Revealing

What life will be in the post-COVID world is slowly beginning to reveal itself. There are tiny little glimmers of change in every industry. The level of creativity in times of uncertainty is inspiring. Human beings are insanely resilient.

Companies have realized that working from home can be a lot but there is a balance here. Nobody needs to come to an office every day. Sure the camaraderie is missed but that will return just not in person every day. This will change childcare and education in perhaps a good way but will destroy commercial real estate. How we worked before COVID is not coming back. There will be a balance of office and Zoom. We are living in the future.

We are witnessing the deconstruction of education. Education is being forced to change faster than the majority of teachers are capable of doing. This is a huge problem. Education has moved along at a snail’s pace when it comes to technology and now they are being forced to adopt in a pinch. What is the best change here is that school will be taught in a way that engages each kid differently vs the all the same. People won’t have to go to the school that is in the neighborhood. They could go to a school in Idaho if they live in Maryland. Think about how that would change the cost of education and the business model behind it. Schools will not return to the same regularly scheduled program.

Childcare, aka schooling. Parents will have balance in their careers but who monitors their kids doing the work all day? How about the social piece? There is an opportunity here for an entire industry. They could be teachers but they don’t have to be. It is for people who love helping children succeed. There is a need for a supportive taskmaster.

Commercial real estate is freaking. The banks are going to own a lot of properties unless they allow the owners to take a drop in rent to see what the market bears or just sell the buildings at a massively reduced rate. The sooner they all wake up, the quicker our cities will come back. The State or Federal Government should be involved here in forcing them hands.

It has been almost seven months of lockdown at least for the people I know. We have all adopted it in our own way. No doubt each Governor will want to maintain tight measures to stave off another epidemic in their state. This is what Trump wanted, zero responsibility. That is how he runs his life.

Whether you hold Trump responsible or not (and I do) the way we live our lives has changed and we are never going back. Getting the Government to adopt to these new ways will unfortunately will be the hardest part.

We need smart young people to run for office and win if we want to see real changes take place. Change will eventually happen whether you like it or not. Living through a pandemic has not only changed the way we all live but it has woke all of us up in our own ways. How could it not?