I am leaving the ATD 2022 Conference in Orlando with many thoughts swirling through my head. It was great to see clients, friends, and colleagues again live and in person. There really is nothing like it. There was a wonderful moment at the #transperfect party where you could feel the energy and sense of human happiness. The ability to socialize and network was great, and you could really feel the pent-up demand after three years away.

But, the universe has changed since the last ATD in 2019. The digital transformation is ongoing, fueled by the pandemic as a catalyst and it is clear that the training delivery model has changed forever. Advantexe’s prediction is that there will be much more training and it will be 15% live, 25% blended (live + virtual), and 60% virtual.

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Babies and disadvantaged adults with special needs around the world are suffering because of the worst shortage in baby formula since the invention of formula. The reasons driving this crisis is a modern-day business case study that can be best understood through the lens of business acumen. This blog explores the baby formula crisis based on the skills of effective business acumen and offers the opportunity to develop some key learnings that can be applied back to other similar situations. I have tried my best to make this discussion apolitical, and present insights without jumping into the negative and divisive partisan politics many are trying to make this issue about.

As the baby formula shortage drags on, and as the data becomes more available, it becomes more obvious that there are a lot of things that went wrong to reach this point of crisis. And yet again, the US health system is both a victim and aggressor. But, at the end of the day, it is humanity that is suffering and will pay the ultimate price.

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Most Business Leaders are trying to lead in an environment that nobody has ever seen before. There are no patterns or best practices. The combination of being in a global pandemic at the same time there is accelerating inflation, global supply chain shortages, environmental issues, the “great resignation,” employees working remotely, and a despot leader in Russia threatening to start World War III is presenting leaders with unprecedented challenges.

One of the areas our Advantexe clients are seeking help in is helping develop environments and cultures of psychological safety in the midst of all this chaos. Psychological safety is defined by a workplace climate enabled by emotional intelligence that allows people to take risks, learn from mistakes, give candid feedback, and innovate. When your environment is not psychologically safe, people tend to keep ideas to themselves out of fear of being ridiculed, they don’t give candid feedback, and because they fear for their job, they enter into self-preservation mode. None of that is good for business.

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If you have started to get reacclimated to what you thought was the “normal world” before the COVID pandemic, you are in for many surprises. The new normal is not the old normal. Things are very different and many of the things you took for granted, like basic customer service, are mere ghosts of themselves.

One of the first places you will find things very different is airports. During the past several weeks, as I’ve been flying again to visit with clients and to deliver the live portions of our blended business simulation-centric learning solutions, the lack of customer service in the ticket lines, the restrooms, and the restaurants is astounding. This week alone I tried to eat dinner at a higher-end (not fast food) airport restaurant only to find it impossible. The first time I had to wait almost 40 minutes and my meal never came. The second time it took more than 45 minutes and I had to have my salad packed as a to-go meal.

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Its earnings call time again! One of my favorite times of a new quarter where executives share the results of their previous quarter and talk about the business outlooks for the rest of the year and beyond.

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