Rachel O'Connor
7 Nov 2024
Even before US election night, uncertainty and volatility around the world was placing greater responsibility (and opportunity) on business to continue to step up and lead, innovate and drive the critical changes needed for a more positive future. It seems with the change in US leadership that this is more important again.
October and November have been fast moving for me and I’ve found myself in a flurry of meetings and learning opportunities, thrown into new situations where I’ve known few if any people whilst also being amongst the least knowledgeable in the room. It’s been energising, reassuring, exhilarating, and motivating all at the same time. These experiences have ranged from walking in the Brecon Beacons, to meeting local MPs, playing Barista in a local cafe, and chatting to old and new friends around the world who are making significant changes in their lives. This has led to great discussion and a lot of listening to different perspectives and experiences. It's surely a time of significant recalibrations for many of us. In a couple of quieter days, I committed to desk researching predictions for 2025 and the key themes and issues business leaders might prepare to navigate.
Thanks for reading Begin Again After the Chaos & Change - Rachel O'C! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.
So, what is my advice for working people and business leaders as we face the seasonal wind down of another year and wind up to planning for 2025 and beyond.
Plan and be ready to change it
We are all operating in a more volatile world than ever before. Our eyes and ears are filled with scenes and news of massive change. From unmissable and devastating climate events, economic and geopolitical instability, unpredictable consumer behaviour change and citizen activism, to the march of AI and tech into our once simple and human centred lives. These are unprecedented times.
It seems to me that risk assessment is now an essential part of any serious business growth plan and contingency is an ever-present factor in all our lives. Change is constant, so a loose plan with clear objectives and a readiness to adjust and make change continues to be essential for 2025.
Social Impact and ESG is no longer a silo tick box
EU and UK Policy change will impact all areas of business operations. This means business must have a robust, measurable, evidence led, ESG narrative and plan that is woven authentically into the DNA of business operations. If the stakeholder and customer expectation isn’t enough to encourage business leaders to embrace and centralise the changes and commitment needed here, then tighter protocols for financial investments will make this a more urgent need for all business.
Fines, penalties, and loss of funding for businesses that don’t meet these important requirements in the areas of evidenced Green Claims, Impact Reporting and a Measurable ESG strategies, will drive change. Businesses that fall foul in these areas will see an erosion of investment, reputation, trust, and long-term business viability.
So, get your house in order now, don’t wait, embrace the importance of your purpose and mission beyond a nice to do.
Know your Permission Space
Our ever-fractured world of values, attitudes, belonging tribes, and communication channels mean that for business leaders then it’s especially important to do what you say you are going to do and deliver your promises.
Employees and customers alike are increasingly looking to business and brands to uphold their values and promises and be consistent in their behaviours. With so much change, there has never been a more crucial time for brands and business to understand what their role in the lives of its customers is. and to connect and engage with them in that space.
This presents an exciting opportunity for your marketing communications teams and can lean into all kinds of places – from humour, thought leadership and entertainment, to education, experiential and beyond. This is a massive opportunity for great creativity once you know who and where your people are who may want to connect with you.
There is a need for insight, understanding and really knowing your audience, and for your team to become an authority in your permission space.
Your marketing and comms teams must really understand their audience and focus hard on building a narrative/ conversation which is consistent, authentic and adds value to the lives of 'your people’.
Act local, look after nature, your people, and your future people
When a business hits a sustainable commercially viable tipping point there is expectation and opportunity in reinvesting in the communities that have got you that far.
Once established and viable then the good stuff can kick in. A proactive valuation of the communities that support you presents an opportunity to create positive engagement and build empathy locally.
By investing in your local or home community in an authentic way, you can place value and recognition and demonstrate thanks to those that have got you this far.
Whether this is via your work force commitments, or the impact of your business on the local environment and communities you ‘live in’, it represents a powerful opportunity to build reputation and leave an imprint of the values your business lives by.
Political Brands and Consumer Activism
More and more people are choosing brands because of their politics and standing up/ protesting when an issue that’s important to them requires change. 15,000 people are marching in London this month to protest about the poor water quality of our rivers, oceans, and the services our water companies provide ... a fitting example of this.
If you stand for an issue important to your ‘people/tribe’ it’s now so important to back it and stand up for it publicly.
Having worked in crisis and issues for household names over many years, this is both wonderful, and counter to all I was ever encouraged to do! Stand up and be counted. Speak your truth.
Equally importantly – as Edelman Trust barometer reported this year, if you don’t make a stand, then silence is read as dissent, and this loses you customer engagement.
So, have your marketing and comms team monitor for all issues that impact your people’s permission space, which may become focus issues for action and statement. You can’t hide when an issue that’s relevant to you and important to your audience group becomes a visible discussion and you need to make a stand.
Trust is a commodity that we are all too short of
As the world navigates its way through the multiple and complex issues we face, then how and who we trust is shrinking by the hour.
Trust pervades all levels of our lives. From how we consume our news, who we listen to and follow online, to which reviews we think are relevant, and the growing confusion and fear surrounding cybersecurity, hacking, AI, Fake News and Click Bait. Add to this the decline in trust of politicians and Governments, and Leadership Trust is in short supply.
To counter this we are placing increasing trust in our local, family/friendship communities alongside our places of work.
Build trust – do what you say – never forget your workforce, your supply chain, your local community, and the environment around you. Placing value and investment here delivers dividends.
Kindness Rocks, Recognise the Unspoken
My last important opportunity for positive impact in 2025 is one that we are all capable of in every moment of every day. This too has historically been in short supply but appears to be making a comeback with some significant force. The opportunity to be kind.
Many of us have run ourselves ragged over the 80s.90s and early 2000s and I meet and hear more and more of people who have burned out, or who are now suffering from mental health, chronic fatigue and illnesses that have been unspoken until now.
With greater awareness, visibility, and acceptance of our need to talk more openly about many of these difficult and uncomfortable things, and to improve and commit to addressing imbalance and inequity, then kindness can have a comeback.
Creating safe spaces and time to talk, listen, understand, and be heard is so important. This cannot happen online as effectively as in real life. Humans need humans and making sure to find ways to connect with each other is essential to our humanity and sanity 😊
As well as kindness for each other, then so too is a need to be kind to ourselves.
Whilst we cannot control the vast majority of what it is playing out and changing in our business and working lives each day, we can certainly (and relatively easily) adopt a consistency of kindness to each other and the precious natural world around us