Just truism that 2020 has been a terrible year for so very many. If ever there was a time to change it is now, as 2021 begins. I want to share some reflections on the shape of change as I see the coming year develop. They’re reflections that have informed the development of our products.
We all know, we’ve had a bleak year. And many will look into 2021 anticipating difficulties ahead. As we seek to peer over the horizon of this year and into the next, I’d like to share two thoughts with you. They’re each about time as it happens and, in particular about two words used to think about time.
‘I am no better than my fathers’. It’s a saying embedded in a story of a troubled man. He spoke those words in despair and on the point of giving up. Yet from somewhere, he found the will and energy pick himself up and do what he was supposed to do.
Do you know the story of Sisyphus? He’d cheated death and was condemned to repeat the same action time after time. There’s a lesson for those of us caught in the trap of doing the same thing repeatedly and getting the same results.
A while ago I wrote a blog with the title, ‘The Value of Happiness’. At the time it didn’t occur to me that ‘value’ could be read as a ‘quality’ or as the ‘worth’ of happiness. Thinking about it, holding onto this double-meaning of ‘quality’ and ‘worth’ is helpful. Let’s stick with it in thinking about the value of hope.
Years ago I wrote an appreciation of the Aviva’s tag line, ‘Quote Me Happy’. As it happens, I am now a ‘happy’ motor insurance customer of their brand, which I am very happy about. Thanks, Aviva. I’m interested in what, ‘happy’ is.
There’s strong evidence to support defining and articulating business values and then demonstrating them in the way they operate. Indeed, who would question the importance of this, ‘values alignment’ in ensuring a business walks its talk?
With increasing levels of remote working, it’s clearly more important than ever to work with colleagues to increase levels of engagement. We maintain that levels are not likely to increase, without leaders reflecting on their own engagement and what motivates them.
I am always glad to hear people talk about their ‘purpose’ and their ‘why’. It’s just that sometimes, I’m not sure whether they’re selling snake oil?