Recommended June Reads: Looking Ahead to the New “Normal”

The world is starting to open up, and the conversations I’m now having with family, friends, and colleagues are no longer centered on “how are you doing?” They’re more along the lines of “what are you doing, what are you allowed to do, and have you eaten at a restaurant yet?”

The differences in how things are being handled and the opinions rendered in these conversations are so widespread.

I’ve found it fascinating to learn how different cities, states, and even countries are handling the re-opening. While I have my opinions about the future, I wanted to see what others are thinking, specifically experts in business.

The following three articles caught my eye. They’re all from leaders in business whose perspectives range from large global to a more domestic, US-based approach. They opened my eyes to some different ideas and will impact the conversations I have in the future.

BlackLine Global Platinum Partner EY explores a global perspective on change and where the world could be as we return to the new normal.

I found the opening section thought-provoking. What has happened over the last few months still seems almost unthinkable, along with what our world could look like in the months ahead.

Business leaders are still expecting more unthinkable changes, but for the better. According to EY, there’s an opportunity “to enable a better working world across five dimensions: better health, better connectivity, better relationships, better ingenuity and better accountability.”

This article explores the potential changes in the global order, societies and economies, firms and markets, and households and individuals.

Read the full article on EY.com.

This article brings us a little closer to home and focuses specifically on the economy in the United States. The focus is on learning from past crises to help the economy rise up.

According to the article, to be successful when coming out of a crisis, these three themes have to be present: prioritizing people, understanding preexisting economic trends, and creating adaptive, long-term solutions—even when the crisis may still be ongoing.

Many similarities were drawn to the Great Recession and other recent events. While it may appear that we are on a relatively good path to recovery, there is a lot that can still be done at the state and local levels to help boost that recovery.

Will we be successful? Only time will tell.

Read the full article on McKinsey.com.

Since I regularly interact with finance and accounting professionals, I thought I would end today’s recommended reads by talking about the return to the workplace.

As I read through this article, it’s clear that going forward, the world will feel very different from the one we left just a few short months ago. What will really be interesting is how people who work remotely, like me, will react when going back into an office.

How many mistakes will we make when it comes to social distancing, for example, in the workplace.

Read the full article by Gartner.

It’s clear that the world we live in will be changed forever. The way we come out of the current state can take many different paths, and there are a lot of lenses to look through.

Regardless of what path is taken, I look forward to the time when this is all behind us and COVID-19 is just a memory.

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