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Guide To Leadership During A Pandemic: Welcome To The New Norm by David Guerra, MBA

planning development, creating, implementationThe Pandemic Guide To Leadership

Welcome To The New Norm

The new normal, the new norm and other references to this new way of living and being. In case, you have not caught on because things continue to evolve then let me share this with you. All this talk of the new norm is a new way of saying CHANGE.

Yes, change. We have all been warned that change is coming and to be ready for change. I know I have shared that with you throughout the history of my podcasts, videos, blogs and articles. As a former Active Duty US Army Infantryman, change was what my active duty life was all about and thus difficult to shake the specter of change looming just one step behind. That is why I am such a proponent to be ready for change when it arrives.

As a Leader, it is up to you to be an engaged pupil in the art of managing change. Managing change? Yes, I believe when it comes to change all we can do is to manage it as we can NEVER master change. As change is always a dynamic, fluid situation which is susceptible to way too many external factors which influence just about all aspects of the evolving situation.

Having a firm grasp and understanding that while we would like to control change, it is not going to happen. While I am not advocating riding the wave of change, I am saying think of change as a white-water rafting. You are on the raft and you have some semblance of control with the paddle. Sure, you can guide your raft to the shore or down the river but where you actually end up will most certainly not be exactly where you wanted/planned to be. Sound familiar?

Sounds a lot like real, true blue leadership. While leaders have a plan and ready to put in place that plan and like all other plans before that plan things do not always go as planned. Just like most of the battle plans in the history of battle plans, they go into the trash can the moment the bullets start flying.

However, do not for one second believe that you should abandon hope when you develop, create and implement a plan. While it may be difficult kick off that plan during a time of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, it should not stop you from doing so. Any and every Leaders worth his or her weight in salt are on the lookout for staying the course of the plan once executed. Yet, when things do not go as planned, leaders are ready to adapt, improvise and overcome as leaders are expected to do so.

Folks, change will continue to surround us for the far foreseeable future. Change is the new norm. Change is what we as human have always been exposed to, but it was so low level that now with the Pandemic it has risen to the top, which means that as Leaders you have to rise above that. That is non-negotiable because that is the new norm.

Thank you,
David G. Guerra, MBA
email: [email protected]
twitter: @daveguerra
instagram: dave_guerra
facebook: thedavidguerra

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Weekend Challenge #10 (03/28-29/2020): Revisit & Revise Your Goals

HERE IS YOUR WEEKEND CHALLENGE: REVISIT & REVISE YOUR GOALS

you weekend challenge has arrived

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Welcome To The Weekend. It is time for another challenge.

This weekend your challenge is to go back to the beginning. Basically, is to go back and review your goals for this past month.

I know things have changed our priorities, changed the situation of our lives, and change in general in that we are more at home; hunkered down.
Go back and pull out the file that has all your goals, vision, and mission written down. Remember, writing it all down is how we achieve those goals because they become real the moment you write them down. Once real, they are achievable.

However, now in this time of a new normal, we have to adapt, change, and overcome this new life we have been given. This new opportunity. In doing that we must work to reshape and refocus our priorities and our global view.

So as our main goals, the core of our goals will not change it is how we achieve it that will change. Our timelines and our schedules now have to change. We have to adjust to this new way of the New Normal and this New Normal is everybody’s New Normal.

This is happening to all of us. To all of us on the planet. Every citizen on this planet, all seven plus billion of us. It’s happening to us; it’s happening to all of us! You are NOT exempt and you’re not special, you’re not unique in that senses because you are a human being.

This is affecting the entire species. This is affecting the entire human race. All this is the great equalizer!

COVID-19 does not know who’s who. Who are the haves and have nots? Who has a TV show and who doesn’t have a TV show? Who is in politics and who is not in politics? Who is a parent and who is a child? Who is a boss and who is an employee? It doesn’t separate, it equals everyone, all together.

So please understand, this is happening to everybody but as individuals we still have to go on our lives. We still have to continue and we still have to set ourselves some goals and we still have to set ourselves a mission and vision and we have to see the future!

Folks, this is going to come to an end and this will stop. Then we will return to some kind of normalcy, that we once knew. I guarantee you this much, we have to be prepared to come out of this as better people, better human beings. We have to come out of this with a much greater sense of purpose than all just “about me poor me”.

The old “normal” days are over. Those days were over the moment that virus started spreading. That’s when the writing was on the wall. A lot of us chose not to see it and still so many continue to choose not to see it. Understand that we are forced to face it and one way or another that being said I offer you this week’s challenge: Sit down pull out your goals and to adjust your goal to reflect the new normal.

Get To Work!

Thanks for your time,
David

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Weekend Challenge #09 (March 21-22, 2020) BAKE FROM SCRATCH

HERE IS YOUR WEEKEND CHALLENGE: BAKE SOMETHING FROM SCRATCH

you weekend challenge has arrived

Listen to this weekend’s Weekend Challenge


Welcome To The Weekend. It is time for another challenge.

Welcome to the weekend. This weekend is probably one of the most uncertain weekends ever in modern history. I would say it certainly is the first most uncertain weekend of the 21st Century. However, it is also a unique opportunity to do things we have not had the time to do or just been too busy to even attempt.

This weekend’s challenge takes into consideration that as you are sequestered at home, self-contained, self-isolated or whatever you want to call it. There you are with nowhere to go because no place is open and the places that are open are there for you to grab and go.

So, while you are home and you have the time, here is the challenge: Bake Something from Scratch.

Take the time to bake something from scratch. By this I mean, gather the ingredients, mix them together, and get to baking.
Seriously, when was the last time you baked a piping hot loaf of bread? Made a cake from scratch? Opening a box and pouring the dry ingredients into a bowl does not count. I am talking about breaking out the ¼ teaspoon measuring spoon and mixing by hand or whisking the batter. Knead the Dough by hand?

Nothing lifts my spirits more than smelling bread baking in the oven or watching made from scratch lemon icing spread on homemade lemon-vanilla cake. In these trying times, we all could use some lifting of our spirits.

Now, if you are not sure what to bake from scratch. Well, famous English food writer, chef and cooking show host, Nigella Lawson, shares a simple, yet great bread recipe, “Basic No-Knead Bread” by Jim Lahey on her website (visit: https://www.nigella.com/recipes/guests/jim-laheys-basic-no-knead-bread).

There are only four (4) ingredients in this recipe; flour, salt, instant or active dry yeast, and water.

Sounds simple enough. Folks, this challenge also serves as a unique opportunity to do something with the family, especially the school age kids, as they get to do something other than to stare down at the small screens. They get an opportunity to not only wash their hands but to create something with those same clean hands.

Parents, you are also giving them a skill that they can carry on for their lives (sustain themselves) and you also now give them a positive memory that they will one day tell their grandchildren about how “during the Corona Virus Pandemic, not only did we hunker down but all of us, the family, baked bread from scratch and it was the greatest tasting bread ever.”

You can do it, as I said, it is not like you don’t have the time.

Get To Baking and Get To Work!

Thanks for your time,
David