2020 Vision

Maybe it’s just me, but I always feel like the confluence of so many fall and winter holiday celebrations creates some kind of warp in the space-time continuum.  One day it’s the middle of October, and then you blink.  Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Halloween, Día de los Muertos, Navratri, Diwali, Thanksgiving, Día de la Virgen de Guadalupe, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and more have passed.  It’s New Year’s Eve.  Before we get swept away, can we pause? Wait… did you just roll your eyes at me? Okay, that’s fair.  If 2020 feels like anything, it's one big pause.  Was it really?  In some ways, we’ve been working nonstop, tirelessly pivoting, responding, supporting, reacting, protesting, reading and watching (our screens, that is).  What if we were all to take time this fall to actually pause?

If I’ve learned anything from the amazingly talented authors, leaders, teachers, coaches and speakers I get to work with, it's that creativity, innovation, attention and intention thrive in the pause.

• According to creativity strategist Dr. Natalie Nixon, author of The Creativity Leap, “pausing is a unique requisite for creativity” which she defines as “our ability to toggle between wonder and rigor to solve problems.”   She tells us that “both hindsight and foresight are required to gain insight.”
• For years, leadership expert Neen James, author of Folding Time, has been teaching executives how to “unplug from the constant barrage of disruptions and plug in to the power of attention” to what matters most.
• Core values activist Brant Menswar, author of Black Sheep, challenges us to “go beyond the truth in the room.”  When making decisions, especially really tough ones many of us face this year that impact lives and livelihoods, he challenges us to pause long enough to ensure we’re honoring our core values, considering the available facts, and acknowledging (but not necessarily resolving) our feelings in the moment.

The pandemic has fundamentally shifted the way we “see” just about everything:  the 2020 Election, the way we design our homes and offices, how we shop for food, the future of education, pharmacy, healthcare, hospitality, the arts and even how the next generation might see themselves in the world.  Techno-accelerations that blend our in-person and virtual lives are happening at break-neck speeds, unleashing brand new paradigms.  As our conferences (not to mention workplaces) went virtual, members and customers found themselves shifting (on the same devices) seamlessly between our programming, their favorite Netflix show, and Hamilton on Disney+.  The stimulating and unforgettable events we staged in the past (and will again, in some form) were already in a space where the memory – the experience itself – had become the product so worthy of FOMO.  Please, stop benchmarking against last year’s show when expectations are hardly like a “conference” at all.  I digress, but I know you hear me.

The 2019 world we’ve left behind is not the where to focus.  Instead, why not hit pause before you find yourself singing "Auld Lang Syne" or kissing your sweetie while the ball drops.  Let go of the pain, regret, and longing for the elusive “normal”.  Instead, get to work making good decisions rooted in deliberate intention.  Pause to see what really matters, and design relevant solutions for today and tomorrow using the superpower that is your 2020 vision.

 

Rhonda Payne, CAE

 

Rhonda Payne, CAE @my19cents is an association executive, learning leader and entrepreneur who has spent more than 25 years working with best-in-class trade and professional member service organizations as a visionary change agent. As the founder and CEO of the learning and performance agency, Flock Theory, and member of the NYSAE board of directors, she thrives in the spaces where education, technology, design, and people connect to make the knowledge of the few, the knowledge of the many.