This is an email that our Managing Director, Phil Smithson sent out to everyone in our company (quite literally, everyone@onoffgroup.com) in response to the state of things since COVID-19.
Our Marketing team asked to share this letter publicly because the message that it contains is something that we could all do good from hearing.
If your company is facing uncertainty during this time, know that we’re right alongside you.
And we’ll be here with you until we all come out on the other side.
Dear On-Off Group,
Well... shit.
Sometimes (always), life doesn’t go how you expect it to.
The Coronavirus has hit and our past products don’t work anymore. The tap [faucet] has been turned off and the same tap is unlikely to be turned on again this year.
Workshops and UX projects have been pushed back and tentatively scheduled for later this year (April, May, July...) but we don’t know how long it will take to go back to “normal” and really, I suspect that in fact the whole world will never go back to what it was like before. It’s up to us to create a new “normal”.
What’s a company to do but learn, adjust, iterate, right? That’s what we tell our clients to do so now it’s time to step up and show the world how it’s done. We’re about to discover the real meaning of “innovate or die”.
A lot of companies are not going to survive the next 2 months but I want On-Off Group to be one of the ones that does.
We owe it to ourselves, our employees, and our clients.
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, it is the one that is the most adaptable to change.”
— Charles Darwin
We are adaptable. We are agile. We are innovative. We know the mindset required to get us out of this. We have to embrace it and use it. We have to learn.
Making it work is hard. Having the power to push through the negativity and constant stream of bad news and push on is hard. To persevere is hard. But it must be done.
So what can we do?
This is the biggest challenge in the company’s 6 year history. It’s probably the biggest challenge any of us have ever faced and hopefully, will ever face. If it all blows over in 4 weeks and we go back to normal, great. I’m ready to do that but we need to prepare for the worst case scenario.
As I write this, I don’t know what On-Off Group looks like in 2 months’ time but this is our fate and the fate of everyone in the world right now and we must accept it and deal with it. Amor Fati.
“Accept the things to which fate binds you, and love the people with whom fate brings you together, but do so with all your heart.”
— Marcus Aurelius
At this time, the best response is to be as helpful as we can to as many people as we can. Proceed with projects where we can figure out other ways of bringing value.
We’ve never had any other purpose in life than that. Connect with clients, ask how they are, listen to them. The future lies there. There is opportunity in chaos if we are willing to stand still and listen and observe.
“Frightened of change? But what can exist without it? What’s closer to nature’s heart? Can you take a hot bath and leave the firewood as it was? Eat food without transforming it? Can any vital process take place without something being changed? Can’t you see? It’s just the same with you-and just as vital to nature.”
— Marcus Aurelius
Love your fate. Because that’s the only option.
Stay safe,
Phil
