Dear Readers welcome back to the second part of the 2020 warp-up! Every year, the JMS team pulls together industry-specific recommendations to help you jump into the new year with more clarity!
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In case this is your first time visiting, this blog is the brainchild of JMStrategy LLC (JMS), a boutique consulting firm that devises tailor-made plans of action to render your brand as robust as possible. Now, without further ado, let’s dive into the final part of the goodbye 2020 series that outlines key takeaways to keep at the forefront of industry-specific 2021 economic revitalization efforts.
In the first installment of this three-part series, this blog explored a temporary subscription model to help the travel industry rebound from the pandemic crash of 2020. Part two examined the extent to which COVID-19 eviscerated the movies and retail industries. Today’s publication, however, has a more hopeful tone. Indeed, this blog is investigating the lessons from the pandemic that have reshaped facets of our daily living in a way that was unimaginable just one year ago: the work from home reality, the peril of remote learning, and urban living.
The unexpectedly enduring work from home model corporate America was dead set against for such a long time!
Ten years ago, even five years ago, there were heated discussions centered around adding flexibility for mothers or single parents with time-bound constraints due to the demand of school-age children’s daily schedule. Back then, management systematically refused to explore such alternatives fearing that too much flexibility would decrease productivity.
Yet, the coronavirus showed us all that working from home is doable in a pinch! So, Dear Readers, you should have more leeway as companies woo you back to the office. Indeed, the JMS team believes that companies will have to work harder to convince you to come back.
One thing is sure the global pandemic has introduced a shift in power dynamics, Dear Readers, which you can parlay into more favorable working conditions such as a more flexible design of office space (i.e., goodbye cubicles)! You might even be able to negotiate the number of days you must be in the office weekly! So, Dear Readers, start to think about the kind of life you want to have so that by the time it’s safe to return to the office, you have a well-crafted argument to fight for what is best for you and your family!
Can remote learning become a viable format in the post-pandemic world?
Dear Readers, was there a more disruptive change than the unexpected halt to in-person instruction for K-12 and college institutions?
Parents everywhere lamented the impact of such an abrupt withdrawal of academic support to their children who felt disconnected and abandoned. College students were left stranded as dorms closed since universities had cashed their tuition checks at the beginning of the semester. To add insult to injuries, the universities did not reimburse the remaining balance on the room & board invoices to the starving college students even though the pandemic cut the living on campus experience prematurely short to no fault of theirs!
One thing is sure, Dear Readers, the pandemic underlined just how unprepared schools and universities were. As we wobbled through the end of the spring semester, class attendance quickly dwindled as parents lamented as they witnessed the hard-fought gains from the beginning of the academic year slip away from their discouraged children.
Over the summer, however, we were hoping to see schools and universities implement fall schedules that reflected the reality of learning in a global pandemic. And still, fulfill their promise to provide an outstanding educational experience to students. Instead, we saw even greater chaos. In part because local officials seem to change their minds every other day! We went from possibly a 100% reopening to a hybrid half in-class half remote to 100% remote. Parents had whiplash from all these changes, and students suffered tremendously! Not to mention that colleges did not offer any tuition discounts even after moving to a complete remote learning framework and closing dorms for the rest of 2020.
As we enter 2021, this blog suggests that the time has come to upgrade our archaic educational system before the American people lose complete trust in the DOE.
Can you imagine what would happen if taxpayers exerted enough pressure to shift tax dollars from schools to students? Such a change would ensure that students continue to have a challenging yet gratifying educational experience! Or what would happen if high schoolers refused to amass a gigantic to fund college dreams and chose instead to enter the workforce instead? This idea is not a farfetched one since many parents and students have been furious with just how disorganized school officials have been across the country!
Dear Readers, if you in the education field, you have your works cut out for yourself! However, the JMS team believes that the best way to win parents and students over is to as transparent as possible with your goals and hurdles to implementation. Now more than ever, you should work to align academic offerings with the demands of our ever-evolving economy so that our children can feel prepared to enter the workforce even if they cannot afford to continue to college. Such a level of transparency will win back the trust of the American people.
What about urban areas; did COVID-19 put an end to the urban allure?
What say you, Dear Readers? Is NYC dead for good? And not just NYC; is every urban area in the country gone? Commercial real estate has had a tough year. Retail shops are closing in droves. Stay at home orders continue to prevent companies from utilizing office space to the fullest! Another fresh wave of retail bankruptcy in 2021 could transform main streets and city centers across America into ghost towns for an inconceivably long time!
So, what can we do with all the vacant retail space? There has to be a way to repurpose commercial space and bring life back to our dying cities! The time has come to call urban planners to help convert office space into additional residential housing units or add more community-oriented hubs to have smart cities. Better urban planning would certainly help urbanites access everything they need within a 15-minute trip on bike or foot from their home (including work, healthcare, leisure, restaurants, shops, fitness, schools) no matter what’s going on in the world!
Final thoughts.
There you have it, Dear Readers! Thank you so much for stopping by the blog today to read the final part of the JMS year-end wrap-up! What are your thoughts? Do you agree, or do you think we’ve missed anything? Let us know by email at jms@branding24seven.com or by mail at
JMStrategy LLC
21 S. 11th Street, 2nd Floor, Philadelphia, PA, 19107.
Come back later this week for the 2021 trends you need to know to have a great year, Dear Readers, and stay safe!
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