On which values should be based corporate culture in the post-Covid-19 world?

Our values, and what we understand by them, are central to the operationalization of the society, institutions and organizations through which we conduct our everyday lives. Prior to Covid-19 a wide range of value-driven issues were at play in corporate cultural contexts: business ethics; responsible management; environmental management; well-being; spirituality; social capital; human capital; and, corporate social responsibility – the list is long and rich. Covid-19 has been a watershed moment in the memory of many and has invoked a series of societal reflections and reappraisals in tandem with futuristic responses and predictions. In many ways it has induced a hiatus, limbo-like moment for value-driven topics and focused attention on immediate survival. Given the menacing and lethal nature of the disease such responses are to a large extent understandable. Covid-19, for many of younger generations across nations (and especially the West) represents one of their first experiences (alongside 9/11, 2008 Financial Crisis, Sars) of a widespread existential threat. A major crisis – personal or public – is of course a classic and well-rehearsed catalyst for re-evaluation of life choices and overall cultures adopted up to the crisis outbreak. Covid-19 is such a case in point – especially as the threat it poses does not respect age or socio-economic demographics. Nonetheless, for many people living in 2020, Covid-19 is the macro-crisis of their generation (rather like earlier generations experienced the First and Second World Wars, The Spanish Flu epidemic, threat of nuclear war etc…