Covid – 19: Thrive or Die – What will you choose?

written by @ajain and @rgov - astute political observers

During this Covid-19 crisis, we witnessed the best of human behavior (such as the police officer giving N95 masks to a nurse instead of a speeding ticket) and the worst of human behavior (such as people killing each other over toilet paper). We also saw the best of National character (such as India helping countries with much-needed medicines and financial aid to poorer countries) and the worst of National character (such as China hiding the Covid-19 related information and refusing to send medicines and other supplies to the needing countries).

During the crisis, many innovative ideas came into being as viable business ideas such as tele-a-doc, contact-less deliveries, remote working, etc. Most of the new ideas/approaches to working have been quickly established and accepted by masses and corporate organizations. Having lived with it for few months the ‘Fear Factor’ among management teams will go away paving the way for change especially since the business benefits are compelling It is the further evolution of these approaches that we think will change the lifestyle forever and in our opinion for good for those who adapt to the change. In essence, it will leave the choice on us whether we want to thrive or die in the future. Technology is what is going to power the bulk of the changes and there are no gray areas in technology adaption. Either you adapt or you don’t.

1. Individuals will have more freedom.

After the initial shock, organizations have adopted and have become comfortable with a remote workforce. Technologies today, already support this remote interaction. This would entail individuals working from any location are not tied to the location of their offices. A key benefit that will emerge from this is that people will save on an average of 2-3 hours per day of commute. This time saved can result in individuals enriching their lives, if they so choose. Many consulting organizations that require their consultants to fly on Monday through Thursday routine to be at the client site will not be required to do so and as a result, the consultants will be saved from the travel nightmares and will see reduced stress in general.

2. Families will grow stronger.

As an increased number of both the parents will be working from home along with their kids who in turn might be doing remote learning there will be an increased interaction among the family members. This will result in a greater understanding of each other within the family and as a result family ties will become stronger. This is the key factor in reversing the trends of families going from a Joint family to the nuclear family. This will be good for parents as they grow older and will continue to enjoy the same life as they did when they were young instead of being forced to go to old age homes.

3. Communities will come together.

During the onset of the disease, we all witnessed empty shelves and fights over basic items such as eggs. Supply Chain, though not disrupted in a significant manner, was not geared towards restocking the shelves at the pace that was required due to the panic hoarding mentality of individuals. It is not unfathomable that people will shift towards growing locally and consuming locally for most of their dairy, poultry, and fruits & vegetables need. This will bring the communities together along with increasing the nutritional value of the food.

4. Nations will become more self-reliant.

During the Covid-19 crisis, it became evident that most countries neither had the basic medications to treat the disease nor had the manufacturing plants to produce them. The scenario extends to other necessary items such as food and critical raw material. Lack of manufacturing plants creates a situation of total dependence on other nations. Coupled with supply chain disruptions, it is more than likely that nations will start to bring back home manufacturing of critical products and will start to diversify the supply chain to avoid the proverbial situation of putting all the eggs in one basket. This will also create jobs in home countries.

5. Global resource consumption will be reduced.

There are too many examples to give here so we will provide just one to provide a perspective on how the global resource consumption will be reduced and how it will make life healthier and possibly happier.

Many organizations have already announced that in the next 5 years they expect that 50 to 75 percent of their resources will work from home or remotely. As mentioned in the points above, the fuel-saving due to daily commute, air travel, and logistics to make fuel available is sufficient to make a sizable impact on a nation’s expenses towards the purchase of fuel. Less fuel consumption means less pollution which today is the single biggest factor for the increased number of cases of hypertension. This increase in a healthy living will reduce the medical insurance expenses for the corporates. It indirectly also reduces the carbon footprint of the buildings as now the corporate offices will require a much smaller place.

In summary, the world as it evolves through the prism of these changes will be a very different world.
We have an opportunity here to de-emphasize the materialism in our lives and embrace humanity once again – living peacefully, harmoniously, and stress-free.

What do you think, the new world will look like? Please leave a comment.