REBOOT THE SYSTEM
Do you still remember the time you wished you could start over? You were probably feeling oppressed by the way things were going and thought that starting over would set everything to rights. It’s likely that you figured out what was going wrong, and felt that the best way to stem the bleeding and buy time to rectify the error would be to reboot the system.
Guess what? You finally have a chance to do it.
The collapse of enterprises and the growing realization that things will no longer be the same in the coming decades have hurled many of us back to the starting gate. The old system has to be dismantled. Huge chunks of it that have no use in the new system have to be replaced. Already we hear a call for ethical standards and commitment to humanity to be reexamined. The impact of old industries on the environment, the balance of power between the producer and the consumer, and the sharing of responsibility between the authority and those that it has been mandated to protect must be scrutinized now that they have been proven defective and imperfect. While the vision to offer the best remains, the definition of what the best is has shifted.
What turns out to be a recurring theme in this issue is how businesses are grabbing opportunities to improve their internal systems. Some of them are driven by economic reality, such as pivoting production to answer new market demands. Many garment manufacturers, for example, have found new revenue streams in producing PPEs.
Some are ethical recommitments, such as improving safety standards and replacing the old and faulty best practice. Most luxury resort operators who were interviewed for a special report on postpandemic travel revealed plans to upgrade their hygiene standard, which will elevate the old system to hospital-grade protocols.
And some of them are even a combination of both, that is, finding a healthy balance between profitability and social responsibility. This is illustrated in a section of this issue’s lead story. A collaboration between an engineering design firm and industrial design practice produced perfectly fitting snorkeling masks. It immediately saw an opportunity to apply the exceptional design to manufacturing reusable, highly breathable, and comfortable surgical masks, which was in very short supply at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This month’s issue also probes legitimate concerns about luxury travel under the ‘next normal’ circumstances. The executives who shared with us worry about the future of flying brought up, among others, procedural delays at the airports, short-notice cancellations of reservations, and confusion over conflicting information from ‘official’ sources becoming very real. But, as always, there is the dark clouds’ flipside. Recalling how 9/11 changed the protocols on travel safety, many of them feel that safe distancing, contactless check-ins, and frequent sanitization will become a norm. Luxury travel, which has always meant utmost privacy and discreet service, will likely stay the same.
P