Mayday, Mayday – or Darling Buds?
Amid the tragedies and tumult of COVID-19, we remain hopeful that we can recover as a happier and better society. It will of course not be easy. This has been a moment of significant reflection for how we live our lives, individually and collectively. There are no simple or immediate answers. Nor is this the time for recrimination. The only certainty is uncertainty.
Keep Conversations Flowing
Team Jericho has been busy thinking-through “Business Life After the Virus”. We hope you’ve been able to follow Jericho Conversations – our way of keeping our community connected, intellectually nourished and thinking optimistically about what comes next.
We’ve now completed four conversations – on Pandemics & and an Uncharted Future; Shareholder vs Stakeholder Capitalism; Tax: Who Pays & How?; and, last Friday, Good Work, Mental Health & Workplace Wellbeing. Huge thanks to the array of outstanding speakers and panellists. There has been a terrific turnout for each session – several hundred have participated, from over 30 countries.
Next up in the series: A Return to Experts & Expertise? (Friday 15 May), with Ben Page, CEO of IpsosMORI; former Government Tsar, Paul Morrell; Daily Mail Business Editor, Ruth Sunderland; and Counterpoint Director, Catherine Fieschi.
On Friday 22 May, “The State of Trust”, current and future, will be explored by Cardinal Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster; Times columnist and Conservative peer, Danny Finkelstein; Professor Veronica Hope-Hailey; and Amanda Mackenzie, Chief Executive, Business in the Community.
Together, we are determined to find answers for a better society.
Jump-in and sign-up.
New Hope for Trust?
The challenges of trust and trustworthiness remain front-of-mind. The optimist in me thinks that, as we recover from the crisis, a better understanding of trust, trustworthiness and the common good will prevail – as I explain in this OpEd for Management Today. Trust will shift in both shape and direction. It will also wobble for a while.
We have just released the second episode of The Trust Delusion podcast – capturing the reflections and ideas of author Margaret Heffernan; trust guru Veronica Hope-Hailey; KPMG’s Jane McCormick; and – from the corner-shop frontline of community trust, Costcutter Supermarkets Group CEO, Darcy Wilson-Rymer.
Ethics of Disruption
Elsewhere on the podcast front, the latest Ahead of the Curves programme from investment bank Stifel, looks with human intelligence at the Ethics of Disruption, with a particular emphasis on AI. Hosted by Matthew Gwyther, it’s a compelling 30-minute listen, drawing on experts from around the world and with passing references to Kant and Aristotle, 2001: A Space Odyssey and even Little Britain. What can technology teach us about being a better leader? Can humans really learn from AI?
Episode 2 is scheduled for release in early June, looking at leadership learnings and parallels from other recent great disruptions – the arrival of the world wide web; open data; AI (again); the Global Financial Crisis; and now the Public Health emergency of COVID-19.
Speaking of Emergencies…
Where is the climate crisis amid the current mayhem? Future Agenda’s James Alexander asks us all to raise a #voicefortheplanet in this powerful open letter, written to coincide with World Earth Day. The brilliant Celine Schillinger calls time on past practices and poor leadership in Goodbye, Old World.
More to Come
During the coming month, we will also be:
- Hosting three dedicated (virtual) roundtables with KPMG International on the Responsible Tax response to COVID-19. If you are interested in participating, please contact Jericho’s Programme Director, Becky Holloway.
- Working with Centre for London and client Capital & Counties Properties on a forthcoming research report about the restoration of the capital’s human heart and soul. A launch event is planned for June.
- Sharing more findings from Research Director Andrew Gunn’s report on wellbeing and productivity during lockdown. Matthew Gwyther, Jericho Partner and former editor, Management Today, has penned some initial thoughts here. Part of Jericho’s 2020/ 21 Good Work programme.
We very much hope to keep these many conversations going.
Business life after the virus is important. But, like everyone, our first thoughts are with those suffering right now and their loved ones – for those at risk of losing their jobs and especially those fighting on behalf of us all on the healthcare frontline. Too often we read the language and symbolism of war and the search for some heroic victory. But, as the wonderful Suzanne Moore wrote recently in The Guardian, this cannot be about flags and medals because “no-one wins in a pandemic”. Now is the time for community, solidarity, kindness and, dare I say it, even love.
Stay safe. Keep well. Please be careful out there.
Robert Phillips
May 3 2020
