Trauma to Triumph by Mark Goulston

Author:Mark Goulston
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harpercollins Leadership
Published: 2021-01-27T00:00:00+00:00

CRACKS APPEAR IN THE UNITY

The upside of reacting swiftly and shutting down was that it gave us time to learn more about how the virus was transmitted and get a handle on the outbreak. And, outside of the early hot spots, most regions were not overwhelmed with hospitalizations. Though infections and deaths continued to increase, most people were not directly impacted by death or illness, nor even knew anyone who had gotten it.

After a month of shutdowns and staying at home, there were signs that the curve was beginning to flatten. That was good news, but it also signaled the start of serious division in the ranks. For many, it seemed the danger had passed or wasn’t as catastrophic (at least for them) as they had originally thought it might be. People questioned whether the numbers of illnesses or deaths were even real, or if they’d been inflated.

And though we’d begun to reap some of the upsides of focusing on health, we also began to feel the downsides of our willingness to go “all out” to fight the virus, of initially choosing the health of the populace at any cost. The shutdown created furloughs, then outright job losses, and many business closures. The financial impact was felt by almost everyone. Unemployment rates skyrocketed. For most businesses, revenue cratered.

While a little had been done to try to bridge these losses from the shutdown (most notably the CARES Act which was signed into law in late March), we couldn’t keep up with the enormity and reach of the impact. The government was unwilling or unable to pursue more financial safety net measures. And as the shutdown dragged on many people faced financial devastation . . . and most others experienced intense anxiety, insecurity, and outright fear of financial catastrophe.

Plus, there were other downsides. People had grown weary of actions taken to curb the spread of the virus. They missed “normal” life, missed seeing loved ones, missed going out.

It soon became clear that factions were emerging. The choice between continuing the shutdown to ensure the health of the populace or reopening to restore a healthy economy became a flashpoint. It created division and pitted people against one another. It didn’t help that the factions followed along political party lines.

Ideally, a wise leader would have pointed out that we were grappling with a false choice. We didn’t have to choose one over the other. We could find solutions that achieved both desired outcomes: a healthy populace and a healthy economy. But that didn’t happen. So the rift deepened. And was strengthened because we did not lead from the beginning with the idea of unity as a nation or even unity globally.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.