LEADERSHIP – STEPPING UP AND CHECKING IN

by Anita Mendiratta | May 28, 2021

LEADERSHIP – STEPPING UP AND CHECKING IN

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They say crisis reveals one’s true strengths. This crisis, this year, has been revealing like few others – a surreal year in which we’ve all experienced moments beyond belief. Moments when we consciously acknowledge we’re seeing a different world from what we’ve seen before or could ever have anticipated. Throughout this past year RISE has been here to report, help make sense of, and discuss new developments, separating the noise from the news.

Contributing so richly to these conversations, have been our Execs In Residence, an array of extraordinary leaders from all sectors of our Travel, Tourism and Hospitality industry. Each has brought a fresh perspective and inspired us with their insight and their calm and optimistic approach to dealing with each challenge as it’s arisen. The RISE team has also observed, as our hosts Anita and Demian have facilitated thought leadership through RISE and have led their clients and students in navigating the way forward.

tHE INSPIRATION

Last week on RISE we were joined by Fred Dixon, CEO of NYC & Company as well as the CEO of Singapore Tourism Board, Keith Tan. Both are forward-thinking leaders from iconic global Tourism Cities. They shared their challenges and their perspectives on supporting tourism in their cities and remaining future-focused. One of our viewers asked Keith what was the most important thing he’d learned as a leader this year. His response became the inspiration for the topic of this Blog; “Stay calm and prepare for all possibilities. There are all sorts of things that could happen, surprises that come along the way. The crises and the challenges can come from anywhere, so I think as the leader of any organisation, we have to be prepared to roll with the punches and continue to imbue our teams with a sense of optimism.”

THE TOLL

Why? Because it’s absolutely true that this is what’s expected of leaders, whether you’re the leader of a family, a class, a company or a country. And it’s what great leaders do – they deliver on the expectation that they remain calm in the face of adversity, and they instill that same sense of calm and resilience in those they’re leading safely through the crisis. But what is the personal cost and toll on those who lead? Who checks in on them to see how they’re coping? Self-care seems another responsibility they themselves must undertake. As we move through and beyond this crisis, it’s important to remember that sometimes the psychological effects are only felt when the immediate crisis is over, once we have the time to reflect and assess. So, we looked a little closer at what this means and how we can mitigate the personal toll of leadership through crisis. We all feel the weight of leadership to some degree, whether we’re leading a small family or a business empire!

A Professional Perspective

RISE – AND SHINE talked with Colin Wilford who is a Clinical Psychologist, Leadership & Executive Coach and CEO of Wilford Scholes. We asked him about his observations and experience of the psychological toll on leaders during crises. He states that any organisational crisis, whether financial, emotional or medical has a profound psychological effect on the leaders of that organisation, for these 3 reasons:

RESPONSIBILITY

The leader, like a parent, feels directly responsible for the safety and well-being of all those under their care. This deep sense of responsibility dramatically increases the amount of stress experienced by the leader concerning those they lead especially when that leader is empathic and people orientated.

GUILT

When anyone suffers from the effects of a crisis, the leader naturally feels it’s their fault even though this may be irrational. During the past year many have faced painful decisions like reducing staff numbers or discontinuing contracts. Taking on that guilt is a common response and they wonder why they can’t sleep or why they are less patient than before.

RELUCTANCE TO DELEGATE

Often the leader feels solely responsible for fixing the problem. Despite their own training and mentoring, they feel the weight of it all being up to them to provide relief and resolution and so they often neglect to share the load and have others provide solutions.

Colin suggests these 5 steps when leading through and beyond a crisis:

1. Never try to deal with the crisis on your own. Always involve other capable work colleagues who can share the load.

2. Make sure you talk with a mentor or trusted associate about your feelings, fears and thoughts. This process will help you be more aware of the impact on you and what you can do about it.

3. Know that there is a solution to every crisis and you may need to research who has dealt with this before and what they did to resolve it.

4. Remind yourself that you are not expected to know all the answers and that often all you can do is merely facilitate and encourage others to find their own solutions.

5. Change your perspective to realise that a crisis is there to teach you and make you more effective and experienced as a leader and try to avoid focusing on the crisis always being a bad thing.

WE’RE ALL DIFFERENT

Anita points out , “we should try to refrain from judging how other leaders have responded to a crisis, especially when a shared crisis like this past year. We all have different wiring, and therefore different responses. We all need to be sensitive to different people’s abilities to endure struggles in different ways.”

As travel restarts, lockdowns ease in some parts and we look to the next normal, it’s important to check in on our resilient selves, take the time to acknowledge the toll this year has taken and take the necessary steps to ensure that resilience remains and that we’re able to enjoy moving forward!

So…‘Arm Doors and Cross Check’ – which also happens to be the title of our final episode of Season 3 next week! Don’t miss any clues about what Season 4 will bring. Anita and Demian are delighted to be sharing the RISE stage with Dan Richards, CEO of Global Rescue. Be there, same time and place to hear what Dan has to say about what destinations and travel companies are doing to help us all get back out there safely.

2021 LIVING TRENDS – TAKE THEM OR LEAVE THEM?

by Anita Mendiratta | May 14, 2021

2021 LIVING TRENDS – TAKE THEM OR LEAVE THEM?

On RISE we love examining which of the lifestyle changes from the past year people are keen to hold onto, and which we’re ready to drop…

Last week’s episode of RISE focused on how the forced WFH (working from home) culture impacting millions worldwide has had an impact on the Real Estate industry and how this also links to the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality industry. A fascinating connection between closed borders and opening of not only domestic tourism, but the domestic holiday home market. The lovely Dr Andrew Golding, CEO of Pam Golding Properties was our Exec in Residence, speaking with Anita and Demian about some of the lifestyle trends that have emerged globally – the consequences of working from home, traveling closer to home and investing more in home.

moving on out

Working from home has been normalised, virtual meeting an accepted way of working. Which is why business travel seems unlikely to return to previous levels in the mid-term. Then there are the zoom towns emerging outside of metro centres and commuter belts – often in holiday towns! Andrew mentioned that many of Pam Golding Properties’ clients feel that if they can work from anywhere, then they should seriously consider buying homes based on where they’d like to live. Living near the office is no longer an imperative.

Many of us in the T,T&H industry don’t have the option of working from home. For those who do… the jury seems to be out on this phenomenon. Some love it, and others can’t wait to get back to their work spaces. There appears a strong correlation between working from home with young children and fleeing back to the relative peace and quiet of the office!

In our RISE polls last week only 6% of our viewers said that they’d enjoyed ‘nothing’ about working from home. This compared to 50% declaring that they’d most enjoyed the flexibility and time management advantages. Whilst there are obvious psychological advantages to working from home, there’s also the risk of burnout due to blurred boundaries between work hours and home hours. Some also find the disconnection and isolation from colleagues damaging to mental health. Evidence of the latter concern is supported by our first RISE poll on Monday, which indicated that 80% of our viewers were most excited by either ‘in person collaboration’ or ‘seeing colleagues/classmates in person’ when thinking about returning to the workplace.

Moving on up

The prospect of continued work from home presents many of us with the dilemma of how to make it sustainable. We’re not talking about environmental sustainability here. Rather, we’re looking at how to make it work when we have multiple family members living and working in the same space. Again… this is not for everyone. If it is an appealing and viable option, there are considerations around living and working space. From a residential real estate perspective, this means we’re seeing an increase in consumers either upsizing and buying larger properties or renovating to increase living and leisure space. Andrew mentioned renovation trends including multiple home offices, increased living and leisure spaces, and the addition of home leisure facilities such as gyms, tennis courts, pools and spa tubs. The question is, are we likely to continue more home-based leisure activities, or will we be raring to re-join our community gyms and tennis clubs?

Perhaps, the aim is to have the option of either. As Andrew says, ‘everyone needs to plan for uncertainty, and whilst it’s always been important, the living environment is now of paramount importance.’

Moving IN

Another emerging trend is to move the family home to the countryside, and live in a micro-apartment in the city, or a co-sharing space during the week. Both concepts originated before COVID19, but have become more popular, and possibly even more affordable than before, as business real estate spaces have been vacated with corporates and retailers vacating cities. Will co-living spaces emerge as the preferred option for first-time home buyers due to affordability as we move beyond lockdown? In addition to affordability, co-living spaces also have the potential to provide a bridge for recent graduates between living at home (or university) and living independently.

Luxe living – bring on the bubbles!

This covers 2 of the new lifestyle ‘bubble’ trends –

Moving into communities or gated estates in which work, home, leisure and recreation can all be enjoyed on one site. Examples of this are golf, equestrian or eco estates.

Multiple family groups – either relatives or friends moving into the same luxury lifestyle estate or community so they may remain proximal to each other in the event of further lockdowns. This is especially relevant for multi-generational families.

Whilst the advantages of these trends are obvious, so – we feel, are the disadvantages. Did someone say claustrophobia? Like most other lifestyle choices… a blissful option to some would have others running screaming for freedom – and variety – or on the other end of the spectrum, more privacy.

Whatever our lifestyle preferences, 2021 has served up some interesting choices as we move into the next normal, some which we may never have considered in our pre-pandemic existence. They’ll also have a significant impact on our Travel, Tourism and Hospitality business decisions as we pivot to respond to and embrace the changing ways in which our customers live their lives, spend their work and leisure time, and the changing locations in which they choose to do so.

Wouldn’t we all love a crystal ball right about now?

ONE YEAR ON, TOGETHER WE RISE

by Anita Mendiratta | Apr 30, 2021

ONE YEAR ON, TOGETHER WE RISE

RISE has just celebrated our Special 1st Anniversary episode. It’s been a year of contrasts. At the same time being a time of loss, of fear, challenge, uncertainty, and personal isolation, it’s also been a year of unprecedented innovation, of unity, camaraderie, and hope. And so, one year on, to celebrate this milestone, we paused to reflect, to share, and to re-inspire. We were proud to feature 18 of our almost 60 Execs in Residence from previous episodes – global leaders through 3 seasons of RISE who shared messages of their personal hopes for the future of our industry. Alongside them, our impressive, eloquent and intuitive EHL student guests Christina Klaas, Alex Radojevic and Lena Chan certainly gave us reason to feel optimistic that the future of Travel, Tourism & Hospitality is in highly capable and compassionate hands!

Responding to the personal nature of the messages, Lena’s unsurprised comment was that ‘the only way forward is to show that we’re united in our vulnerability.’ This simple truth inspired us to dig a little deeper and look at the personal insights we the RISE team gained this year. Some of them are more comfortable truths than others. Some are helpful, and empowering, and worth holding onto as we move into the future – into the next normal. Others are more uncomfortable realities that we’d like to either leave behind us, find a way of working with, or adjusting to so we can move forward.

We’ve all become more intimately acquainted with work colleagues – our humanity and vulnerability exposed as we’ve worked from home, juggling work and family life, giving others insight into our homes, through our virtual connection with the outside world.

This year has concentrated and amplified our experiences and reactions – good and bad. Love, gratitude, meaning and hope – also fear, loss, anxiety, and vulnerability.

Our RISE Team was inspired– and in some cases, prodded to dig a little deeper, and share with you what each of us have learned about ourselves this year.

GRACE

“The Power of the hug: I can honestly say I have never realised just how much I have taken a hug for granted.

We hug for many reasons: a hello, a goodbye, a thank you or a sorry. I truly believe it can fix so much. Throughout this whole year, it is what I have yearned for so much. There are many moments over this past year that stick in my mind, but the ones that really stir emotions are those that contain a hug. The first hug outside my household was with my sister when she was able to bubble with us, we held that hug until the tears stopped. Hugging my Nana at Christmas, nearly a whole year after I was last able to hug her, I never wanted to let her go. As we go into the “next normal” and as restrictions start to ease, there will be so many things that will return to an old sense of normality, but one thing I will not let return, will be me taking another hug for granted.”

SARA

“The importance of not taking small things for granted such as going to the gym/the office or seeing friends at a restaurant. Also, saying “No” or “I don’t have time” to work tasks sometimes, to allow time to get out of my room (which is also my office) and get a change of scenery so that I can come back to work with more energy the next day.”

DEMIAN

“I like working barefoot.”

Translation: I’m a big hearted softie who cares more than I like to let on, and I’m worried that it’s starting to show!

JESSICA

“As much as I am disorganised as a person, when it comes to work or my family – I don’t like half-measures. With schools open and shut, work lives and routine changed from ‘before’, I had to learn to accept I could no longer attempt to give 100% of myself to every area of my life. When your kids are playing next to your desk, as you try and maintain some semblance of professionalism in a meeting, you learn that you can only do what you can do. I’ve learned that this is okay, well I am at least trying to accept that it is okay. Burning out won’t help anyone, so my big shift has been finding focus in those windows of normality. Being okay with the 60% days, knowing that a window will open again and I’ll be able to still deliver work that I’m proud of.”

mAnuel

It was a Thursday in January in the home office and I was so busy I couldn’t keep up with the work given to me nor would I have made the deadline ahead. I had just cancelled another meeting with friends when I realised it is alright to say: “I need help, I can’t do this alone”. It’s good to know your strengths, accepting help became one of them.

Joanne

“As a natural introvert, I realised how much energy I expend on presenting a more extroverted façade, because work and social life require it. There were parts of lockdown that felt more comfortable to me than ‘normal life’. The upside is that I’ve become more comfortable that this is who I am and that I don’t have to fake extroversion. The downside is that some aspects of getting out there again are quite daunting after a year of not having to. Fortunately even introverts like some social connection, and everyone seems keen for more real human contact now.”

ANITA

“The COVID-19 crisis taught me that as much as I, we, can all endure crises, it is usually for a limited period of time. This time has been different. It was long, hard, endless. Which has meant there was nowhere to hide, especially from colleagues with whom we usually manage our ‘on’ presence. Sometimes you just have to call off a meeting minutes before because a meltdown is just too near the surface. Sometimes you don’t notice the signs and the meltdown happens publicly. All times you just want to hide. This is where this time has been a strange gift – being able to find safety, kindness and understanding in the presence of people you never knew you could trust to simply let you be human, as scary and messy and grouchy as that may be. Because quite honestly, we’re all going through this scary time together.”

For many, it’s been a year of self-discovery. We’ve faced personal challenges, and discovered in ourselves, different strengths and vulnerabilities, but the one universal truth, as pointed out by Lena, is our ‘pent up demand for human contact.’ Alex shared his excitement at the prospect of getting together in person to work again, stressing how during his time of social isolation in Melbourne, he’d realised just how much we need social contact, and how “socialisation is important to survive.” In the context of employment, Christina emphasised how after this year, employee wellbeing will be an important consideration for any organisation.

A Psychologist’s view

We asked Clinical Psychologist, Shona Lowes of Equilibria Psychology, which lesson from this year we should carry with us into the future as we move beyond the pandemic, and for a tool to assist us in moving forward positively.

‘I think the pandemic has been an opportunity to pause our busy lives and to re-evaluate what is important to us in relation to work, leisure and social life.

‘Reflecting on the past year can be really helpful to ensure you move forward in a way that suits you and meets your needs for social and leisure activities. Write in a journal all the thoughts that come to your mind in response to:

‘What have I learnt about myself through this pandemic’

‘What have I enjoyed or engaged in more during the enforced lockdowns’

‘What did I miss or not miss from my pre-pandemic life’

Then write a plan for yourself going forward to ensure you continue with the things you enjoy and gain a balance that fits you.’

REaching out – Moving Forward

Finally, our Chief Wizard, Jessica says “This year the world’s collective trauma has been more transparent. So many loved ones lost, the world over, friends and colleagues losing jobs, and the lack of social connection that we still don’t fully know the consequences of. Reach out to those who are hurting, reach out to those who seem the strongest, we have all been through some type of trauma this year, and it doesn’t heal the minute the world opens again.”

All our RISE guests over the past year, have all been told that whatever happens backstage on RISE, it’s ‘because Jessica says so.’ The reason being, she’s a smart Texan who knows what she’s about, so if she says so, it makes sense, and there’s a good chance that everything will turn out just fine!

Speaking of moving on… next on RISE, we’ll be talking with Andrew Golding, CEO of Pam Golding Properties about one trend from the past year that we’ll be continuing into the medium term future – working from home! What impact has this had on Real Estate? Join RISE, Anita Mendiratta, & Prof Demian Hodari (henceforth known as The Barefoot Professor) to find out!

COVID-19 OFFICIAL HOTEL QUARANTINE: WISH FOR A WINDOW FACING THE SUNRISE

by Anita Mendiratta | Apr 21, 2021

At present there are 40.

At 04:00am on the 23^rd of April there will be 41.

UK ‘Red List’ countries – nations worldwide viewed as a risk of COVID-19 importation due to surges and/or strains, making passengers arriving into the UK a domestic threat. https://www.gov.uk/guidance/transport-measures-to-protect-the-uk-from-variant-strains-of-covid-19

Sadly it is our enduring global reality. Over 400 days into COVID-19 still we are seeing cases increasing and new strains mutating all while vaccines are being injected.

It’s not the same everywhere – some places are finding solutions to stopping the spread, flattening the curve, controlling contact. The over-reactions are understandable. Economic and social paralysis cannot continue indefinitely.

Hence the Red List.

And the need official hotel quarantine for people arriving into the country from a Red List country, a regulation imposed in the UK mid-February 2021, already active in other nations across the world.

To be a traveller forced to face hotel quarantine is quite something – and something personally experienced earlier this month when travelling back to the UK from South Africa despite:

PCR test: negative
Test for Antibodies: positive (as had COVID-19 end of 2020)
Household: single person

Travelling during COVID-times is challenging enough: lack of fresh air and smiles due to masks, excessive layers of protective packaging on items, eats and other usually tactile aspects of the airline and airport experience. Readying for a 10-day, government enforced, hotel quarantine introduces a further layer of desensitisation to an industry that has always been highly emotive, highly immersive.

The technicalities are straightforward enough, that is of course only once you land and establish to which hotel you are assigned and how the days ahead will unfold. Up until then the feeling entering into it all is a concerning one as there is little advance detail, especially around exactly where you will be spending your 240 hours on the inside.

The cost of quarantine is significant, and unavoidable:

10 full days (starting from the first sleep), and
GB £1750,

which covers,:

a room on one’s own (if a solo traveller),
three meals a day, and
a small degree of laundry servicing.

On landing at the airport (LHR in this case), one is immediately ushered into Immigration lines that set your pace and feeling of welcome, effectively those free to move as arriving from Green List countries (no quarantine or self-isolation required) or Yellow List countries (self-isolation required) redirected according to usual entry permit classifications (UK, EU, etc.) separated from those feared as arriving from Red List countries requiring hotel quarantine, regardless of entry permit classification.

Red List? Follow the red line.

The red line leads you from one escort to another – yellow vests – straight from passport control through baggage, into waiting areas, into a holding area, onto a coach across several hotels depending on where you’ve been allocated to quarantine. At the hotel entry is through a side entrance, into a briefing room, into a process of completion of forms: consent to stay, menu choices for the next 10 days, indication of timings of PCR tests (days 2 and 8), and then escorted to your room for the next 10 days.

Just keep following the yellow vests. Wait until they make contact.

The hotel experience is stripped away. The opportunity to make a guest feel welcome and enjoy the hotel is all stripped away. Rapidly, easily, it can feel like a human experiment. Pavlov’s dog suddenly makes sense. Three times a day you hear a knock on the door. Meal time. When the door is opened an elevated tray awaits along with, across the hallway, a warden in PPE…and yellow vest. On the tray is a brown paper bag within which are two to three little brown boxes. The little boxes containing the meal you have requested during on the menu sheets on arrival. Meal by meal, knock after knock, day after day, they arrive. Delivered by a yellow vest.

There’s no other human contact.

The hotel room itself is a bedroom. It is a bedroom in a branded hotel. The branding, however, is stripped away. There is no leaving the room unless escorted, and brief: 15 minutes maximum, whether it’s to walk around the parking lot of the hotel to get some exercise or for those who are smokers, to get a nicotine fix. Leaving the room is with a warden. A yellow vest. In the hallways stand monitors, in yellow vests.

The feeling? Especially in the first two days when the yellow vest system of quarantine controls become the routine? Punitive. Yet you have done nothing wrong. You are just there, behind the door, because you have to be, because you flew in from a Red List country.

It is easy for one to look at it and think that it is unnecessarily harsh. It is a psychological adjustment feeling as if people are looking at you as if you are contaminated. As if you are a combustible. As if you are dangerous.

But it’s not personal. It’s a pandemic, and this pandemic needs to be respected. Governments are doing all they can to contain the pandemic, to contain the spread. The loss of lives, the loss of livelihoods and the pressure on medical systems. One cannot fault extreme caution.

And then slowly, slowly, through the 10 days, you find these little glimmers of light,:

morning light that breaks through as the sun rises, stretching across the room to create a golden glow,
the light that comes from a cheerful yellow vested warden delivering a brown bag of breakfast with a smile and wish for a good day,
the lightness of heart that is felt when care packages of fresh flowers, fresh fruit, freshly baked gingerbread biscuits and other fresh thoughts arrive from loved ones hoping to lighten the mood,
the lightening of workloads and to-do lists as wifi lines and long days make for a period of high productivity,
the light touch of hotel staff calling to simply check in every 48 hours, making sure you’re okay, letting you know that they are there for those guests struggling being alone, inside, ongoing.

Interestingly, having spoken to the hotel staff the check-in calls are not part of the government protocols and their requirements to be a COVID-19 quarantine hotel in the proximity of an airport. It is just the hotel being humane, simply reaching out to make sure that you’re fine. During Passover they make sure that the menus have no bread. As Ramadan nears they check with the guests to make sure that the meals are being provided at the time of breaking the fast. Little sparks of humanity, of identity, through what initially felt like quite a dehumanising, identity-neutralising process.

COVID-19 has challenged the lives and lifestyles of everyone, everywhere, in different ways. This is just another of those ways. Importantly, no one is happy about the situation – not the government, not the hotel company, not the staff following protocols strictly, not the ‘guest’

It is not ideal. But it is also not hardship. It is just inconvenient. A test of patience. A whisper of humility. First World Problems.

The perspective? Vividly clear, especially in these time of immense loss. For millions upon millions around the developing and developed world, the circumstances equate to luxury: one is falling asleep in a clean bed, in a warm room with hot and cold running water, full plumbing, receiving three meals a day served with care. For 10 days.

The COVID-19 quarantine hotel experience is a unique one because, in addition to having everything stripped away, one is suddenly aware very quickly of all that they actually have. And importantly, the blessing of having a place to go home to once you have left the hotel.

All of this is about being able to work together to ensure that COVID-19 does not bring us all down. None of these regulations, none of these restrictions, none of these requirements and enforcements are what we wish for.

What we all wish for is safety.

What we all wish for is health.

What we all wish for is to be able to hug loved ones, to see the smiles of stranger.

In the short term, as we endure these discomforts and these inconveniences, these are small prices we need to pay for the long-term investment of making sure that once again, we can come together safely, securely, confidently. Whatever challenges we continue to face, whatever each day may bring, we are getting one day closer to all being released from this time.

And if there is one wish one can make that makes all the difference in our COVID-19 world: wish for a window that faces the sunrise.

How Has Your Relationship With Food Changed Over The Past Year?

by Anita Mendiratta | Apr 19, 2021

How Has Your Relationship With Food Changed Over The Past Year?

Food, glorious food! What is your relationship with it? And has that relationship changed over the past year being locked in? We’ve all been there – alone with our cravings, needing comfort, deserving a reward, wearing stretchy waistlines!

On Monday’s RISE, we made a meal of it – chatting with Barb Stuckey, President and Chief Innovation Officer at Mattson and Alex Hardy, Regional Director, Consumer and Market Intelligence at General Mills. We dished up rich discussion around food innovation from a business and consumer perspective, how those innovations have been impacted by the pandemic, which are here to stay and the trends we may see continuing.

As you know by now, we like to dig a little deeper in RISE – AND SHINE. So this week, we’re asking how you’d describe your personal relationship with food after a year of pandemic-dining? “Is that a thing,” you ask? Yes it is! We just made it up.

A Love Affair

Many of us, during a pandemic or not, do have an ongoing love affair with food. It’s usually there when you need it, it can be comforting, entertaining, and healing. What’s not to love? Well, too much of it isn’t a good thing, and most of us food lovers can attest to indulging more than usual over the past year – especially during the height of lockdown. If you’re a food lover who wasn’t one of those participating in solo charitable runs or following the exercise gurus doing online workouts, then chances are you’ll also have piled on some ‘lockdown pounds’ and the whole ‘foodie affair’ may have progressed beyond the honeymoon phase and descended into the ‘I need some space to rediscover who I am on my own’ phase.

A Love – Hate Relationship

Who amongst us doesn’t relate to this dynamic? Especially when it comes to having to prepare meals ourselves, which we’ve all been doing more of over the past year! We love eating, but we don’t love cooking. We love eating, but we’re bored with eating at home. We love eating but we hate piling on the pounds. Notice how mostly, we do love eating! Alex Hardy said one of the trends he’d noticed was that a year ago people were initially enjoying cooking more, but then pulled back from it as they became bored with having to cook 3 times a day, 7 days a week. No need for a show of hands here… we’re united on this one! As Alex pointed out, businesses have taken note of this, and commerce has responded with innovations designed to ease this burden! We have only to look at the surge in popularity of pre–prepared healthy meal kits. We can’t be certain which idea we love more – not having to decide what to make, or not having to shop for specific ingredients. Both! We love both!

The Great entertainer

Food has always had a fun factor! Whether it’s the enjoyment of trying different recipes and styles of food preparation, or the entertainment association of going out to eat with friends – a meal has always had the potential to create a sense of occasion. In the context of this past year, we should probably separate this category into ME and THEM.

Will we ever forget the sourdough and banana-bread baking phases of lockdown? Have nations ever been so united in baking experimentation? It’s safe to say millions of us around the world entertained ourselves at some point during this pandemic, by experimenting with food preparation. This increased interest in cooking seems likely to continue! Our RISE audience POLL 1 reflected that cooking from scratch is the behaviour most people (59%) will continue into the next normal.

THEM

Anita stated that “food has become activity, engagement, education and entertainment.” This is true for us as individuals but will also resonate with every parent out there who had to find ways of keeping kids entertained, engaged, and fed – all whilst working from home – but that’s a topic for another blog! For many of us, food has been a powerful aid in keeping our loved ones entertained, and constructively engaged in activity – and with each other.

A HEALTHY DYNAMIC

Barb made the interesting point that we need to define what eating healthily means. For some of us it means eating ‘clean’, and eating ‘whole foods,’ or if we’re eating packaged foods, looking for recognisable ingredients. For others, eating ‘clean’ or ‘healthily’ means clean living, and eating sustainably for our environment. One of the food-related trends that she’s noticed over the past year, is that more people are making food choices based on environmental impact. This mirrors the more mindful and impact conscious tourist behaviours we’ve seen and discussed over the past year on RISE. Our RISE audience Poll 2 indicated the majority of our viewers (71%) are eating more healthily now than they were a year ago. Does this have to do with taking a proactive approach to fighting the virus, and giving ourselves the best chance of staying healthy? Alex mentioned this as another one of the food-related trends, leading to innovation over the past year. With people recognising immunity boosting value in food, he says he’s seeing “nature and science coming together in how we look at food.”

I’m ALL ABOUT MOVING THROUGH THE STAGES

As with all these discussions, it’s possible you see a little of yourself in each of these food relationships. We may feel that our delightfully complex relationship with food contains many facets all at the same time, or some of us may feel we’ve progressively waded (or waddled) through all the different stages!

Food relationship aside, who else just can’t wait to eat somewhere other than at home? It doesn’t matter that we’ve supported our local restaurants, and mitigated our ‘kitchen fatigue’ by eating restaurant take-outs at home. That was great for a while and eased the boredom and the monotony of home cooking. It doesn’t, however, replace the thrill, entertainment value and sense of occasion that we derive from getting out there and eating out. This will surely be good news for all the publicans, chefs and restaurateurs out there who can’t wait to welcome diners back to their establishments! Bon Appetit!

A special invitation to our RISE community across the world – Save The Date!! Next Monday, April 26th, is for our very special 1st Anniversary of RISE! Join us as we celebrate how far we’ve all come together over this past year. RISE was created with you, for you, because of you – so please join us as we celebrate you – our outstanding RISE community. Some of the truly inspirational Executives in Residence we’ve featured in previous episodes of RISE will share their hopes and expectations for their businesses one year on. We are all so excited, but this RISE 1st Anniversary milestone would not be the same without YOU. See you there!