Unprecedented

---

There it is. That “U” word tragically overused in every piece of corporate communications and media speak since March.

Unprecedented it truly is. There is simply no other way to describe what has happened to us.

Millions have been affected & everyone has their story. Mine goes something like this:

My team and I had planned and hosted a significant press conference on February 24th to announce the arrival of a world class spa and wellness centre to the new mixed-use residential community development that I had spent the last fourteen years marketing.

This was one of Harmony’s most important announcements since its launch and a beacon of optimism for Alberta which has struggled to generate any good news in the last four years. The announcement represented a lengthy effort by our development team to pull this partnership together, and an even bigger financial commitment by the out-of-province company building and operating the spa.

And then two weeks later, Coronavirus-Covid19 reared its ugly head and quite suddenly the world ground to a halt. People were getting sick, some were dying. Schools were shutting down, companies of all sizes and purposes were closing up, scrambling to get everyone setup and working from home. Parents had to suddenly shoulder the weight of working from home AND become teachers of their children’s academics. Every sports league around the globe was paused.

Everything was shut down. Everyone was worried.

Another two weeks passed and after being at the top of my game for 15 years, my employment ended. A large piece of my identity was restructured.

It’s now June, and it’s surreal. Humanity is about to snap at a breaking point.

For some reason 2020 was chosen to test the very fabric of our world and it’s presenting problems that I’ve never had to face. That we have never had to face. There’s no roadmap on what to do. It’s put the very uncertainty of my purpose as a marketing professional into question. It's highlighted my strengths and exposed my weakness.

I'm doing fine, although for the first time in my career I’m enjoying down-time to connect with my children and to enjoy a very short summer...to truly clear my head and think. And thinking, at times, has been my worst enemy because I've struggled to understand how I can stay relevant.

How can I help society navigate this impact? What is my role to help move us forward? How can I earn a living doing what I love? Will companies in Alberta recover to provide gainful employment options for everyone that’s been sidelined? There are so many new changes to absorb, and new ways of working at a distance, without a lot of personal interaction and learning how to lead and pivot in an instant.

A degree of self-confidence is needed to overcome this at a time when our confidence has been shaken to the core.

In this new world of work that we all find ourselves in, we are faced with an entire host of fresh challenges. A degree of self-confidence is needed to overcome this at a time when our confidence has been shaken to the core. But if you are reading this, I implore you to celebrate what you’re good at and remind yourselves of this every day. Remember what got yourself to the dance.

Now is the time for creative people to be brave. To think big and to courageously bend our imagination with the purpose of emotional intelligence and empathy. To rethink how services can and should be delivered. To embrace the responsibilities we will bear as communicators to a version of humanity that is weakened, fractured and vulnerable.

This IS a significant responsibility unto which should be taken with compassion and an authentic moral standard.

It's kind of starting to feel like the good old days, as we cautiously reintroduce life one phase, one step, one week at a time. But make no mistake, these will continue to be unprecedented times.

RH.