I have been sharing a lot over the past week with my friends, family and coworkers how I believe the month of April, 2020 will be a defining moment in our history. As I see it, we all have one of two choices to make:  We can use this time of quarantines and social distancing and boundless technology to reinvent ourselves, our businesses, our futures. Or we can sit and wait to see what happens. We can, right now, create the future we want for ourselves or we can do nothing and be left behind.  I believe this is true for all of us in all of our roles: family, business, citizen, student, etc.  

The United States is the most successful entrepreneurial experiment there ever has been. This great country was built on the visionary leadership of entrepreneurs, business people, teachers, thinkers, farmers, but most importantly it was built by leaders who thought to the future and did what had to be done to succeed.  The “new normal” is simply another chapter in our history and entrepreneurial journey.

I believe we were all gifted with the ability to be creative. We use that creativity to be productive, to find solutions, to be innovative. We are creative in some way be it business or art or living. It is our choice to use this creativity to our benefit or simply to turn our back on this gift. 

Our culture loves to label and critique generations: you’re a Boomer, from GenX, a Millennial, or a GenZ-er.  As we enter a New Normal, I believe we will be labeled in a new way, regardless of age or demographics. When we look back at this time, I believe we will be labeled as a person or organization who chose to create a new way of working and seeing the world and reinvent themselves or they will be labeled as someone who didn’t have the agility to change when given the chance. I don’t know what the labels will be called, but I know I want to be remembered as someone who used April2020 as a springboard to create a new way of looking at the world and business. Maybe even an “April Innovator”. 

The skills needed to be an “April 2020 innovator” are what we know and expect of successful entrepreneurs: #grit #perseverance #hardwork #creativity #innovative #disruptor and many more.   But I also believe there are attributes that have driven entrepreneurs through the centuries: faith, hope, and belief in the power of joy. It’s the knowledge, quite simply put, that everything is going to be okay.

As the great CS Lewis said, “All Joy reminds. It is never a possession, always a desire for something longer ago or further away or still ‘about to be’.”   That is what excites me every day of my life. The best is yet to come!

There’s no better time to start a conversation. Start by making more authentic connections now.