Is Covid 19 the Silent Global Leveller?
Who would have thought the World would come to a standstill, no single government or entity could have knowingly achieved this, one might argue according to the many conspiracy theories out there that China achieved this. I don’t believe even they could have for-seen the global impact this virus will have.
From Beijing to New York, from Cape Town to Paris, from Mumbai to London, from Moscow to Sydney to Berlin, the world went on lockdown, bar Sweden. Confined to our homes, streets eerily deserted, non-essential businesses and stock exchanges coming to a grinding halt, for all intents and purposes the world without precedent came to a standstill, for the first time in living memory, a thought beyond comprehension in this 21st century.
New terms emerged like, social distancing, flattening the curve, and bringing new meaning to the term lockdown.
The way we work, live, play and interact changed at the drop of a hat, what we knew as normal had become only a memory for a little while.
Who would have thought the World would come to a standstill, no single government or entity could have knowingly achieved this, one might argue according to the many conspiracy theories out there that China achieved this. I don’t believe even they could have for-seen the global impact this virus will have.
Just looking at the way we work is being it seems transformed forever, work from home has shown huge success in many cases and companies are already developing policy around this. In this era of cost containment and reduction, working from home in suitable applications makes perfect sense, the impact this has on office space, utilities, time spent on the road, etc, is a huge consideration.
Covid 19 has singlehandedly become the strongest advocate and proponent of the use of technology and has changed how we traditionally go about conducting our businesses. Take meetings for example where offsite people are involved, instead of traditionally travelling to our meetings, a call on Zoom or similar platforms are making better sense now, whilst these platforms were available in the past Covid 19 has popularised this and forced us into this medium of communication. There are many more examples of other technological interventions because of Covid 19.
In terms of being a global leveller, huge superpowers were left wanting, in terms of leadership, vital equipment, PPE and effective strategy in fighting this pandemic, who would have thought? Countries who we thought were world leaders, were exposed by their indecisive action, denialism and lack of a coherent strategy costing precious lives in their paralysis. Whilst some Countries did extremely well in dealing with this pandemic and curtailing its spread and mortality, a notable observation was the fact that female led the Countries faired than most in this fight, ie, Germany, New Zealand, Finland and Taiwan showing huge successes as they continue to show better results.
Countries in Africa have also shown the world how important leadership is around this and even with limited resources were able to effectively manage this pandemic, God willing may this continue. .
This virus is non-discriminate, nobody is viewed as better than the other, we are all the same, face the same risks and need to adopt the same prevention methods.
Covid 19 has singlehandedly brought our beloved world to its knees, many lessons are being learnt, many more still to be learnt.
Mark Gengan
Director Ark Human Capital