The Next Normal

While I’m less optimistic than I was a week ago about the speed of a return to normal — a riot in the U.S. Capitol building will do that to a guy, as will a week of record deaths from COVID-19 and growing concerns about the rollout of the vaccine — I remain confident that we’ll get there some time in 2021 and that we all need to be ready for the next normal.

Having read everything I can find about how that next normal will take shape, I commend to your attention this article from McKinsey, which draws on surveys and on evidence from nations that are further along in the recovery from the pandemic than the rest of us. Among the predictions: that 20% of people could work the majority of time away from the office and that we are at the beginning of a new wave of innovative startups — while the risk of failure for established businesses has increased... continue reading >