Silver Linings
I’ve been meeting with CEOs this week at our routine council meetings, and while we are still in “meeting season,” the genuine mood is upbeat.
Overall, the outlook is positive and rising. Travel is going to come roaring back by fall, and some are holding events, though most are waiting a bit longer to host big meetings in 2022. Office work is coming back, with flexibility the operative word. Those reporting through surveys are telling us that their employees want flexibility, and if they want to come back at all, it’s for social purposes most of all. This echoes our broader analysis, which I blogged about last week.
Many are not requiring vaccines and masks when in the office. Some are using formal methods of attestation or requiring vaccines. One thing’s for sure — employees don’t want to wear masks back at the office all day, and they also don’t want to come back to the office so they can sit in cubes and email one another. Many want to stay at home and keep the gift that keeps on giving — no time wasted on ridiculous commutes! Remote work is here to stay.
Risk also continues to be top of mind, including ransomware and security more broadly. So are managing in inflation, maintaining talent, and innovating with hybrid teams. The cost of cybersecurity is rising, and more and more CEOs are training staff and putting in formal methods to test behaviors. They are also making sure that employees are genuinely aware of the risks they unwittingly create by not being aware of the actions bad guys take these days — and they take them every moment of every day. Just ask the beef plant and gas line companies that were recently hacked!
It’s great to see leaders getting back on the road, looking at COVID-19 for the lemonade it created despite the very real death and destruction it wrought. Bad things can create silver linings, and most leaders are optimistic about what’s ahead and are looking at how to keep the best of what the pandemic taught us and maintain it into the future. That’s something to be optimistic about!