The Council on Competitiveness is sharing with policymakers and the public an important update to one of the Council’s seminal reports, Transform, which was first released in 2007. Transform made the case for greater resilience in the face of a myriad of potential threats to businesses, government and U.S. critical infrastructure. Over the past thirteen years, the nomenclature of resilience has become commonplace, yet the decimating impact of the COVID-19 virus on the U.S. economy and the lack of preparedness by the public and private sectors is evidence that the warnings and recommendations in Transform remain incredibly relevant. In short, the United States knew this was coming, and the country was not ready.
The Council is releasing Transform2020 in the hope that the country can refocus on resiliency, so that the standard against which future crises are measured is not how long the economy has to be shut down, but whether a shutdown is necessary. Done right, resilience can help shape U.S. destiny and allow the government to focus on a response to any crisis, not be controlled by it. There is no reason that the conventional wisdom of needing 12-18 months to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic needs to be a standard operating procedure in the future.
Snapshot of Key Policy Insights:
- The national objective is not just homeland protection, but economic resilience—the ability to mitigate and recover quickly from disruption.
- There are an infinite number of disruption scenarios, but only a finite number of outcomes. Leading organizations do not manage specific scenarios, rather they create the agility and flexibility to cope with turbulent situations.
- Businesses must root the case for investment in resilience strategies to manage a spectrum of risks, not just catastrophic ones. The investments and contingency plans leading companies make to manage a spectrum of risk create a capability to respond to high-impact disasters as well.
Download the Transform2020 full report here.
Download the Transform2020 executive summary here.
Read the original Transform report here.
Watch a recording of our Transform2020 webinar below
