Boardroom diversity should extend beyond gender and ethnicity. Hiring practices must include diversity of experience and thinking as an essential component of the selection process, if only to prevent the inevitable silo of group think that constantly selecting from the same pool engenders. This should not be something simply to be measured. We need to find ways to ensure such practice is deeply engrained in the psyche and culture of the organisation.

Unprecedented, as defined by the Oxford Dictionary, describes the ‘never done or known before’. Yet a pandemic is not unprecedented. Only 100 years ago the Spanish Flu is estimated to have infected 500 million and killed 50 million worldwide. We’ve faced similar threats in more recent times, (for example Ebola), yet thankfully not with anywhere near the global impact of Covid19.

What is unprecedented is how this will affect the world of work. What is almost certainly ‘never known or done before’ is the new working environment in to which we will return.