Normally when you start a job you shower, shave and show up at your new offices with a feeling of untouched promise and opportunity. You don’t know exactly what the next few days will bring and there’s a sense of excitement due to that uncertainty.

This time is different. As I embark on my new role as CMO at Vivaldi today, I’m not showing up at an office. I’m not meeting anyone. I’m not shaking any hands or figuring out if the coffee machine is any good. I won’t get an access card, I won’t forget the eight new names I just learned and I definitely won’t test my new office chair.

This time is corona time.

Corona time is uncertainty at whole new level. I don’t know if I’ll see my brilliant colleagues in two weeks or two months – or more. I don’t know the impact of this crisis on my family, my new company, the economy or the world. We don’t know the impact it will have on humanity.

Humans in Iceland have a way of surviving and thriving. If anyone is used to embarking on challenging journeys, it would be them. So when Jon von Tetzchner, half Icelandic and CEO of Vivaldi, told me that there’s a saying on Iceland that goes “Fall er fararheill” I listened up.

“It means a journey that starts badly is going to be great,” Jon said.

That’s a spirit we all need in the time to come.