Is the “New Normal” We Face a Soft Trend?

There will always be certainties about the future that we simply cannot change. Some are rather obvious, such as the reality that spring will always follow winter, summer follows spring, and fall follows summer.

There are other future certainties that have nothing to do with the seasons, and that we all can agree we look forward to. One example that affects us all is the certainty that this COVID-19 pandemic the world faces will eventually end, and a “new normal” will set in.

But contrary to the Hard Trend that a global pandemic will come to a close, a future certainty that is not so set in stone is the aforementioned “new normal” and both how we will react to it and what it will entail. This future “maybe” that can change falls under what I refer to as a Soft Trend.

Soft Trends Defined

Although Soft Trends and the concept around future uncertainties is unnerving to some, they are a critical principle of my Anticipatory Organization® Model.

One of the greatest appeals of Soft Trends is that they can be changed and altered, and, depending on what you know about them and how you use them, they are open to influence, leverage and, ultimately, enormous opportunity.