Beyond the Black Swan: How the Pandemic and Digital Innovations Intensified the Sustainability Imperative - Everywhere

The term Black Swan coined by Nassim Taleb, is an unpredictable event that is beyond what is normally expected of a situation and has potentially severe consequences. Black swan events are characterized by their extreme rarity, severe impact, and the widespread insistence they were obvious in hindsight. On the other hand, White Swan is the silver lining that advances, despite the severe and dramatic effects of a Black Swan. They signify a shift towards positive change that is more commonly visible and prevalent across communities, societies, and the world.

COVID-19 has been debated as one of the most vivid and recent examples of a Black Swan, with major serious consequences being human deaths, volatility in business and jobs, inequities in wealth and health, impeded access to education, crises across key sectors (especially healthcare, manufacturing & logistics), and turmoil in local and national government and politics. No country, no business, and no individual has NOT been negatively impacted by the Pandemic on some level.

The intent of the book is to tell the stories of how a corresponding White Swan came out of the 3-year period from when the pandemic started -where COVID-19 and the corresponding digitalization of the world have amplified the sustainability agenda in business. In short, the book will illuminate the experiences of community leaders, entrepreneurs, investors, small businesses to large-scale multinational enterprises, educators, and business and government leaders that tell the ways that the era of COVID-19 has made a focus on achieving real outcomes towards sustainability/ESG, powered by technology, more visible and prevalent than ever before.