FST FWRD INSIGHTS

5.12 The Final Pulse Of Covid-19: One Last Look At The Trends Of The Week (for now) We can’t believe it’s been nearly two months since we started this newsletter. So much has accelerated in this ‘groundhog day’ existence, and yet we see a downshift as businesses start to steady themselves for the long-term marathon we described last week. This week, we were inspired by these poster artists featured above, especially the idea “let’s make a world where we tell our children about how bad things were before Covid-19.” Thus, we’ve decided to highlight the ways businesses are positioning themselves to sprint ahead, the cultural taboos that were questioned during this time, and macro-shifts in consumer behavior and overall optimism.  We’ve also decided as we downshift to the next normal that this will be our last newsletter for a while. In case it’s useful, we’ve made a PDF of all previous newsletters (just DM me, and I'll send you the attachment) and even...

See the entire 2 month timeline of trends mapped out here Click image to enlarge

5.5 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week Did you know the Chinese phrase for ‘crisis’ is formed of two characters loosely referring to ‘danger’ and ‘pivotal point of potential opportunity’? This juxtaposition is how we are living our lives today. From reopenings to reconfigurations, we are desperately working to move forward without tumbling backward. So, how do we start building towards what’s next? A huge and often difficult part of moving ahead is focus, prioritizing what you do and don’t need to pay attention to. A standout piece of leadership advice comes from General Stanley McChrystal’s on Reid Hoffman’s Masters of Scale podcast, where he states, “If you have twenty priorities, you don’t have any. If you've got three, you've got priorities. The real courage in a leader is not in telling people what to do. It's telling them what it's okay not to do.”  As we learned during the 2008 recession, it’s not just leaders making priorities moving...

Right now, we are living in a world of smart and necessary bandaids to keep business afloat. These overnight transformers should be applauded from Apple pivoting to manufacture face masks, to Airbnb shifting into virtual experiences, to Four Seasons turning into frontline shelters, to NASCAR becoming a new eSports phenomenon– these are incredible demonstrations of business leaders pivoting overnight to establish new relevancy and value in today’s volatile world. In our recent Harris Poll, we see there is a ‘ROP’ (return-of-pivot), as 88% of Americans said they had an improved opinion about companies that shifted ‘production to make equipment or supplies necessary to fight the pandemic’. But, even as companies are reinventing themselves overnight today, the million dollar question is: what does the ‘new normal’ look like in 12 to 18 months from now? It’s a question business leaders and Americans themselves are wrestling with; in fact according to our recent Harris Poll, over 6 in 10...

4.28 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week Are we at mile 6, 13 or 20 - ‘the infamous wall’ - in the race? This ongoing marathon is not for low endurance leaders: navigating this challenge and imagining what the future looks like takes an incredible amount of resilience and persistence.With that being said, we are starting to notice a downshift towards conserving energy as many of us have been running on adrenaline since the lockdown started eight weeks ago.  Mindset is the mantra: getting through a marathon is no easy task, but many runners are able to do it by leveraging a growth mindset and visualizing the outcome. What do you want it to look like when we get out of this? What will your relationship with your customers, co-workers, employees, and community look like? What will you decide to pay attention to, use as health metrics and signals you are on the right path, and what will you respectfully ignore? We are cheering you on, knowing you will get there, and...

4.21 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week I don’t think it's just happenstance that this week my Spotify Discover Weekly first track is titled “Where are we going?” by Donald Byrd, a 1973 Jazz track with lyrics like, “Tell me, where are we going? Oh, what's the future showin'? Oh, where are we headed?” Aren’t these the million-dollar questions of the moment?  One thing is for certain: it’s not going to be an all or nothing equation; instead, it’s more likely there will be new creations and norms that form from our old lives merged with new values, attitudes, and behaviors we’ve seen during this pandemic. Just like the Zonkey – a rare Zebra/Donkey– leaders, companies, and individuals will evolve to become new and unique combinations of themselves, leveraging the past and present to emerge with strength and resilience. With that in mind, let’s look into what combinations of new and old are evolving in the market as a source of insight, inspiration, and...

4.13 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week What’s giving you hope right now? This is one of the 20 new greetings author Warren Berger says we should consider instead of ‘how are you?’ in these intense times. So what’s giving us hope: the idea that ‘acts of kindness’ went from a luxury to a state of necessity. Two months ago ‘surprise and delight’ was just a marketing tactic and now it’s a bloodline for society. And while the media doesn’t have the time or manpower to focus on all of it, there are thousands of acts of kindness happening daily pulling humanity closer together. In this time of despair, leaders of all kinds are getting out of the drama of their own lives and building the collective resilience in each other. With that in mind, let’s look into what’s emerging in the market and how companies, individuals, and communities are leading into the unknown as a source of insight, inspiration, and maybe even a point of levity. This week we’ve woven Harris’ latest data...

4.7 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week How are you? Are you grieving? Most of us are, grief experts call it anticipatory grieving– the unknown loss of tomorrow, our old lives, human touch, our health, our financial wellbeing, etc. We’ve lost our collective sense of safety and security on a global level, and it will have long-term implications on our society in the future. At the same time, humanity is showing an incredible amount of resilience and creativity, finding new ways to live in this new normal, from WWII vets dancing to Justin Timberlake, to virtual proms, to meeting new grandchildren through glass windows.  In New York, there is a heaviness that is unavoidable, it’s in the air, weighing down on our lives and wellbeing. This week, it’s particularly challenging to find the silver linings amid the mass loss of lives, but this also is the fundamental opportunity of leadership.  With that in mind, let’s look into what’s emerging in the market and how...

3.31 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week As we close March with sober notes and silver linings, we could never have imagined such a force of disruption entering our lives, our businesses, and giving the whole nation pause. Americans continue to feel the overwhelm and stress as 56% are worried about losing their jobs and 46% think the stimulus package for individuals and families was not enough support. Yet at the same time, we are starting to see a shift out of paralysis into remarkable action – business leaders are stepping up, business models are pivoting overnight, consumers are starting to mend their mental and physical wellbeing, and overall we are coming together as a community to help those in need most.  With that in mind, let’s look into what’s emerging in the market and how companies are (re)acting as a source of information, insight, inspiration, and maybe even a point of levity. This week we’ve woven Harris’ latest data throughout the trends,...

3.24 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week One week later and life feels fundamentally different for most of us. Being a good citizen is hard (as many of us are finding here in New York) — and doing it while running businesses, teams, and households are even harder. If there is any way our team can be of support to you, your business, or team, please let us know.  Tonight’s focus is away from the standard COVID-19 headlines surfacing the micro-trends we are seeing emerge in the market and how companies are reacting as a source of information, insight, inspiration, and maybe even a point of levity.  This week we’ve woven Harris’ latest data throughout the trends. Companies Continue To Fill The Gaps: Consumers have been consistently looking to private companies for leadership and, as of this past weekend, our data shows that Americans have a better view of healthcare companies, grocery stores, pharmaceutical companies and technology companies since the outbreak....

3.17 The Pulse Of Covid-19: The Trends Of The Past Week We know many of our clients are working through dealing with the implications of Covid-19 on their business and day-to-day realities of managing work at a time like this (e.g., WFH isn’t for everybody). We thought it would be nice to send around the micro-trends we are seeing emerge in the market and how companies are reacting as a source of information, insight, inspiration, and maybe even a point of levity. Harris was in the field last week and found that: Our recent poll found that 74% of Americans said they’re afraid of “accidentally spreading the virus to vulnerable people even if they’re not experiencing symptoms.” (see WWD article here) Americans 60+ are least worried and least informed about COVID-19, but as we know are most at risk (see Forbes article here). 66% of CFOs believe it will take less than a month until back to normal, and are most concerned about a global recession and decrease in...