Normal? Never again...

It is mid-summer 2020 and COVID-19 measures are violating the economy. But it also offers opportunities to improve our world permanently. We are in transition. Amidst the chaos of letting go of the past and entering a new reality. Popular concepts from the previous century, like shareholder capitalism and neo-liberalism, are rapidly going south. The USA and the UK, former strongholds of the free market, have turned into caricatures of their past. Progressive ideas are rapidly emerging such as a different kind of stakeholder capitalism, the circular economy and base income for all. Meanwhile, measures to combat the climate and environmental crisis such as the European Green Deal are gaining momentum and with a bit of imagination, Covid-19 could even be speeding things up. 

We live in exciting times and with a little imagination, things will never be the same again.

In the Netherlands we see high private debts while the average disposable incomes did not grow for the last two decades, real hourly wages have been falling for ten years and access to subsidies and allowances is becoming increasingly difficult. As a result, many Dutch households cannot make ends meet or have too small financial buffers. Due to budget deficits, government expenditure and investments have been declining for ten years. As a result, too little has been invested in healthcare, education, arts, innovation, nature conservation and social justice systems, to name a few. As a result, we face an eroding public and healthcare sector, with evident shortages of people and resources.

About 1.3 million people currently work in healthcare in the Netherlands. Tens of thousands of new vacancies are added every month. The shortage of healthcare workers will rise to 80,000 people in 2022. The absenteeism rate is over 5%, which is the highest of all sectors. And over 110.000 are leaving the sector every year. At the moment 1 in 7 of the economic actives work in healthcare. That should be 1 in 4 by 2040, according to the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport. 1 out of 4? How can this ever be sustainable and normal?  

In the corporate world, profits indeed have been high in the last couple of years, but investments have been low because much of the profit is being passed on to shareholders or otherwise withdrawn from the company. Meanwhile, real estate, equity and other wealth markets were hyper-growing, as capital gains have been driving money there for three decades already. This excessive growth of the financial sector and capital markets lead to greater inequality, more instability and lower economic growth. If you want to be rich, it's not by working hard, but by making the money work for you. Is it normal that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer? 

In the Netherlands alone about over a million people live in poverty, amongst which over 25% are children. Is it normal that large multinationals hardly pay any taxes due to wicked fiscal constructions and arrangements by tax paradises such as The Netherlands? While small entrepreneurs like myself are facing up to 50% tax pressure? Is it normal that 1% of the population owns as much capital as the remaining 99%? And that a handful of billionaires own as much a half of the world population? Is it normal that a minority gets rich by destroying the planet for all of us? And is it normal that about 4 out of 5 workers are not engaged and satisfied with their work? Is it normal that our economic metrics such as corporate turnover, profit growth and gross national growth, stands in the function of people's asocial and detrimental ecologic behaviour? 

Although many people crave for a return of good old pre-COVID-19 times, the stream of new ideas, concepts and initiatives in society is accelerating and I do not doubt that the next generation will create a new economic reality. Question is do we wait for them to do it? Or do we better start now?

Radical reforms are required to forge a society that will work for all

On April 3, 2020, even the Financial Times - a stronghold of capitalism - published an editorial in which they wrote: "There must be a radical reform of the policies that have been pursued over the past four decades. Governments will have to play a more active role in the economy. Government services should again be seen as investments, not as costs. Labour must become less uncertain. Redistribution of wealth must be back on the agenda, and the privileges of the older generation and the wealthy are no longer self-evident. Policies that until recently were seen as freakish, such as basic income and capital tax, will have to become part of a new package of measures." 

The German car market in the first five months of 2020 has not been so low since 1975. The German government came to the rescue with a support package worth 130 billion euros. VAT was lowered by 3% and a subsidy of six thousand euros per electric car is being paid. These German stimulus measures strongly promote investments in clean mobility as part of the energy transition. In a couple of years, clean energy for cars will be as normal as beer with sausage.

This summer I had lots of quality time to reflect during my holidays. Away from the craze of everyday and particularly the recent lockdown, I asked myself what to do. While many people long for a return to pre-COVID-19 times, I feel an even stronger drive to accelerate our world to this new kind of reality. And I see many signs around me that a new generation of political and corporate leaders want the same. And many of my friends and children. The years ahead will no doubt be a bit fuzzy as we still have to find new solutions together. 

Is your CULTURE & branding ready for this new reality?

We will need to change our perspective on human motivation and intrinsic behaviour. Can we stop seeing humans as a greedy egoistic species, but as an empathic social creature willing to support each other? I think we can. This world needs many more positive impact makers to accelerate the transition. If people and their organisations would be better united and equipped with new meaningful purpose, the transition could gain even more momentum. I do not doubt that emotive branding can help do just that.

Are you running an organization and want to know how to better prepare for and contribute to this new reality? Then give us a call to discuss how we can help you.