Dreaming of a better world

A personal reflection on the world after the impact of SARS COV 2

I’m not used to writing articles or personal reflections. Quite often because I don’t have enough time between work, family & friends and myself. It seems even keeping up with the news was becoming an Olympic discipline.

And now we have this crisis and the news of every day with the many deaths in so many countries directly related to this awful disease.

Personally, doing more than ever before these last days, together with my team and all my colleagues to steer us through it all.

In the midst of this I just wanted to share my thoughts and hopes. Too early to make any conclusions on whatsoever. We are facing a crisis, only precedent by world wars, the great famines in Africa, the numerous casualties of the tsunami, the civil wars around the world, the ruthless terrorist attacks in recent times.

And it is far from over. We are still fully in it, and potentially remain in it for weeks, months to come, until a cure is found.

But assessing your situation, you can do, at any given moment. And what we can learn today, will surely be revisited years from now, by history masters and/or scientists, most likely with very different from our conclusions today.

But what I have learned and seen until today, the solidarity we feel with our community, our medical staff, the workforce in shops, gives me hope that we will reach new heights, we could have the opportunity to dream of a better world.

From Cost to Hero

We have so many times, especially in Europe, frowned upon the ever-increasing cost of welfare, the fat medical bill in our social security, the big earning medical specialists. We have reduced the bills, complained about to expensive machinery, urged our politicians to cut budgets.

Well now overnight, finally, they become our local heroes, get an applause every time at 20:00 in Belgium and fight daily to keep some many of us alive. Sometimes like soldiers in World War 1, coming out the trenches, without any adequate protection fighting an enemy that they can’t see, but that kills without mercy. Regardless age, fitness, rank, gender or race.

My extreme gratitude to those in our medical world for their sacrifices and devotion.

The slogan now already circulates, which politician will dare to propose the next budget cut in the medical industry? How the doctors and nurses became the Untouchables, superheroes through this disaster.

But now take this further to so many of our companies or other functions in society, where certain services are considered as cost, a necessary evil.

If you think about it, at a certain point in time all of them probably will get their opportunity to become the hero. Time to stop the debates on costs, overheads and divert it to contribution, commitment and passion.

A better business world, all in it together.

From Individual to Collective

Even though not fully achieved yet, the individual freedom, rights, benefits have been reduced to the benefit of all. Citizens have been pressed with their noses onto the fact that exercising at all time your personal freedom could kill yourself, your family, your neighbors.

How strange that with the announced measures in many countries, we agreed so jointly to obey, even with still some mischief happening left and right.

Is it only a reaction of self-preservation, or could it be, call it finally, we are considering that our actions impact our community, regardless the color, race, religion, gender of that community? That communities aren't build on judging the other, but on supporting?

I sincerely hope we will not forget this lesson, and work towards a world where this kind of individual behaviors (I’m righter than you), is surpassed by the feeling (I’m caring about the other).

Imagine what this could do for solidarity in the world on themes like climate, fugitives, the needing, …

Imagine was a song if I remember well, but without a dream, there is no hope.

A better collective world, all in it together.

From Conservative to Digital

Imagine I just wrote. Now take a picture of the roads 2 to 3 weeks ago and now. We just stopped all traffic jams, we have all started teleworking even for departments and companies where this never happened before. Sometimes because the boss wanted control and verification. Would you ever dared to imagine that?

Leadership models of control come to a grinding stop around the world, and the NWOW doesn’t seem to be in to fancy new office buildings, but just in our living rooms with the kids running around.

Those thinking this will come back like it used to be, are also dreaming. We leaped into the digital age with many companies, suddenly. We will need to adjust how we manage people, objectives and results in a fundamental way if we want to continue to be attractive for the needed talents. The factor of trusting your partner – employee is finally becoming a prerequisite to remain valid.

The economical crisis that is already following the virus, will require a fundamental rethinking of basic processes. Among others that we have jumped from to be paper driven to the digital world because everybody is at home. Notary deeds, company records, and so on will accelerate in the digital age.

The new economics and old economy will intertwine now faster than ever. Ready?

A better digital world, all in it together.

From Resource to Care

Finally, when I read the many press releases from companies and governments, I think the final fundamental shift that has started is to consider our people not as a commodity, a resource. We see him/her now as living breathing individual that we need to protect with soap, 1,5 m distance and coughing in our elbow pip.

Protect because we care about his/her life, the one of the colleagues, the family, the community at large. Not only because we must, but I believe also because we want to. We see that the virus shows no discrimination, doesn’t consider the size of your villa or car, if you are Instagram ready or not. It just kills.

Even worse, it attacks more our loved grandparents and parents, and it kills as easily us regardless our age.

Caring for our colleagues, our community has now become as much a business focus as caring about the bottom line.

This will be the hardest to keep, with the fortunes evaporating on the stock exchange. Can we convince our shareholders, our bosses, our managers, our politicians to keep on caring, appeal to their inner better self? Will you or I do the same?

I believe, Yes, We Can. Because like after a world war, nobody will truly have won, everybody suffers a loss, human, financial, individual.

The years after the World War II, which was as global as the virus today where no country was without casualty, the golden years of the 50’s of Hope and the 60’s of Freedom came. Economic growth, emancipation of women, soaring creativity, new technologies, and so on.

Surely the world wars where still far more violent, ruthless, deadly, inhumane, but the solidarity you see arising out of this crisis hopefully will bring the same mindset.

If we truly all together, would make it our purpose, why can’t the 2020’s become also the beginning of the age of Caring

A better caring world, all in it together.