I was involved in a conversation about Manifest — the television show where an airplane full of people presumed dead returns alive after five years. The talk turned to parallels between the show’s characters and detainees or prisoners — and how hard it would be for both to reacclimate into the world. At first, people thought “it’s only five years” but when we started listing out things that would have changed in that period, it became a bit more overwhelming to think of having missed most of it.
During the last five years was Covid, of course, but it would also cover an entire political administration, a new Supreme Court, Black Lives Matter and racial justice protests, the overturning of Roe, deaths of the Queen and many prominent people, Brexit, #MeToo, the war in Ukraine, wildfires, and an insurrection on the Capital. The world is a different place.
I’ll bet your organization is different as well. A new cadre of staff. Post-Covid life and more remote work. More apps and software programs than ever. New clients, new needs, and new ways of addressing them. As you turn the calendar to 2023, take a few moments to reflect on how you have evolved over the past half-decade. What would the imaginary plane passengers find that has improved and what would they be dismayed to see is still an issue for you?
We spend a lot of time looking forward and developing strategic plans. Sometimes, it’s good to look back in a longer time frame and see what we can learn from the journey — even an imaginary one.
