Will 2021 be the year everything returns to normal?
Last year was a crash course in radical uncertainty. Will this year be any better? Here's what some of business's brightest minds say we should expect in 2021.
If 2020 taught us one thing, it is that the best-laid plans can be derailed overnight. So severe was the change in our lives in the spring that many people predicted that life would never be the same again.
Working from home would become the norm and office blocks would be left to rot. Cycling would become the preferred mode of transport. “Zoom” became a verb. People who had got a glimpse of local solidarity through WhatsApp groups designed to help vulnerable neighbours would trigger a new era of localism and community activism. The rat race was dead, and we would all hunger for “purpose” in our lives from now on.
Fast forward a few months, and many are yearning for a return to the old ways. Will it happen? And, if so, when?