I have a wastebasket full of crumpled up papers in my office. Some of the papers are old ideas whose time has passed and others are notes and doodles from endless conference calls and Zoom meetings. The top of the basket is filled with my “plans.” There is no question everyone’s plans for 2020 have been turned upside down because of Covid-19. The question is what do we do now that we see this flicker of light, as the economy slowly begins to open?
That is the question I have been wrestling with for The Rouen Group, and also working with our clients to answer. The truth is that we do not know what the “new normal” will be. Consumer behavior will change, the way we “do business” will change, and the way we interact will change; but how?
In our last blog, we highlighted some of our clients that were leading in a crisis. For those clients, that plan forward becomes more clear. They are not waiting to see what happens, but through their leadership are defining what IS happening. Does your business have a plan to shape the future?
It can be simple to create a plan for your business, but much harder to execute. That is why my wastebasket is full in my office and the virtual wastebasket needs to be emptied as well. But, just because it is hard doesn’t mean we should ignore it.
Before the crisis happened The Rouen Group had been doing a lot of speech writing for large corporate events and fundraising galas. Obviously, that business was shut down for a while. So, rather than wait for it to come back we, along with some great partners, we have developed new ways to help clients host amazing virtual events. It is still a work in progress, but we are developing a plan that helps us define what the future looks like. Creating engaging virtual events wasn’t in the plan 3 months ago, when I was sitting at a gala of 1500 people listening to our words inspire people, but the world has changed and so has our business plan.
Do not be afraid to fill your wastebasket with Plan B, C, and D, be afraid if your wastebasket is empty.
If your organization is looking for a plan to inspire, let’s connect.
Noah Rouen
Chief Storyteller
The Rouen Group
Creating Stories to Inspire ACTION.
noah@rouengroup.com
612 419 6909
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