Crises are dreadful – this applies especially to those who are directly affected. However, each crisis comes with an opportunity – the opportunity to create something positive once the crisis has been overcome. Well, truth be told, the coronavirus pandemic should have been crisis enough to make us rethink both our behavior and our way of doing business.
Do we really want to intervene that much in nature, with the effect that we are endangering its balance? The use of insecticides, the operation of monocultures, increasing deforestation of the rainforest, considerable CO2 emissions in industry and transport, and the resulting global warming – all of these interventions are too much for our ecosystem to handle. The result is that it might possibly not recover from these interventions.
The war in Ukraine showed us once again that we should reconsider with whom we want to maintain trade relations and what terms and conditions should apply to us and our trade partners. The German Supply Chain Act says that we should also take responsibility for the employees of our suppliers, although this approach is only implemented to a limited degree. Now that Russia has started its war of aggression against Ukraine, we realize that it also matters under which system of government the companies we do business with are operating. As a minimum requirement, we should not make ourselves dependent upon autocratic governments or countries that do not respect human rights. And yes, we should have known that long before the war. But now, it is high time we asked ourselves whether we want to put economic growth and personal wealth above everything else?
Obviously, it is important to ensure social stability in your home country and in Europe overall, and to safeguard jobs or create new ones. I am positive that we will manage to do so, but we should follow proper objectives: e.g. protect people (citizens, consumers, your own staff, and the employees of suppliers), protect the environment and preserve natural resources, and defend freedom and democracy for us and help others to find freedom and democracy.
Innovation is necessary to allow for energy transition to happen, to promote climate protection, and to rethink the ways we do transportation and agriculture. Growth will materialize in many of these areas, in others not so much, however. This almost always involves willingness to change, and the art of letting go of the old and then making room for something new. Which normally works best during a severe crisis. Alright then, let us take this opportunity arising from the current wave of crises (coronavirus pandemic, an aggressor waging war in Europe, the threat to our security, the integration of many refugees, and the climate crisis) and set off for new horizons.
In a nutshell: What we need is to turn away from the narrative “Growth above everything else” to new values such as democracy, protection of people and environment, fair (trade) relations, less performance, more purpose. What purpose or narrative is your organization pursuing?
This text first appeared in my newsletter 'Innovation on Wednesday'. It is published every other Wednesday. For subscription click here