Daily Inspiration: “The Weeknd is all of us right now!”

“The Weeknd is all of us right now!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

The memes came hot and heavy right after the Super Bowl halftime, based on that particular moment when The Weeknd was stumbling about through a hall of mirrors, looking confused, lost, unsure of which way he was headed.

It grabbed my attention – I saw the perfect metaphor for how many people feel as they navigate through the uncertainty of 2021! Unsure of where they are going, the only certainty they are aware of is that they are making great time in getting there.

The future is confusing right now. And in fact, it’s not even a priority. Survival is key.

That means that it is a difficult moment to be involved in any sort of strategic planning or future-oriented role within any organization, given the volatility that envelopes us. There is so much uncertainty in terms of the vaccine rollout, the acceleration in cases and hospital demand with the new virus variants, new international squabbles over vaccine access, and so much more, that it is difficult to know how things will unfold.

And that context exists while many companies are still trapped in survival mode, working on triage efforts to get through every single day. Consider just one aspect of operational instability: supply chains are broken, sourcing strategies are messed, capacity is constrained, reliability is hindered.

A recent video that I filmed in the virtual studio noted that 91% of companies are adopting dual and triple sourcing strategies when it comes to their supply chain! In other words, get whatever they can, wherever they can, whenever they can! That’s no way to run a business, but that’s 2021. Stumbling about, looking everywhere — The Weeknd!

Who has time to think about the future when instability is the essence of your existence?

And yet, at some moment in time, leaders and companies will emerge from the confusing hall of mirrors, with certainty in their minds as to what comes next, and ready to put on the best performance of their lives….because they’ve been strengthened into fighting shape by what they’ve been through!

Just like The Weeknd!

Me looking for toilet paper at Costco last March.
https://t.co/hkbtrILMX1

— Maximiliano Bretos (@MaxBretosSports) February 8, 2021

me trying to follow the hostess to my table at the Cheesecake Factory pic.twitter.com/mhB6LKCIiF

— Conor Ryan (@ConorRyan_93) February 8, 2021

me losing my mom in the supermarket when i was 10#SuperBowl #SuperBowlWeeknd https://t.co/4vFMt4rJkw

— 𝚛𝚊𝚌𝚑𝚎𝚕 ☾ (@rachellm23) February 8, 2021