2021 the year of equality and justice

I am a simple human being in the Autumn of my life. So what I say is not conditioned by a fear of ending my career or not nailing that huge deal that might transform and secure my future.

I am not political with a big p. But I do take an interests in the politics of the day. I like business and entrepreneurship mostly small businesses doing mundane things as well as incredibly innovative world changing things. I am an idealist yet I am pragmatic too.

I do have my red lines though. I don't like big monopolistic business nor do I like big government. I love it for important services devolved down to local government level. I love public service for addressing inequalities and injustice that free markets will never address.

Yet we can't do that without the politics of it. Do we really have to scapegoat minorities and the poor to win elections. To groom and condition societies so that we can appeal to the worst of their human instincts so that we can govern as we please.

Is lying and fake news an acceptable way of conducting ourselves? Is that the only way anyone can win. All the big and small businesses that backed Donald Trump. Would they really conduct their business that way. Would you do business with someone that shamed you in public because you disagreed with them. Would you do business with someone that transacted every word, punctuation mark and breath that you breathed to prove their domination over you. So they could demand they won even if they lost.

Is that what being the most powerful economic country in the world requires you to become.

Am I just too idealistic? Is expecting the truth idealistic. Is asking for equity in the work place between senior management compensation, shareholders returns and workers pay too much to ask. Why can a person, let alone a 25 year old on an average wage not afford to purchase a new home like I could back in the early 1980's. Is that progress? By what measure is that progress?

Are broken societies with poor health even in developed nations a normal that we all just accept? Is their room for activism when media owned by billionaire's crushes anyone that challenges the gross corruption that is openly displayed in so called great nations. Is the rules based global order just something to bash smaller nations with whilst continuing to loot their resources, their skills and their access to the so called free market?

You might argue that I am making a huge political statement. But business and politics are inseparable. To deny their complicity would be to delude ourselves.

So wouldn't business prosper by helping all sections of society from every class, race, ethnicity, religion, nation to realise their potential. Will inequality and injustice define the future of our ever growing gross domestic product or is that just a meaningless number floating around in a vacuum.

My hope for 2021 is that as a result of Covid19 exposing the reality of our existence that we use the learning to change the blinkered mindset. That not only should we use this opportunity to mitigate the widening equity and equality gap but commit to eradicating it once and for all. That's a corporate commitment a business commitment that should define the politics of our day.

Don't tell me about Bezos and Amazon and his billions or the Unicorns, It is a hand that has played out narrow and reverse the gap. Otherwise just spend your time sycophantically being a slave to the dollar and see another 80 years of life or more waiting for trickle down to fail another few generations.

So as an individual what are you going to do to make 2021 and beyond a better place for all those live on this planet? Maybe I am just a dreamer...but I am not the only one!

I am Rafiq Chohan, I am a business adviser and an economic development professional currently working with www.makebelieve.digital a great digital experience company. Feel free to contact me on [email protected]