As a kid I used to be confused by the so-called curse, “May you live in interesting times.” Wouldn’t interesting times be... good? Why would I not want to be interested? Then I got a little older, experienced a little more life, and I started to understand why “interesting times” could be a negative. Then the pandemic happened, and I began to wish for stable, comfortable, and predictable days in a way I never had before. There are always unknowns, risks, and challenges you can’t see coming, but the current health situation was so far outside my calculations it might as well have come from another solar system.

National conversations with manufacturers

It turns out I’m not alone. Manufacturers describe the months since the pandemic started, altered daily life worldwide, and threatened normal business operations as a test of leadership. And the test, they say, has been exhausting.

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