Page 23 - Future Demands Jan 2021

FUTURE DEMANDS
MARIA HARRIS
NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR – UNITED TRUST BANK
VIVE LA REVOLUTION!
Think about the last time you were running a little late on your morning commute (who knew you could miss those!) only to find your regular station closed, bus cancelled, or road diverted.
Did you panic and worry about being late, or did you welcome the opportunity to embrace a new and potentially better future?
The chances are it was the former, as 71% of us admit to finding any variation in our lives hard to cope with.
In the scientific community they call this fear of change metathesiophobia, and the bad news for sufferers is their nemesis is inevitable. As the historian of human evolution Yuval Noah Harari wrote, “The single greatest constant of history is that everything changes.”
Which brings me to the point we should all be aware of – change is coming to our industry this year. And it’s not modest. It’s revolution, not evolution, and if any of us shy away from the positive challenges this will present, we will find we are left behind.
Because, not only is change nothing to fear, it can actually make a positive impact in our lives.
Take, for example, the five million London commuters who – like the opening hypothetical I posed you with – had to take alternative routes to work during the 2014 public transport strikes. While almost certainly grumbling at the time, some
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