2020 Vision

We all know that it’s been a terrible year, but are there lessons to be learnt and when will our brave new world begin? Once again, Andrew Leci has none of the answers.

- Andrew Leci

FEW WOULD DISPUTE the fact that 2020 has been an annus horribilis. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken countless lives and decimated economies around the world – possibly contributing to an even greater loss of life further down the line – and forced many of us to do some serious re-evaluation.

But as this dreadful year comes to a close, wouldn’t it be nice to look at some of the positives that have come out of it. In the immor(t)al words of Winston Churchill, we should “never let a good crisis go to waste”. While he said this as the Second World War was drawing to an end, the sentiment was echoed by Rahm Emmanuel – a one-time chief of staff in the Obama administration – referring to the global financial crash of 2008. It may not be as cynical as it sounds and is worth taking note of, reflecting the belief that every silver lining has a cloud, and vice versa. If we learn nothing from this tumultuous year, then we are a pretty sad species. Surely we can take something out of the suffering and at least try to look ahead to a brighter future.

One thing that the pandemic has definitely taught us is that we don’t need to travel as much, and this extends to flying around the world for business and (p)leisure, as well as commuting to work. Airlines will, no doubt, have a different take on any positives this has produced, but the fact is that working from home means that many of us don’t need to spend time (and money) getting to work, possibly sitting in traffic jams that cause frustration and compromise our sanity. It also means that time is not wasted on these commutes, theoretically making employees more productive. Theories are very important at this point in history.