The Power of the Collective

As we approach the end of an immensely challenging year, and with Thanksgiving around the corner here in the US, I’ve been reflecting on some of the positives to come out of this period; reasons to be thankful and hopeful for the future.

Back in April UN Secretary-General António Guterres told the world; “Only by coming together will the world be able to face down the COVID-19 pandemic and its shattering consequences”. 

In the past number of months, we have witnessed what the power of the collective can achieve – how when we come together around a challenge, we become greater than the sum of our parts.

We have always been a collaborative industry and we rose to the challenges of the pandemic with a relentless sense of purpose, joining forces like never before to do what we do best; provide solutions. From clients to colleagues to supply partners and sub-contractors, by coming together during this difficult time, we have been able to accomplish extraordinary things, delivering rapid retrofits of pharmaceutical facilities to enable the manufacturing of potential vaccines, transforming buildings into emergency hospitals, and adapting to new ways of working. All of this has allowed us to continue to solve complex challenges efficiently, and more importantly, safely. 

Yes, there have been challenges and no, it certainly hasn’t been easy, but we can take pride in knowing we came together, we pivoted and adapted, and we played a role in supporting the fight against the pandemic, helping create a better tomorrow.

I want to take this opportunity to extend my gratitude and admiration to our partners and clients and to my colleagues and peers across the world who leaned into the challenges of the pandemic with remarkable agility and resilience.  

You worked together, embracing diverse perspectives and new ideas to find solutions to the challenges that have impacted us all this year. It’s been a learning curve like no other and I feel encouraged and enthusiastic about the progress we’ve made. This chapter may not be behind us yet, but we have seen that with challenge, comes important lessons and great opportunity for growth. 

Heading into 2021, I’m looking forward to seeing what we can achieve as we continue to embrace the power of the collective, listening and learning from the many diverse voices we are lucky enough to call colleagues, clients and partners. 

Let’s continue to push the limits so we can move forward together, stronger than before.