Our editor says during these challenging times more than ever we need to work
together
Deep down we probably always wondered how we’d react when a test really came.
Not the bit of business bad news that affects your short-term position or even
something more serious such as problems in your private life or worries about a family
member.
No, a major life-changing event that alters not only your position on the planet but
also that of every single other person.
The past month has been singularly the biggest thing to happen to any of us lucky
enough not to live through a World War or to have been on military service. Our lives
have been turned upside down, put through the mill and every other analogy
available.
It’s serious stuff and my heart goes out to everyone who has seen a loved one suffer
with this wretched virus. There is no hyperbole when I say we’ll never be the same.
So where to begin a business column in a magazine that prides itself on looking at the
positives from across the Sheffield City Region?
Well, yes, there are still many good things going on. The business world hasn’t totally
ground to a halt and there are many firms that are potentially busier than ever
providing vital services to get us through the next few months.
For the vast majority of people, though, there is uncertainty about what the future will
bring.
The leisure industry has been effectively closed down as the public are discouraged
from leaving their homes.
Agencies, whether they be creative, digital, communications or many other different
services will have received calls and emails from clients putting their contracts on
pause.
The vast majority of people are good people and business decisions are taken after
much agonizing about their consequences. Sadly, some of the less scrupulous among
us will use the pandemic as an opportunity to treat others without thought or
gratitude.
You would imagine that these same people would be too busy panic buying and
stripping the shops of goods, but there we go…
So, how have we handled it so far?
Writing this at the end of the first week of the crisis (March 20) then I’d say in the
most part pretty well. Communities, whether real or virtual, have come together to try
and get each other through it.
There is no easy way, no simple path to success with this virus. We are very much in
the hands of the medical and scientific experts.
For those of us with an aversion to the state or being told what to do by someone with
a proverbial clipboard it can be quite difficult. However, now is the time to do as
you’re told. If they’re wrong, well, the reckoning can take place when we’re all fit and
healthy again.
For businesses there is no one size fits all piece of advice to get through this.
Hopefully government measures will help firms who need it.
My closing thoughts are just be good people. Be kind to those around you. And
together we can see this through.
