think you’re the first person to live in political and social dysfunction? Do you think you’re the first person to live in a time when it feels like the world is falling apart? Do you think you’re the first person to live in a time when people are shitty to each other? When demagogues are in power? When it feels like everything is going to pieces? No, this isn’t the first time, nor will it be the last time. 

Lessons From History

  • Think about living in the time of Caligula, who declared himself a god, executed rivals and allies, waged war against the sea, and was assassinated by his closest advisors!
  • Think about barbarians at the gate, driven by the need “to crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women” [Conan the Barbarian]! 
  • Think about sirens blaring in the night, mingling with the sound of planes carpet-bombing your city, with over 30,000 of your friends, neighbors, family dead and dying! 
  • Think about pandemics overwhelming social, economic and governance systems, disrupting commerce and trade, and leaving millions of bodies in their wake!
We live in neither the best of times, nor the worst of times. We have always lived in difficult times, but the challenge is to figure out where to focus our energies…

The Choice: Doomscroll or Focus

Energizing…a matter of choice

We can doomscroll and send our minds racing down that rabbit hole of burnout and despair. There we end up in the inferno of our own making: feeling uncertain, anxious, or distressed. And those feelings can steal our sleep, appetite, motivation, or desire to do things we usually enjoy. 
Per me si va ne la città dolente,
Per me si va ne l'eterno dolore, 
Per me si va tra la perduta gente.
Through me you go into a city of woe; 
through me you go into eternal pain; 
through me you go amongst the lost people.
- Dante, Inferno

Avoiding the Edgelords Trap

OR, we can follow the “edgelords” – aggressive, provocative, cynical people who shock and offend by expressing exaggerated opinions and extremist views. They lack empathy, talk loudly, disrespect others, are confrontational, overly critical, argumentative, and constantly seek personal validation. Their goal is not persuasion, humour, or insight, but reaction.

“Edge” is for the show and “lord” is self-bestowed: all edge, no point. Where edgelords are internet-based attention seekers, demagogues are “mob leaders”, on stage to exploit  deep-seated fears at public rallies. Which is worse?

  • "Good publicity is preferable to bad, but from a bottom-line perspective, bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity at all. Controversy, in short, sells."
  • "My motto is: Always get even. When somebody screws you, screw them back in spades."
  • "That just shows, when you get good ratings, you can say anything."
  • "There’s an old German proverb to the effect that “fear makes the wolf bigger than he is,” and that is true."

Step Forward

OR, we can focus on what’s in our control. To quote again:

"We have to figure out how not to allow the assholes make us an asshole. We need to do good where we can, whatever the limitations. We need to remind ourselves about what’s important. We cannot follow every news story. We cannot be distracted by every outrage. We cannot extrapolate everything into the end of the world. We have to ride it out. We have to focus. We have to stay good and stay decent, even as the world bottoms out around us.
Ultimately, we have to make a positive difference where we can. We cannot give up hope. We have to stand strong. And we have to realize in times like these there have always been times like these, and people got through it. We will get through it, if we choose to. It may well be an opportunity for us to be great, to be heroic, to make a difference."

We each hold the key to navigating the “new new-normal”. 

Victor Deyglio
Founding President
The Logistics Institute

This blog is the third installment (Tertio) in the series The New New-Normal. We recommend reading the blogs in sequence: 

    

        

          

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