David J.
Danto
Business travel
thoughts in my own, personal opinion
eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org 
Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD
NOT Traveling Blog, 3rd
Week Of April 2021
David Danto’s ongoing list of disjointed and occasionally random
observations and thoughts as we wait-out the pandemic – mostly NOT traveling
like we used to.
I started writing these blogs under
the title of “Not Traveling” in the
first week of March 2020. (It looks like I missed the official one year anniversary – sorry.) My next real trip (TSA, airplane, rental car, hotel, etc.) will be in May, so it
looks like I need to wind-down the blogs under this title within about a
month. I thought it would be a good idea
to take a step back and reflect upon what I experienced and learned over this last
year.
My first thoughts are toward being thankful. Yes, it was a difficult and stressful period
of my and my family’s life. As hard as
everything was I’m fully aware of how lucky we all were. We didn’t get sick, lose our jobs or lose our
home. We had a warm and safe place to
live and plenty to eat. Just those
things alone gave us a much better experience than many, many less fortunate
individuals. Being thankful for the
daily blessings is something I’ll never grow tired of.
After that, I need to admit that the detox from traveling was
likely a very good thing. Yes, I’m
better than most at navigating the difficulties that business travel throws at
us, but ultimately that’s not really worth the price of a cup of coffee when
you look at it from the perspective of life’s truly important things. I am a person, NOT just a million-miler / diamond-platinum-whatever elite
traveler. I didn’t make the next level
of my programs nor did I requalify for the ones I had. Big whoop.
With all the greed and take-aways the airlines and hospitality firms had
been throwing at us for years it was very good to stop seeing myself through
their lens. I’m off the miles and points
bandwagon, and can no longer be tempted nor influenced by the crumbs the
“sky-gods” may choose to sprinkle in my direction. My credit cards are no longer mileage affinity
cards and I no longer pay
exorbitant prices for airport club membership. Instead of blindly following the old tried and true path for frequent travelers,
this one year break has allowed me to see that what the travel industry offers
nowadays are only hollow shells of what they used to offer, and (with apologies
for mixing metaphors) I’m done with the shell game.
Next, I do need to take a victory lap regarding my
professional advice over the years. No
one – myself included – wanted this horrific pandemic to happen. But in 2014 I
did warn people and firms that a pandemic would come that would force
everyone to work remotely, and separately that year I
explained why our businesses, employees and culture would radically change
when people realized the power of remote and hybrid working. Both of those predictions turned-out to be
completely on-target. As we hopefully
approach the end of the pandemic there will of course be plenty of people that
want things to go back to the old normal.
Articles
have been written that pontificate about the loss of opportunities for people
not in a traditional office, and about how big
firms will demand everyone come back to the office. IGNORE
THEM ALL – they are all missing the point.
The people who claim there is a “loss” from not working every day in an
office are merely showing their own biases.
That first article above about the loss of opportunities is from an
architectural firm that worries about losing business as offices become smaller
and less relevant. And any stodgy firms
that demand a return to the old ways that they want to cling to – well, just
let them. I’m in the camp of the CEO
that recently stated he ‘can't wait for
companies to try to call all their employees back to a traditional office.’ He loves how easy it will be to poach their
best people who are disappointed with their employer's inability to
realistically adapt to the present and future.
Don’t for a second think that we’re going back to the way things were
now that we’ve broken all the false stigmas about remote workers. They
aren’t lazy and unproductive. They
are in fact so productive they work themselves to the point of ‘fatigue.’ Once we can all safely travel again, work will take place wherever it needs to. Individual assignments will be done at home,
group meetings and brainstorming will take place at smaller offices
predominantly designed for just those social tasks, and traveling to clients
and conferences will resume – again when needed. The horse-and-buggy thinking of what work
used to be is never coming back.
In the last twelve months I’ve (usually) enjoyed being closer
to my immediate family, managed multiple repairs and projects around the house,
and dealt with some chronic health issues – all things I couldn’t have done if
I had stayed on the business travel merry-go-round. I also heard from a couple of dozen of you –
people who read my blogs and wanted to engage, ask questions, comment and/or
help correct some of my mistakes. Thank
you. That just reinforces how we are all
members of many communities – be they obvious or not. I would never have chosen this path if
offered it, but I made the best of a horrible situation. I sincerely hope you did as well. I also managed to write these blogs once a
week instead of my prior pace of once every other week or so. As we emerge from this pandemic I suspect
I’ll go back to traveling a little bit more and writing a little bit less
frequently.
Also, for those that have been following the saga and are
curious, I’m still waiting for my renewed passport……sigh………
As always, please feel
free to write to me with comments or items I should add to a future Not
Traveling blog (or if you just need someone to write to.) Stay safe, be well, hug those you’re
sheltering with (but no one else) and do your best to stay positive. We’re going to be in this for a while
longer.
This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal
opinions.
All image and links provided above as reference under
prevailing fair use statutes.
++++++++
The Explanation
for my Not Traveling blogs: In 2014 I was voted
by USA Today readers as one of the top ten business travel bloggers in the
USA. Now mind you,
I turned out to be number ten on the list of ten, but I did make it on (with my
thanks to all those who voted.) Now
that we’re all stuck at home and not traveling, I had to think about what to do
with my blogs. I could stop writing them
entirely – waiting till we all get through the current COVID19 pandemic /
crisis. I could wax nostalgic and/or
complain about past trips. Or, I could
focus all of my efforts on my day job – growing the use of collaboration
technologies – especially in light of how many people are now forced to use
those tools for the first time. In
reflecting upon those choices, what I decided to do is compile an ongoing list
of observations during the crisis. Some
of these may amuse, some may inform, some may sadden and others may help. My goal will be for you to have seen
something in a different light than you did before you stopped to read the
blog. I was going to apologize for how
disjointed these thoughts may seem when put together, but then it dawned on me
that feeling disjointed is our new normal – at least for a little while.