THE BEST OF THE YEAR
Diversity and climate changes stand out among the best of the year and trends for 2020.
A Black Miss Universe, an African autodidact photographer, a young climate activist are personalities that stood out in 2019 and confirm that representativeness matter and environment preservation should be part of our personal and institutional agenda.
I selected 5 highlights of the year in several categories and awards.
DIVERSITY, JUSTICE AND COMPETITIVENESS
The diversity and inclusion agenda has already been promoting an important mindset change in the corporate world.
The survey Trends 2020, of Accenture (Fjord) reports that the Business Roundtable (an influent association of around 200 CEOs of the most important North American companies) recently reset its mission in a big turn. For many years, the shareholders occupied the center, but now, in 2019, new statements were set, such as “customer value”, “investment on employees” and “diversity and inclusion”.
“People are asking fundamental questions about how well capitalism is serving society,”
Business Roundtable Corporate Governance Committee Chair and CEO of Johnson & Johnson Alex Gorsky.
“It’s time for a new capitalism – a more fair, equal and sustainable capitalism that actually works for everyone, and where businesses don’t just take from society, but truly give back and have a positive impact.”
Marc Benioff, CEO Salesforce (Accenture Fjord Trends 2020 Report)
McKinsey, in the Diversity Matters report (2015), researched 366 companies and managed to identify a strong correlation between diversity and financial market. Companies bearing a wider gender diversity were 15% more likely to have better financial results and those with ethnic diversity up to 35% or more.
The companies have paid more attention to such topic because it is fair, but also because it represents more competitiveness.
THE INFLUENCERS’ VOICE
In the individual scope, the social media decentralized the power of reach of communication and the agenda of gender, racial and LGBTQ+ diversity, disabled people and other minorities gain room in the voice of their own representatives. Individuals and their causes have created ecosystems around their common interests and placed this agenda in the core of discussions on development, competitiveness and representativeness.
“In the micro level, people are adopting social inclusion. Being inclusive does not mean being similar. It means living in harmony despite differences. In the online world, the social media reset how people interact, enabling them to develop relationship without geographic and demographic barriers.” Marketing 4.0 – Philip Kotler
“The time of exclusiveness is up. Inclusion has become a new trend.”
Marketing 4.0 – Philip Kotler
The recent list of Linkedin TOP VOICES was pretty much acclaimed by the web exactly for expressing diversity of causes, purposes, content and discussions that are being promoted by the members. You can access the list here.
According to Kotler, “Inclusion has become a new trend.” In this new decade we need to acknowledge this trend and put projects into place so we can reach better levels of inclusion, respect for differences and guarantees of equal rights.
CONTRADICTION AND AWARENESS
On Dec 17, 2019, in Australia, the temperature record in the country was broken reaching the average of 40.9° C. On the following day, Dec 18, the temperature reached 41.9°, new record. Forest fires and people deaths due to the heat are only some of the consequences recorded from such unbalance. A real Climatic Emergency to use the word of the year of the Oxford Dictionary.
In the same period, in Madrid, at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP 25), Australia’s participation was classified by experts as “denialism” or “loathsome” *. The country, unfortunately, besides Brazil and the United States, raised hindrances to the negotiation and they were attributed to several failures in the final result of the Conference.
This contradiction, evidence of a climatic unbalance on one side and negligence on the other, is the portrait of how the topic of climate changes still requires consolidation as affirmative agenda by some countries, companies and citizens. In this context, Greta Thunberg and other activists have become essential to draw people’s attention for the topic.
I have an optimistic view despite these contradictions and setbacks in the environmental policies in our country. The same Accenture survey says that among the 7 trends pointed out by them, two “Many faces of growth” and “Liquid people” refer to how the value change is altering the society strengths and causing the business to change development concept, and, on the other side, how people are also rethinking their impact in the surrounding.
“This trend (Liquid People) reflects the human side of growth. It takes into account that we’re more aware than ever of issues like climate change, mental health and sustainability — and how they’re changing how we live, work and buy.”
Accenture Fjord Trends 2020 Report
I prefer to look at the glass half full and believe that the biggest level of awareness of the citizens will contribute to press for changes in public policies and the market, establishing new benchmarks for a harmonic relationship with the environment.
AND THE COLOR OF THE YEAR, WHAT HAS IT GOT TO DO WITH ALL THAT?
By now you’re probably wondering what the first reference that I brought, pantone color of the year, has to do with these topics of diversity and climatic changes.
I’m not expert in design, but Blanca Lliahnne, director of Pantone, in an interview to Consumidor Moderno magazine, explains the meaning of this color and it has a strong relation with the previous explanation…
“Today we believe that after sustainability the most important message for the modern consumer is the idea of inclusion and honesty, that the product really contains what is advertised and delivers what it’s promising. After that comes the idea that we can live in a fairer and more balanced world”.
BLANCA lLIAHNNE – dIRECTOR OF pANTONE
And she continuous…
“The millennials have already started to restrain consumption as they’re not so interested in work or chase that ideal of wealthy that was the big deal of baby boomers in the 80’s […] we have several cases of successful business of important people in several generations, but we strongly believe that this color talks with all generations, mainly this younger generation that lies in the center of the consumption market now and wants a conscious consumption. For being reliable, this color presents this conscious consumption side too.”
BLANCA LLIAHNNE – DIRECTOR OF PANTONE
The color is still set as stable and eternal. A color that transmits elegance in its simplicity and renews the desire to build a base of trust and stability for the new decade that begins next year.
Stability, elegance and simplicity I loved the reference for 2020 and this new decade!
Photo by William Bossen on Unsplash
Sources:
* from the Climate Council’s Will Steffen, a climate scientist at http://bit.ly/34Pycni
