A couple days ago, I participated in a conversation with Bob Woodward and his wife, Elsa Walsh where they discussed his fifty years as a reporter with the Washington Post. Last Saturday, my family and I compared notes on the state of the economy, the new Covid threat, and our plans for the holiday season. Over the past week, my coaching clients and I discussed some difficult human relations challenges in their organizations. This coming week, one of my friends in the Netherlands and I will have a long conversation about the philosophical foundation of our consulting practices.

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It was all possible because of our amazing modern communications technology.

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Yes, I’ve heard about “Zoom Fatigue”—how we are all getting burned out because, instead of meeting people face to face, the pandemic has glued us to the video screen. Yes, we all get tired after hard work and concentration, but what would our world have been like since March 2020 without the miracle of technology? Would we have written more letters, read more books, made more phone calls? I doubt it. Many of us would have suffered in profound isolation, knowledge work would have stalled, the economy would be horribly worse.

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I am thankful for the people I’ve met, and the expanded opportunities brought to by Zoom and other technologies. This is the new world, so bring it on!