The New Normal: Quotes and Definitions

To better understand the new normal, quotes can be an excellent resource.

Below, we’ve collected 10 of the most salient quotes from 10 of the most authoritative resources online, including major research firms, industry-leading corporations, media outlets, and more.

“The New Normal” Quotes: 10 Insights from Industry Leaders

Here are some of the best quotes that can help us learn more about the new normal:

• “For some organizations, near-term survival is the only agenda item. Others are peering through the fog of uncertainty, thinking about how to position themselves once the crisis has passed and things return to normal. The question is, ‘What will normal look like?’ While no one can say how long the crisis will last, what we find on the other side will not look like the normal of recent years.” – McKinsey
• “Only two in five companies say they are mostly or fully digital, a figure that has not moved since 2018. Post-COVID-19 can be the push that companies need to excel in the next normal. With a comprehensive digital strategy in place that includes digital adoption solutions, companies may find they are able to flourish in ways they couldn’t have imagined before.” – WalkMe
• “The world has changed many times, and it is changing again. All of us will have to adapt to a new way of living, working, and forging relationships.” – MIT Technology Review
• “As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to unfold there is unlikely to be a rapid or decisive transition from crisis to recovery. Organisations are more likely to face a sequence of operational environments that oscillate between restriction and relaxation, before a final end-state of relative normality.” – Deloitte UK
• “What follows will not be a return to pre-COVID business practices, but more likely a decade of the Never Normal, a new era defined by fast changing shifts in cultural norms, societal values and behaviors, such as increased demand for responsible business practices and renewed brand purpose.” – Accenture
• “In the midst of a crisis, it’s tempting to label any major disruption as ushering in a new normal. However, at least in terms of business models, the new normal going forwards may be a lot more like the old normal than we think. That’s not to say there won’t be accelerated innovation and plenty of new business models, products and services appearing, but most businesses will likely be able to operate as usual with a few strategic pivots and changes to their standard processes as well as essential safeguards.” – CIO.com
• “While we can’t be certain yet about what sales could look like post-Covid, companies should use this as a time to understand if they are getting the maximum value out of their current tools and software. Now is the time to be doing as much as possible to be ready for that time, and have everything in place to thrive in the next normal.” –Salesforce
• “Over the course of a few weeks, previously office-based workforces are now operating almost entirely remotely, strung together by patient IT teams, chat apps and daily video calls. For flexible working naysayers, the pandemic has proven that employees can, in fact, be trusted to work from home without productivity taking a plunge.” –TechRepublic
• “Organizations that will survive this Paradigm Shock require massive flexibility and adaptation across business models, technology architecture and execution, and its people must engage the business with a lean start-up mentality where change has always been the known constant. When people feel protected and connected in this ‘new normal,’ they can move flexibly between resilience and innovation, linking processes in new ways, cutting redundant connections, and writing new playbooks to attack opportunities.” –HFS Research
• “There will be a new normal. And there is risk in acting too soon (and too late). But it is time to start creating scenarios for what the new normal might be. Those that do will find themselves in a better position to recover and grow faster than their peers.” – Gartner

The vast majority of research firms and agencies, as well as major news outlets, predict that we will be entering into a “new normal” or a “next normal” once the pandemic has abated.

But what are the practical implications for businesses?

Here are a few takeaways:

• The “new normal” will impact every area of life, including business, society, culture, and behaviors
• To prepare for these changes, organizations must reimagine their operations and accelerate their organizational changes
• Though many of these differences will be significant, the new normal will still be relatively stable and not radically different from today’s economic reality
• Between now and the next normal, there will be a period of uncertainty and fluctuation
• To continue delivering value to customers during and after the crisis, organizations must plan now, adapt swiftly, and stay flexible

There is no way to predict exactly what the new normal will look like, how deeply it will impact the business world, or which of today’s trends will remain permanent.

For that reason, it pays to plan for multiple scenarios, as many of the major research firms suggest. A flexible, adaptable approach to planning can help organizations succeed in a business climate which will undoubtedly be different from the one we are used to.

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