Many governments around the world are acting to protect jobs, to varying degrees of success, that I can see. Protecting jobs is laudable and necessary, especially in times like these, during a pandemic. When you think about it, it’s actually throwing the spotlight on something many governments, corporations and companies have been trying to do, which is to continually grow core competencies and adjacent competencies so as to continue delivering value regardless of the external environment. After all, a fifty dollar note is still legal tender for fifty dollars no matter how crumpled and muddy it might be. If the goods and services you are providing are no longer bringing in decent income, perhaps it’s time to provide something else. Don’t think about “diversity” while you’re at it, think more about “variety”. They are not the same thing! You do not only have one skill, you have many skills, all of which are deployable and potentially useful to someone, whether customer, client or boss. You just need to decide to purposefully embark on something else and not wait for government handouts and rescue packages. Those are necessary, of course, but not sustainable. You know that. So, start doing something about it!

Companies need to have the same mindset. I know that too many pay lip service to the idea of using government loans and grants to stabilize and keep them afloat while they work ON their value offerings. Often, the government loans and grants are simply delaying their eventual sinking because the people running those companies have no desire to put in the effort to continuously raise the delightfulness of their offerings. Those people simply want their income-generating cows to keep producing milk while being fed the minimum and living a miserably sedentary and confined life. I have heard people from Scandinavia in the shipping line complain to me that their shipbuilding projects in my own nation have not been up to their expectations. While I do not know both sides of the story, it is enough to make me wonder what has been slipping.

Pandemics like the current COVID-19 one do not cause the economy to take a hit. They merely expose weaknesses, internal rot and faultlines. However, they also bring strengths to the fore. They can help uncover resources we have forgotten about or ignored for too long.

Stop worrying about your job, or your source of income. Look for what competencies and resources you have now, and go get new cheese. And get some cows in the meantime, too!