The New Now

It is more acceptable to me to talk about the new present or „the new now“. I do not qualify it as normal or abnormal, but rather as a new life and business agenda, in which acceptance, adaptability and innovation can help us get the most out of the current circumstances. In the sea of changes and characteristics of our new life and business present, I`ve singled out a few:  

1. (Too) fast speech can have negative consequences on our messages: There`s been an information overload before, yet now it is even more so. Although experts say that we write shorter and more concisely, the result of the general overload is that under the pressure of a large amount of information we actually think faster and speak faster (and get more exhausted), especially if we speak under a mask, but also if we have phone and conference calls most of the day. As masks are likely to be a part of our lives for a long time to come, we need to think about how to process information well, then how to adjust our messages and speech speed, but also how we breathe while doing so. 

2. (New) presentation skills: Many meetings, pitches and presentations take place through digital platforms, ie online. Keeping listeners' attention through online meetings is extremely tricky. The need for good or even better presentation skills is very necessary, so that the attention of your listeners does not wander and you lose a valuable opportunity.  

3. The issue of innovation and the issue of risk: In my own environment and among companies, I notice two extremes in attitudes referring to investments. Some advocate reducing risk and investing, for fear of results and the future. In such an attitude, the present is not a priority, which can affect the future as well. Others believe that higher investments can bring higher profits and that regardless of the time we live in, without investments and innovations we cannot even hope to generate higher value. I tend to agree with the latter group. 

4. Escape to nature or part of a broader plan of action: It seems that after everything we have been through this year, we now appreciate nature even more. Although it does not seem to have anything to do with business (except possibly the real estate), in fact it does, because this fact greatly affects business initiatives and projects that involve the protection of nature and natural resources. Additionally, you will notice that visual content that represents nature in communication on social networks makes a big difference compared to everything else, and everything before.  

There are people too. I do not list them as previous topics because they are always important to us and above all. Here I mean the closest family members, but also those associated – such as colleagues, co-workers, partners, friends. 

For all of them, we need much more patience, flexibility, understanding and kindness. A nice word has never made more sense, and balance is now even harder to achieve. But it is not impossible. 

More than ever we live in the moment, day after day. 

There are many challenges, but the sooner we recognize them ourselves or exchange information with others, the easier it will be to overcome them and achieve some kind of security that we all strive for. 

 Author: Tamara Bekčić