How businesses are adapting during Covid times
With Great Hope for the Future
“Times have changed at Domineer” is the first line of my first published poem ‘Untamed’ in 2013. Knowing what we know now, our everyday lives have changed and utterances like ‘the new normal, home working, hybrid models, zoom meetings and EU Digital Covid Certificates’, are everyday soundings on every street corner across the globe.
The 12th July 2021 marked the 500th day since Ireland’s first confirmed case of Covid-19 and our Chief Medical Officer Dr. Tony Holohan, a person I have come to greatly admire for his clarity, integrity and communications style, marked the occasion with some sobering thoughts.
Key among his words of cautious optimism are:
- The official number of people who have died in Ireland, after contracting the virus is 5,006, and some 278,000 cases of infection have been recorded in the country. Sadly, these statistics include family members and friends alike.
- 600 new cases were reported in the daily figures published for the latest 24-hour period (11th July 2021).
- Around 187m infections have been recorded worldwide.
- More than 4m people have died in the pandemic, worldwide.
- As we approach our 5 millionth dose of the Covid-19 vaccine here in Ireland, we have great hope for our future.
- Our vaccination programme is working; the levels of protection in the community against the virus are increasing daily and those who are fully vaccinated should feel safe to increase their social contacts and to take advantage of new freedoms, while continuing to make positive public health choices in their daily routine.
Reflecting on all of the above and like many living through this pandemic, I am reminded of the line from William Butler Yeats poem Easter, 1916 when he says:
Now and in time to be,
Wherever green is worn,
Are changed, changed utterly:
A terrible beauty is born.
Perhaps in businesses generally and in workplaces in particular, this new ‘terrible beauty’ has already been born and well on its way to heralding more than just a new beginning into work and the work life balance we all yearn for.
When it comes to education generally and business academia in particular, I am a ‘late late developer’ in that I got my primary degree (my B.A.In Management at the IMI at the age of 40+ and my MBA at the Vlerick Business school in Belgium at 50+. I was delighted to read recently that:
- Vlerick’s Online MBA programme has entered the global top 10, rising from the 12th position last year to number 9, and remains the only Benelux business school to be featured in this list.
- With an increasing number of AACSB-accredited schools adding an online option to their MBA programme portfolio, this year’s list is the largest ever, seeing an increase of 10 programmes, for a total of 57 ranked programmes. The United States remains the dominant provider, accounting for 30 of the 57 entrants.
I am not surprised at the performance of my alma mater as their course content, delivery of their suite of programmes, and attractiveness as a business school operating virtually and on location is right in the heart of Europe and all things European. Vlerick has always been to the forefront with its international thinking and its thought leaders being amongst the very best in the world today. I am a proud and active member of their Alumni and also feel deeply privileged, honoured and humbled to receive this certificate of recognition, recently.
I truly recommend their programmes to all who want to experience the very best that is available in Europe today.
