What Eddie Jones and others have taught me during the COVID-19 pandemic

1.       Clarify, Clarify, Clarify – I did a cracking podcast with a bloke called Sree Sreenivasan, a former journalism lecturer and digital innovator in New York City. Well worth a listen. During the chat he said something that caught my ear. He said that in the digital age, “Clear is the new clever’’. Think about that for a second. “Clear is the new clever’’. Genius. Clarity matters in a crisis, but it matters in everything every day. Assumptions are so often the cause of confusion and a lack of productivity. So clarify, clarify, clarify. If we all commit to understand and be understood, life will get easier.

2.       Make people’s eyes sparkle – Eddie Jones is the best Rugby Union coach in the world (actually, I knew that before the pandemic), but he sent me this video the other day. It is the eyes people!!! If people are staring at you blankly, it’s your problem not theirs.

3.       ‘’Today, Today, Today’’ is a long standing contentgroup mantra. But with pandemic having removed friction from the system, its time to make stuff happen. Sree had another bit of advice when he said “now is the time to do something, to make things happen. No permission required’’. What have you created that is new?

4.       No permission required – We have launched a podcast, started planning another two, started conversations about an online global conference, progressed our website redesign, written new content and printed 2 new contentgroup T-shirts. Launch early and launch often. Take your best ideas and set them free. What’s the worst that can happen?

5.       Kindness is in vogue – The advice columns have been full of it. Be kinder at work and at home. And be kinder to yourself. Cg’s values are “be kind, be curious, be remarkable’’. Relevant for today.

6.       Design matters – content is crucial. As the world is forced to spend more time in the digital realm you must design for experience. Delight people. Make sure your content is not only relevant but beautiful. Invest the time. It’s worth the effort.

7.       Stay in the moment – You don’t have to go far to find harrowing stories of friends and families struggling with the pandemic. Catastrophic thinking is when you start adding layer upon layer of assumption of things that can possibly go wrong and you end up getting yourself in a state of mind where you won’t and can’t get out of bed. Stay in the day. It’s safer.

8.       Crisis is good for creativity – Under stress, the mind sparks inspiration. At different times of the day and night and in different forms, ideas come a running. Take them, test them and back the ones you think will work. Again, what is the worst thing that can happen?

9.       The benefit of fitness – With more time on my hands, I’ve had more time to exercise. And I feel a million times better. It has a massive impact on your mood.

10.   I get up early in the morning and always turn on the television to watch the latest from overseas. As the catastrophe rolls on overseas I thank my lucky stars every day that I live in Australia.

PS. Apologies for the shameless use of Eddie’s name in the headline but you have got to get traffic don’t you!!!