Editorial – by Managing Director Alexander De Beir

We can't save everyone. And that's all the better!

First a question: have you already booked your restaurant for the first of May? Or the next few days after? Don't tell me you haven't thought about it yet. I have. Together with the growing desire to return to a more normal life and to share a good moment of conviviality. But also with the feeling of contributing to the restart of an industry which is particularly important in Belgium. Even though some bars and restaurants will not reopen their doors, we can only rejoice at the idea that the state will no longer have to intervene to keep helping this sector like they have been doing since the outbreak of the pandemic. It is essential for every professional, entrepreneur and employee to be able to make a living from his/her talent. And to receive the recognition of the customers they duly deserve.

Thinking longer term

The months ahead will be the months of recovery of our economy, but no doubt also the scene of restructuring in the corporate world. Some sectors will find it more difficult than others to resume their activities; just think about sectors like tourism, air transport, etc. As for others, it is their entrepreneurial model or the very structure of the company that will be forced to make a deep introspection. We will not escape it. The Government will not be able to guarantee indefinite employment in organizations or industries which are unstable or unviable.

“Governments will increasingly need to move away from broad support to more targeted measures.”

That is a quote from The Group of Thirty, often abbreviated to G30, an international body of financiers and academics, which aims to deepen the understanding of economic and financial issues and to examine consequences of decisions made in the public and private sectors.

In a recent publication, Reviving and Restructuring the Corporate Sector Post-Covid:

Designing Public Policy Interventions, this think tank states the following: “What started as a corporate liquidity crisis is fast becoming a solvency crisis for many countries, sectors, and individual firms around the world. It will be necessary to limit government support of businesses to those circumstances where there is a market failure and appropriate to partnering with the private sector to finance necessary balance sheet restructurings”.

Our own destiny

The lesson we must learn is that more than ever, we must be prepared to take action ourselves.

If the title of this editorial shocks you, know that it is above all a question for me to take one's own destiny into one’s own hands, and to know how to reinvent oneself when the time has come to do so. So that each of us finds happiness in personal fulfillment.

We should also aim to contribute to a more equitable, resource-friendly world, based on our own skills. Many talents, young and old, will discover the soul of an independent within themselves. They will be able to showcase their expertise and pragmatism in companies that will be happy to temporarily benefit from their know-how. And we at ADM will be happy to continue to bring the two closer to each other, finding the right person to handle the assignment entrusted to us.

New normal

In the business world, where we have learned, by necessity, that a different type of management is possible, and even more efficient and more sustainable, the "new normal" will probably not resemble the old. It will sometimes be necessary to make difficult choices, to let some employees go or to create a new function for them, to discover unexpected added value in them, in order to ensure the sustainability of the company that employs them.

In this new TIP-IM, we dedicate an article to find out what different think tanks mean by the global restructuring of the corporate world. We also meet Jean-François Berleur, an expert in System Thinking, who reveals his vision for the near and longer term future, by introducing, among other things, the advent of autonomous teams in companies.

Have a good read, and may this edition inspire you to deploy all your talents and believe in your ambitions.