For its first two decades, the 21st century has exhibited an unfortunate tendency to toss humanity from one dramatic and often terrible event to the next, like falling dominoes of bad news. And while history shows such times are not unprecedented, that’s cold comfort. People are more concerned with living through their present than with how much it might resemble events of the past.
These events have roiled the waters for businesses and the global economy as well. They include terrorist attacks, the Great Recession, political polarization, a global pandemic, another recession, war in Europe and widespread inflation.
It’s tempting to hope things get better. It’s smarter to find ways of preparing workforces for the possibility of a third 21st-century recession in the near future (which appears likely) and other less-than-ideal events of an unknown nature.
