Who are you being intimate with right now?
“Be thankful for what you have; you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never, ever have enough.” ― Oprah Winfrey
Perspective
It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review, and a book that’s both utterly fascinating — and a welcome perspective shift, given COVID-19 -- is “Swan Song 1945”, subtitled, “A Collective Diary of the Last Days of the Third Reich”. The editor, Walter Kempowksi, has masterfully collected snippets of diaries, official reports, and letters from Germans, Americans and Russians, who were on the ground throughout Europe during the last half of April 1945, exactly 75 years ago. Survivors of camps vividly report a mixture of elation and grief, German officers are unable to fathom how they finished like this, Russians are high on either looting or moral victory (or both). It includes parts of Hitler’s official 'strategy meetings' journal, and a few days before his suicide, he wrote: “All the plans I elaborated failed simply because the ground was repeatedly pulled out from under them, by the high-handedness of the lower commanders”. In many of the excerpts, the raw fear, the confusion and desperation, mingled with relief and joy at the war's end, is palpable reading these otherwise forgotten documents, and a nice antidote to the orderly and relatively calm current crisis we have before us today.
Question: “What world (or personal) events can act as a useful contrast frame, that help you and your people stay positive right now?”
Purpose for profit
I’m noting a significant, and accelerating, shift towards what I think of as ‘purpose for profit’, where businesses are more consciously weighing up the whole ecosystem of benefit they’re creating: financial, social, environmental, customer health. An interesting example of this was on my local tram stop as a banner ad last week:
Yes, using a multi-use bottle to advertise a single-use bottle appears ironic, but the messaging is sound, in my view: “Use single-use products consciously. And, when you do, choose one made of recycled material, and that is recyclable in turn”. It’s a nudge, at least, in the right direction and introduces a subtle complexity in the marketing messaging that usually encourages thoughtless, rather than thoughtful, consumption.
Question: “What discernment in your clients or customers do you encourage?”
Returning to normalcy
Apple and Google announced a rare partnership this week, aimed at accelerating our return to normalcy post-lockdown. They have, between them, 99% of the smartphone market, and every phone has Bluetooth and GPS, so the two companies are working on COVID-19 contact tracing. In brief, your phone detects your movements and proximity to COVID-19 carriers and then alert you if you have been in the proximity of an infected person.
This slows the spread of the coronavirus by giving people timely information on whether they should self-quarantine or get tested. The two companies will build this capability directly into their operating systems, not requiring an app at all, and will interface with public health authorities in each country. They vow to protect users’ privacy and provide highest levels of security, and claim that no data is stored centrally that can be used for commercial purposes. Mid-year is when this should be available, so I’m certainly curious about how this, and other innovations, will help us safely leave lockdown.
Question: “What previously inconceivable partners might you work with to achieve a breakthrough for your customers?”