Episode – 52; Navigating Beyond…

Recorded: June 3, 2020

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Topic: We find Antlerboy in much better spirits and more positive. He has been a bit beat down due to being locked-down. But is finding working in his London garden – replete with a cherry tree, recently Amazon-delivered pond weed, potatoes and onions – is very therapeutic. JP is happy for Antlerboy, but wonders; just how big is this garden in London?

JP is itching to get back in the game; getting on an airplane and client-facing. Sitting and working from home is not his bag. But JP shares that he has booked a flight to the States for a few weeks from June into July and is looking forward to it.

We start the meat-and-potatoes of the conversation by discussing the shift in the work paradigm from office to home. In conversations with leaders of companies (admittedly anecdotal data and not empirical data), the near universal feedback is that people are more productive working from home. But although productivity might have increased in the near-term, what are the effects long-term? Humans being social creatures, is it healthy to be isolated from people for an extended period of time? Working from home, will people have the discipline to protect the borders of work time versus personal time?

Our first guest is a regular at The Outliers Inn, David. He shares that he has not been successful working from home in the past because of the distractions and has continued to go to his office during the shutdown. Work-wise, he is as busy as ever and he is still experimenting with his hemp-sprouts.

Neal, from Louisville (however you pronounce it) in Kentucky, is our next guest. He shares that his contract was terminated in March and he is trying to discover where the next step in his professional will take him. He is wondering what the need will be for social distancing at work; equipment and workstation placement, walking around the facilities, and so on.

Stephane, a regular from France, joins us and shares his thoughts about globalization and remote work; if the world was flat before, it has become more flat now. We discuss the rapid adaptation and evolution of telephony. People and companies have readily and rapidly implemented Zoom (or some similar solution) and are conducting business meetings remotely. Can virtual reality be too far off where people will put on virtual reality googles and be able to walk-up to a virtual whiteboard and draw? Stephane shares that you can already virtually cycle the French countryside on Swift. So is the notion becoming reality that far off?

Hal from Washington State joins us and shares that he has recently been having a riot (pun intended); that the economy is booming for gun and ammo shops and his opinion that the question of gun control has been settled for a generation. But getting back to his core business, he speaks about the challenges of getting back to business for those companies that were shutdown (non-essential businesses).

Our last and most regular guest taking his turn at the bar is Don. He wonders about the social discourse presently taking place and the duplicity of the messaging. How can one group of protesters be called irresponsible and another group of protesters be celebrated; Further, how can violence and destruction be excused?

There are a lot conversations had and ideas shared. But the interesting thing is that most thoughts are about life-after instead of life-during COVID and how we are navigating towards it. We thinks that optimism taking root.