In October 1959, the Soviet probe Luna 3 took the first photographs of the lunar far side, which covered one-third of the surface invisible from the Earth.

These photographs revealed the far side's terrain as being more rugged with a multitude of ‘impact craters’, when compared to the near side.

Following this, the Apollo 8 astronauts were the first humans to see the far side in person, when they orbited the Moon in 1968 and since then all manned and unmanned soft landings on the Moon have taken place on the near side, until early 2019.

Just like discovering what lies on the ‘far side’ in lunar exploration, in this article Simon Quinn, Director of Executive Search, at Moon Executive Search, considers the ‘impact crater’ caused by Covid-19 on the World economy, how it might help us see beyond what we have readily known for many years and what might be on the horizon for us on the ‘far side’ for businesses.

Understandably, many businesses are now considering their own trading models and trying to contemplate a future post Covid-19. Simon believes there will come a time soon when each leadership team needs to understand the different landscape which lies ahead of them and fully grasp that this pivotal point will happen at different times for each business.

He senses that key questions will be emerging for Boards, such as how to move the narrative from ‘the now’ to the ‘when’ and assessing where new opportunities might present themselves. Simon says his Board contacts are looking at what their business needs to do to change and adapt to the new ‘norm’? For example, at what point can we all be brave and consider something previously unexplored through investments, partnerships or joint ventures?

As in all forms of exploration, there will be failure – even the best leadership teams cannot avoid some of the obstacles that lie in wait. However, during this Covid-19 crisis, there are some key lessons that we are continuing to discover as we all challenge our business thinking. We have already learnt that we have great resolve and resilience, but now we need the leaders in all our Boardrooms to create a detailed plan to move to the ‘far side’ by considering the following:

The landscape is evolving and changing - Has the purpose of your business also changed? Will this be short term, or will your paradigm need to shift long term?

Mobilising resources quickly - Can your business scale up quickly after lockdown and increase agility for the long-term?

Investment in innovation and technology - Where can you drive progress, whether that be locally, regionally, nationally or globally? Could this involve additional and effective business collaborations?

Re-thinking the World of work – What can you do differently? How will your business be remembered? What is the positive legacy that you can give your workforce and how has their mindset changed?

‘I suppose the one quality in an astronaut more powerful than any other is curiosity. They have to get some place nobody’s ever been.’

John Glenn

‘For so long, the far side of the moon was a daunting unknown, but through human endeavour and curiosity it has given us greater knowledge and with it potentially bolder opportunities to explore further’ says Simon, ‘and I genuinely believe we are now at the dawn of a new Age for business. Given the right tools, together we can achieve even greater things post Covid-19, once we all start to embrace what is on the ‘far side’. 

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