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Jorge Arango's



No. 52

I'll keep today's message short. I hope you and yours are healthy and safe and taking measures to remain so.

The pandemic is testing the resilience of our social, economic, and political systems. We’re all trying to adjust to new ways of being that tax our mental and physical health. My wife and I have been teaching our kids about patience and inner strength — and reminding ourselves, too.

For many organizations, business-as-usual isn’t an option in the near-term. Immediate goals have been swept aside, replaced with a more urgent need: adapt quickly to continue adding value under fast-changing and unpredictable conditions. 

What about mid- and long-term goals? Those, too, must be reevaluated. We’re not going back to the world we left in the winter of 2020. The pandemic will change us, much like 9/11 did. Systems, structures, and needs will be different.

This raises several key questions:

  • How will things change?
  • How will we adapt?
  • What will society ask from us?
  • How will we add value?

Even as we address short-term needs, it behooves us to open space for strategic and long-term thinking. (I’ve dusted off my copy of Peter Schwartz’s The Art of the Long View.) The crisis is also a prompt for us — organizations, teams, individuals — to revisit our values. Are we merely in service to “results,” or are we pursuing a higher purpose?

We don’t normally take time to ask such questions. But these aren’t normal times. If not now, when?

Be well.

Also worth your attention...

The Informed Life With Nicholas Paul Brysiewicz

Episode 31 of The Informed Life podcast features Nicholas Paul Brysiewicz, the director of development of the Long Now Foundation. The Foundation was created to foster long-term thinking, and in this conversation Nick and I talk about how a broader time perspective can help us understand difficult times and lay the groundwork for a better future.

Much of our conversation centered on the coronavirus situation. In particular, I wanted to understand the long-term take on issues that are urgent and important. Nick’s position — which I agree with — was that even as we’re dealing with the near-term effects of the situation, we should be looking for ways of strengthening our infrastructure and institutions so we can better meet such challenges in the future.

The Informed Life Episode 31: Nicholas Paul Brysiewicz on the Long-term View

Thanks for reading!

-- Jorge

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P.P.S.: If you haven't done so already, please check out my book, Living in Information: Responsible Design for Digital Places. You can buy it from my publisher, Amazon, and other fine purveyors of the printed word.

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Jorge Arango
P.O. Box 29002
Oakland, CA 94604

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