HP Innovation Journal Issue 15: Summer 2020 | Page 20

THOUGHT LEADER: POST-COVID ERA
Sensing &
Shaping the
Post-COVID Era
This crisis will have lasting effects.
How can companies prepare to take advantage?
BY MARTIN REEVES, PHILIPP CARLSSON-SZLEZAK,
KEVIN WHITAKER, MARK ABRAHAM
OVID-19 AND THE containment policies aimed at
C controlling it have changed how we work and what
we consume. History shows that such changes are not
always temporary—crises can fundamentally reshape
our future beliefs and behaviors. How, then, can companies
prepare for a post-crisis world, rather than hunkering down
and waiting for a return to the past?
Let’s first consider how attitudes and behaviors are shaped by
a deep societal crisis. Major disruptions can cause fundamental
shifts in social attitudes and beliefs, which pave the way for new
policies, ways of working, and consumer needs and behaviors, some
of which persist in the long run.
Historical examples of societal
crisis–induced shifts
The Black Death, which killed more than 25 million people in
14th-century Europe, is credited by some historians with ending
feudalism and serfdom and ushering in the Enlightenment by shifting
power to increasingly scarce labor resources. We can say without
exaggeration that the plague shaped the path of European history.¹
Consider also the impact of World War II on women’s participation
in the workforce. With a large share of the working-age population
deployed in the war effort, women were encouraged to fill jobs on
the domestic front, through efforts to reduce social (and sometimes
legal) barriers. After the war, the effects of these shifts persisted,
driving an acceleration of female workforce participation.²
The 9/11 terrorist attacks similarly reshaped transportation and
security policies worldwide. There was a collective shift in societal
attitudes about the trade-off between personal privacy and security.
As a result, citizens accepted higher levels of screening and
surveillance in the interest of collective security.
This article was originally published by BCG Henderson Institute in March 2020.
INFOGRAPHICS BY MSJONESNYC
INNOVATION/ SUMMER 2020
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