No, not that cancel culture. I’m talking about the new cancel culture, which seems to have emerged concurrently with the pandemic.

When COVID-19 hit hard in early 2020, many companies adopted very flexible policies to help their customers. It became easy to cancel— without penalty—flights, hotel stays, restaurant reservations, and many other commitments we made. This was a great response to the uncertainty that came with the pandemic.

But it seems to have triggered a cancel mentality that extends well beyond flights and hotel reservations. Increasingly, we are experiencing people backing out of commitments unrelated to COVID-19. At the Health Care Compliance Association, the rate of cancellations we receive from confirmed speakers for conferences, the rate of no-shows for job interviews with our human resources department, and the backing out of other commitments people make to the association have all skyrocketed over the last couple of years. And I hear that many of your organizations are experiencing similar trends.