2020 has been a crazy year for everyone. Everything from a global pandemic, mass unemployment, protests, to even plagues from the bible happened in 2020 ( Seriously, swarms of locusts destroyed farms in east Africa). So much crap has happened this year, that most people get emotionally exhausted just thinking about it. However, 2020 did teach us three important lessons that founders should pay close attention to.
Lesson #1: Adapt Or Die
Covid-19 threw out the norms of yesteryear and completely change the game for businesses around the world. Every type of business was impacted in some shape or form by the pandemic. Thousands if not millions of small businesses were forced to close, millions of people lost their jobs, and many companies were forced to shift their entire workforce to remote work.
When you take a closer look at companies that have been successful so far in weathering the storm that is 2020, they all have one thing in common. They adapted. Even though 2020 was terrible, it still provided opportunities for some businesses to change gears or help entrepreneurs create new businesses. Opportunities ranging from creating masks to helping other companies transition to remote work or socially distance work environments, and digital event planning are just a few examples. No matter what your business is, If you're able to survive 2020 while staying in the black, you definitely adapted.
Lesson #2 Privacy and Security
Depending on who you ask, 2020 was either great or incredibly annoying in regards to privacy. China introduced a new draft privacy bill that is similar to GDPR and California recently enacted a new privacy law this year that will impact small business owners around the entire US. Companies like Zoom, Twitter, and H&M all had issues around security and privacy. H &M was even fined $41 million after the company was caught spying on its own employees. Zoom got into hot water with the FTC for misrepresenting its privacy and security practices, and Twitter became the first US company to be fined under GDPR. The moral of the story, make sure that you are aware of all the privacy regulations that your business is subject to, or you may end up with a fine big enough to put you out of business.
Lesson #3 Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)
Within the past four years, companies realized that they needed to pay attention to D&I issues because if they didn't, it would erode their goodwill with their employees and customers. According to a poll by Gallup, race relations in the US were at a new low and it was also a key theme during this past election. Additionally, 2020 was not short of toxic work cultures that heavily affected women. A survey from Women Who Tech highlighted that 48% of women in tech experienced harassment compared to only 11% of their male counterparts.
The key takeaway here is that founders need to make D&I a cornerstone of their company's culture. You need to prioritize creating a safe work environment where your employees can feel physically, emotionally, and mentally safe. If you need more motivation, here are some stats from Global Diversity Practice. Businesses with a good mix of men and women are 21% more likely to outperform competitors. This number jumps to 31% if your staff is a good mix of different ethnic groups and communities. If you need help in trying to achieve your D&I goals, check out Global Diversity Practice.
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