Making Sense of the Future

Two years into the pandemic, we’re in a moment when both leaders and employees are trying to make sense of how the experience has changed them and imagining what comes next. In a webinar I led in early February with 250 people from over 100 companies around the world, many leaders expressed that they are feeling “betwixt and between” the certainties of the past and the unknowns of the future. Three messages came through loud and clear. The first is that in this time of sensemaking, individuals right now are looking inward — working through the impact of their changing habits, networks, and skills, and beginning to imagine other life trajectories and possible selves.