Current Happenings

I first made it into a newspaper many years ago. It was an innocuous article about work we were doing at the Formica factory in North Shields, UK. It was featured in the local newspaper whose pages were covered with stories of Newcastle United’s latest failure. I remember feeling strange seeing my name and quotes in print. People like me (I’m from salt-of-the-earth County Durham mining stock) only make it into newspapers at the start of ours lives and, depending on the circumstances, at the end.

My mother thought it was great and started to keep a scrapbook. It was a long time before she troubled page two. However, as the career developed she collected articles from journals, trade magazines and the odd newspaper feature.

When the Formica CEO job came about we moved to Cincinnati. This coincided with the digital age and allowed her to continue with a virtual scrapbook.

What a year. It started with selling our Civil Construction business and saying goodbye to some good friends. We had made many changes to the business in the previous 18 months and we were ready for a great 2020. And then…..

COVID has changed the world. It’s been remarkable to watch how people the world over have adapted to the pandemic. How many of us have read a menu after snapping a QR code or sat under a heater outdoors in December (or maybe not, in Arizona)?

I’ve worked with many of JLL’s businesses during the pandemic and I’m proud of them all for how they’ve coped with adversity. Maybe I’m biased, but I’d say Pioneer had one of the hardest tasks, given our daily interaction with customers, and coped the best.

We dealt with the first wave and powered through the spring and summer, posting record numbers. I remember visiting stores in August and the store staff were exhausted after four, crazy, busy months.

We’re entering the last few weeks of 2020 and you don’t need me to tell you it’s been a year like no other. I don’t think the election or the arrival of 2021 will change much, regarding the pandemic. COVID is with us for a while and we have to continue to deal with it.

One of the things, however, that has come to the fore during this time has been Trust. Many of the norms we have traditionally relied upon have been disrupted by the virus. By necessity these have been replaced by trust. You have had to trust management to have plans and resources to keep you safe. You have had to trust that your team mates wear masks and self‐isolate when they know they may have been exposed. Our customers have trusted that we will stay open and service them safely.

Trust is hard to build but incredibly valuable once you have it.

With this in mind I’m delighted to announce the we have been awarded a place in the Silicon Review’s top 50 most trusted companies list. The Silicon Review is a global print and digital publication for business and technology professionals…

It’s hard to believe that just 100 years ago woman were not allowed to vote. We celebrate today Women’s Equality Day to commemorate the adoption of the 19th amendment, which granted woman that right.

Women made up 50% of the population, had and raised our children, went to war (as nurses), worked in factories and on farms, but weren’t allowed to express their right of determination.

It’s really hard at the moment to be positive about where we are with COVID, riots, and a struggling economy. However, it’s worth looking at the big picture and realizing that humanity has made an enormous amount of progress in the last 100 years.

Nowhere is this more evident than when you examine the role woman play in the world today. In the last hundred years there have been many woman heads of state. Amongst them are some iconic figures who left an indelible mark…

I’m pleased to see that Paul and the team keep you informed on a weekly basis at the moment, so I’ll try not to cover the same ground. Rather, I’d like to share some thoughts on how I’m thinking about the next few months.

I was out in Denver a couple of weeks ago and the trip was surreal. Newark airport was empty, as was DIA. The plane, on the other hand, was full, as it was one of only a few that were flying that day. Traveling with United is average at the best of times but wearing a mask and no food make it even worse.

The travel aside, it was so good to be back and see lots of folks. I managed to get to a few stores and they were super busy. I can’t tell you how proud I am of everybody working through the pandemic and continuing to improve the business at the same time. I am deeply concerned about COVID. I feel that collectively the world got COVID fatigue and decided it wasn’t that bad after all. It is! It’s highly contagious and if you get it it’s really unpleasant at…