Is This Your New Normal?
What if the biggest threat to your business wasn’t a cyberattack, a market crash, or even a global pandemic—but your own ability to adapt to dysfunction?
What if the real danger wasn’t the crisis itself, but how comfortable you’ve become with it?
If that question makes you uneasy, good. It should.
Because what you’re about to read might hit closer to home than you expect.
The World Was Ending… and People Were Buying Pools
In the 2021 satirical film Don't Look Up, two scientists discover a planet-killing comet hurtling toward Earth. They sound the alarm. They go on TV. They plead with world leaders. But no one listens. The media spins it. Politicians stall. The public shrugs. And instead of preparing for impact, people go shopping, throw parties, and scroll through memes.
It’s absurd. It’s hilarious. It’s terrifying.
And it’s exactly what happened during COVID-19.
While hospitals overflowed and supply chains collapsed, people were buying boats, installing backyard pools, and binge-watching Tiger King. The world was on fire—literally and figuratively—and yet, many chose to normalize the chaos rather than confront it.
Why? Because normalizing dysfunction is easier than facing the pain of change.
The Psychology of Normalizing the Terrible
This isn’t just satire or pandemic behavior—it’s human nature. Psychologists call it the “normalization of deviance.” It’s when people gradually accept lower standards or dangerous conditions because they become familiar. Over time, what once seemed unacceptable becomes “just the way things are.”
It’s the boiling frog metaphor in action: drop a frog in boiling water, it jumps out. But heat the water slowly, and it stays until it’s too late.
This happens in relationships, in politics, in public health—and yes, in business.
Especially in IT consulting.
When IT Chaos Becomes the New Normal
We’ve seen it too many times: a company sticks with a tech provider who’s slow to respond, constantly behind on updates, and barely keeping systems afloat. But instead of switching, they adapt. They lower expectations. They normalize the dysfunction.
Until one day, they get hit with a Crypto Locker ransomware attack. Or their backups fail. Or their customer data is leaked.
And even then, some executives still hesitate to make a change—not because they think things are fine, but because they fear the disruption of switching more than the consequences of staying.
It’s the Don’t Look Up effect in IT: the signs are everywhere, but leadership keeps saying, “It’s probably fine.”
Wake-Up Calls Are Too Late
The tragedy in Don't Look Up isn’t just the comet—it’s how long it takes people to take it seriously. By the time the world wakes up, it’s too late.
In IT, the wake-up call often comes in the form of:
- A ransomware attack that locks down operations for days.
- A compliance audit that reveals massive gaps.
- A data breach that damages customer trust.
And suddenly, the cost of inaction becomes painfully clear.
You Don’t Have to Wait for Impact
Here’s the good news: you don’t have to wait for disaster to make a change.
If your IT provider is slow, unresponsive, or reactive instead of proactive, that’s not “just how it is.” That’s a warning sign.
If your team is constantly putting out fires instead of innovating, that’s not business as usual. That’s a red flag.
And if your leadership is more afraid of switching providers than of losing data, it’s time to ask: what are we really afraid of?
Conclusion: Don’t Normalize the Comet
The world of Don't Look Up didn’t end because of a comet—it ended because people refused to act. They normalized the absurd until it became irreversible.
In business, especially in IT, the same pattern plays out every day. But it doesn’t have to.
You can choose to act before the impact. You can choose to stop normalizing dysfunction. You can choose a partner who helps you thrive, not just survive.
Because this pattern of accepting the unacceptable doesn’t just happen in movies. It happens in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Dallas—and yes, even in San Antonio.
