As we begin the New Year 2020, I thought I’d offer some food for thought for all of us in modern companies using the Internet and Social Media to connect with our customers. 2020 should be the year for reflection, insight and planning for the future of business. 

Let’s use the beginning of the year to reflect back over the past 2 decades that have completely changed the world we live in. Let’s look at what we’ve gained and what we’ve lost. Let’s take the opportunity to strategically improve the upcoming year as a model for moving into the next 2 decades. 

From a consumer standpoint, one thing I’d like to see less of is superficial attempts of companies to try to stay in our minds all the time. B2C connections are valuable for both sides, but we don’t want it all the time. Some emails are just not worth sending. Hand-washing a car can be more effective than spraying a firehose.

What are other things that have become an integral part of our lives due to the rapidly emerging state of technology of 2020? What have we lost and what have we gained? Let’s make sure to keep the good and evolve away from the bad, and let’s not forget to mine the past for those jewels that we want to keep within our business culture. 

2020 is a special year, because we know that “hindsight is 20/20”, and if you’re someone like me who loves number patterns, it’s also magical in that 20 years is a generational number. Every 20 years, a new generation of people is born, and as they grow, they learn more of the new things and less of the old things. They push forward new ideas and only grasp onto the old ideas that are worth keeping alive. With the state of technology today, we have so much of our past history and values documented and accessible at our fingertips. We can mine it and find what’s valuable, but that takes intention. It’s up to the older generations to help the younger ones see the past values. If we cannot sell them on past values or convince them to mine for them, we need to let them go. 

So, my ask for both young and old people in business is to spend the rest of January reflecting on the past 20 years and mining the wealth of data out there to identify what’s most valuable from yesterday to apply to tomorrow. Look at what we’re on the brink of losing and see if you can play a part in reviving it. It’s a wonderful life, and we can all make an impact.