Put people first. We generally get to hear or read this as a philosophy of corporate companies. In general, people refers everyone, including the administrators, management, employees, clients, customers, etc. After all, we are people first, followed by designations. Isn’t it? Life was slightly predictable, and everyone tried playing safe in their comfort zones before the pandemic. Little did we know that a small virus can create havoc and show us the strengths of the systems and foundations we have built all these years, including those of the top nations.
While the world is still fighting against the pandemic, three words sum up everything about life – Life goes on.
Now, the question is about how well we take our living standards forward in the post-pandemic era? Through this story, we tried to envisage some crucial aspects around the same.
The importance of people and their civilisation levels have known to become crucial among the many post-pandemic learnings. The world has also coined the term, covidiot, for those who disregarded safety guidelines. While finding reasons for their behavioural aspects is not the aim of this story, these actions could be because of lack of education, awareness, negligence or attitudinal issues.
Everyone needs to be vaccinated:
The countries have taken it on them to vaccinate their population as soon as possible. Implies, everyone needs to be vaccinated to contain the spread of the virus as one positive case is enough to spread the virus, and hence each one is equally important.
Now that we have established an equating relation and the safety of everyone is equally essential – you are not safe until everyone is safe. Having set the context, let us envisage and discuss the role of people in the post-pandemic world.
1. People :
By now, people must have already experienced or gone through a crisis. From covidiots to system infrastructural issues, people have experienced it all. Most importantly, people lost people and time for nothing.
The world is not going to be the same:
As we fast forward things, it is essential to understand that we may face an altogether different world. Food, education, life, career, business, travel, health, transportation, housing etc., everything will see a change for a better tomorrow. A high-paying job may lose its shine, or a most preferred stream of education may not be as favoured as earlier. Preferences and priorities have changed, and the world is not going to be the same as before. People prefer to choose the best and consequently be prepared to face tough competition too to be the best.
Impact of Digital Products or Services on People and Productivity:
Before you continue further: If you are among those mindsets who feel influencers are in a kind of serious employment, you may please stop reading, as this write-up will not make any sense for you.
It is better to be a product rather than being a service using a product.
There is a difference in the mindsets of people of underdeveloped, developing, and developed nations. While some are cultural, some are economical. The way developing countries consume products or services may not be the same as developed countries.
While some services make people productive, some make them lose their logical thinking abilities. Unless people understand this thin line of difference and try to be the best version of themselves, how harder the leaders struggle to build nations, there would be no significant results.
Empower people with the Right Tools and Information:
Unfortunately, being big is not a measure to determine righteousness or ethical conducts. After all, there are real people and their intentions behind those companies too. After the bio-weapon, we never know which company or country is trying a digital weapon to hamper the thinking abilities of nations to hinder their growth. Thus, to ease governance and show results to people, empower them with the right tools and information.
Unfortunately, if ignorants outnumber the intellectuals, the governments may be forced or inclined to go with the majority choice or be paralysed, thus damaging the purpose. Such a scenario is counterproductive to employment generation and growth.
A government can only show the way and create opportunities, and it is up to the people how well they excel to grab the opportunities.
It is just that the mindset of the people should not fall to such levels, where they believe more in a trending video or photograph rather than reality, books, whitepapers and R&D documents.
Thus, people play a significant role in shaping up nations and their strengths. The more intellectual minds, the better the country. While the development of a nation depends on other factors as well, people play a crucial role. [Pointer 1]
2. Planned Cities :

As a simple logic, would you see your locality or office with the same perspective as you had in the pre-pandemic era? In your answer lies the answer. Are you willing to go into that market rubbing the shoulders again? Can you be as comfortable as you are with your maid like earlier? Any point of contact is a question of suspicion here.
Use cases around us:
- A wife wants her husband to commute as little as possible and vice versa.
- A mother would be curious about the safety of her child at school and while commuting.
- Parents would like to see their kids playing in open spaces.
- Elders need good medical facilities nearby.
- Businesses would like to expand operations in safe and planned places, so on, and the list continues.
While the requirements or demands vary with financial abilities and personal choices, there will be for sure a change, and this is where planned cities come into the picture. These changes may not be immediate but definite.
Reference: The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Livability Index of 140 cities around the world.
New Zealand’s Auckland tops the world’s most livable cities of 2021.
Cities across the world are now much less livable than they were before the pandemic began. The survey reveals even the top tier cities have shaken by the outbreak of the virus. With this, you can now very well assess your locality or city.
Planned cities would be in demand, and spaces in such cities would be dear. We can hope such projects can be pillars of infrastructure development, employment and increased living standards.
3. Policy & Regulation :
That said, none of the above would take form without proper regulations. Fair and flawless regulations are synonymous with developed countries.
Without foolproof regulatory frameworks and with inputs from subject matter experts, it is hard for underdeveloped countries or developing countries to achieve significant results. How good the intention of the top leaders is, an incompetent regulatory would always put down the aspirations of leaders driving the countries.
Countries would look for selfless subject matter experts with business acumen and technical foresightedness in regulatory rather than just administrators. As an example, will an IT company hire an experienced pharma candidate for coding? Simply No, unless the hiring is for designing the business logic (BI) of a pharma project. Likewise, a pharma candidate in the technology domain or a technology candidate in the construction domain would do more harm than benefit. Highly aspiring nations would not look for circumstantial achievements but look more for foolproof solutions with long term benefits.
Will parents accept or digest if a maths instructor, unless knowledgeable, teaches chemistry to their kids? The same goes with regulatory as one wrong regulatory decision or framework can make or break nations or the businesses in that country. Just because someone has the authority doesn’t mean they can do anything and everything and be right. Now, people would be particular about the regulatory frameworks and subject matter experts working on them as they have felt the repercussions already.
Regulatory checks on vested interests:
Regulatory should be competent enough to filter and check on the ideas of those companies with unproductive product leads who, instead of innovating, come up with ideas or concepts that devastate the ecosystem, markets or people.
Let’s discuss an example around the same:
Free broadband by pushing advertisements:
What crap is this? And who came up with this idea, and who approved it? What are these companies trying to do to the people of the nation?
If we envisage the consequences of such services:
1. No intellectual or individual working in a corporate would take the service
2. From the leftover users who are on-boarded, what are these companies trying to prove to the world?
- These are the people who watch our advertisements
- The number of people wasting time watching advertisements
- This is the percentage of unproductive people in a country
If the service is at least some percentage success in a country, these companies would now try to influence other countries, investors and finally spoil the whole ecosystem. If implemented, this service is more of sarcasm or shame on those countries than a serious business.
It is our personal opinion that regulators should not approve these kinds of services. On one side, while people are fighting the damage done by dominant tech giants in disguise of technology, these are additional hurdles to the nations. Regulators should check on such services, as it would be hard to digest the fact how a few incompetent product heads or companies have paralysed the systems.
Learnings: Just that a country has allowed a specific product or service, do not blindly approve the same in your country. You never know the vested interests or competency of regulators in that country. Only proceed after careful evaluation.
Some services paralyse the thinking abilities of people and create irreparable damage to society in disguise.
Indexes Don’t Come With Ease:
Indexes don’t come easy, and it’s a collective effort of the country. As people, be it of any country, it is better to know what made a difference. After all, investment in knowledge pays the best interest.
Investors:
Investors being the backbone of companies, have a higher responsibility on their shoulders now. While they have all the intelligence and knowledge, the only thing they now need is to spare a little time to fact check the reality, services, quality, numbers and ethics of the companies they are funding.
Investors will now seek value in every penny they invest.
Countries: Let your Actions Speak
Everyone is watching everyone and results matter. Every decision that a country takes speaks more about its managerial, technical, financial and intellectual abilities. Also, now countries would be more eager to learn about the policies and frameworks of those countries that out-shined as role models. Countries will now try to be more self-reliant and form pacts with countries with similar mindsets and vision.
Remember, our generations need to share the same society and world till we find a planet B. So, act responsibly as our actions will impact our families too. After all, our intention is the same as yours, make this world a better place and help ourselves for a better tomorrow.