Resilience & The Black Swan

We have now lived nearly two full months in a world where the loudest emotions are confusion, panic and fear.  The Black Swan event has come (our first in nearly 12 years!) and this one seems to have some sticking power.

Black swans, as Nassim Nicholas Taleb explains so eloquently in his book of the same name, take our world by complete surprise.  They are the ‘one in a million’ chance event.  But when they come, they have outsized impact.

They are the ‘one in a million’ chance event.

What has become abundantly clear over the past two months (and is the main thesis of the referenced book) is that we are best served not in trying to predict Black Swan events or obsessively reading the news to try to “get ahead of it” but rather to build robustness in our lives so we can withstand the negative events we know will show up sooner or later.

Resilience.  Durability.  Robustness.  Flexibility.

Companies and individuals around the world that displayed these traits heading into this crisis are clearly better positioned to respond.  And on a whole – these resilient few are surviving and thriving in May 2020.

Moving Forward

Economic forecasts are predicting a 30% overall economic drop.  That is a staggering number and it means more Black Swan impact on our lives over the next 12 to 18 months.  This means resilience isn’t going out of style anytime soon.

Resilience.  Durability.  Robustness.  Flexibility.

Resilience is a core value of our team at work and in my household.  It’s also the core value we provide to most customers as a strategic distributor.  Having a nimble partner with unique supply chains and a different set of rules can make a powerful impact on your ability to come through and deliver for your customers.

This month, we share a story of how one IT provider flexed their resourcefulness by calling on our team in an urgent time.  The result is pretty awesome and it’s classic “good news” right when it’s needed.

Here’s the story about how our client, a NYC-based MSP Saves The Day For A Hospital In Time of Need.