Lockdown in Italy, 31 March 2020

Originally posted on my Facebook page on 31 March

I remember receiving the first email pitching "I can help you take your business online!" only 10 days after we went into lockdown. "It’s crazy what can happen in a week, isn’t it?!" she said. "Now we’ve seen the toll it’s taken on everything from giving hugs to the stock market..."

"Toll?" I thought to myself? People were dying in overcrowded hospitals and I was trying to help Italian friends who were watching their businesses evaporate overnight. And now, 12 days later, people here are still dying in the same numbers and my friends no longer try to predict when this might be over.

We all have much to offer each other. But before you bury yourself in new products, new services, and new offerings for New Normal success, I encourage you to look a little more closely. 

I think you'll find that something else is needed first, and it's something so much easier to give. Simple gifts like a comforting word, a ready ear and a helping hand. It's not the time for pitches that steal these deep moments of connection from us. 

Italians hang signs out the front of their homes: #andràtuttobene which means "It Will All Be OK". Since these signs went up nearly one month ago many other countries have joined the long waiting game. This global pause is a moment of stillness that brings us back to the present. Let's start from there, serve the needs in front of us, and that's how we will make it all OK.