Better days ahead
Every crystal ball is cloudy, at best. But there's reason to be optimistic about the coming year.
As this tumultuous and tragic year finally draws to a close, it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around everything that’s happened over the past 12 months. COVID-19 and the racial and political unrest we’ve seen this year are unlike anything most of us have experienced before, and the countless ramifications and ripples will surely impact the months and years to come in ways we can’t yet predict.
As we worked on our December issue last year and made our annual industry predictions, we never could have foreseen how much the coming year would turn everything on its head, from the world of benefits and health care to the employers and employees advisors work with every day, to even the tiniest details of our daily lives. Let’s just say that finding enough content for our annual Year in Review timeline (page 20) wasn’t an issue this time around.
Related: 2019: The year in review
We often talk about the adaptability and resilience of those who work in our industry, and that was tested this year like never before. In this month’s cover story, “The way forward” (page 12), industry leaders look back on the many challenges and opportunities they’ve experienced over the past year, including the acceleration of many existing trends impacting innovation and transparency. As Ben Conner, CEO of Conner Insurance, puts it, “This was the opportunity for our community to show that we are truly advisors in how to navigate 2020 as a business, as well as in our strategic plan for the delivery of health insurance in the health care landscape.”
Other areas of the industry that experienced drastic acceleration due to recent events include technology and communication. As Laine Thomas Conway writes in “Telling the story,” (page 26) “In a year of a global health crisis and with so much upheaval … benefits technology and communication was even more critical to support employees and meet their evolving needs.” Be sure to spend some time going through this feature, which provides some in-depth analysis of how the industry has answered the call so far.
And what about 2021? Well, as we’ve all been reminded so dramatically, every crystal ball is cloudy, at best. But it’s safe to say that traits like adaptability and resilience will continue to play a key role in the future success of the industry. As Chris Bell notes in our cover story, “One of the things you need is an ability to adapt to the ever-changing industry trends. Keep a positive attitude, keep going and you will be looking back at COVID as a major milestone that you were able to overcome in your career.“
Looking back at 2020, huh? Now, doesn’t that sound nice?
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