COLLABORATE
Knight Aviation & Logistics Monthly Newsletter
DECEMBER 2020 – VOLUME 2
PIVOT.
By Jenna Gillespie, Business Development & Account Services
A new year is full of reflection on the last. This years was an absolute overload, but one of my favourite things to do is look at the new words that were added to our vocab over the last 365. Of course, Covid gave much opportunity for a list of fresh cliche’d terms. Let’s Review a few:
- New Normal
- Social Distancing
- Corona-babies
- Covidiots
- Pivot
Ok, some of those words are definitely more kitschy than others. And a couple of them I’d be happy to never hear again.
“Pivot”, however, is my favourite.
To me, this shows the intention of moving forward, even if ‘forward’ is actually sideways. It shows creativity and an open mind. Resilience and integrity. Much like the lotus “calm in muddy waters”.
know these shifts in direction aren’t easy. Not even a little bit, but I love to see how people change their business (or personal life) when the opportunity presents itself. Or rather forces itself abruptly upon them.
Many businesses and individuals took the opportunity to do just that within the last year. Whether intentional or necessary (that abrupt force!), heels were still turned on and steps taken in a new direction.
Local Craft Breweries and Distilleries shifted some of their production to Hand Sanitizer. Retail shops turned into Online Stores. Restaurants became creative with take-out and at-home meals, plus new luxury services like “Graze Boxes” (Charcuterie platters delivered to your door – ooh ya!) helped us celebrate with a little finesse when we couldn’t go out.
One of my favourite ‘pivots’ was when a local boutique travel agency had turned itself into a new and used bookstore when the pandemic clearly put a damper on their original business plan. The idea that you travel when you read a book was brilliant! I love their business shift created on that mindset.
We would be crazy to think that just because we left the year that was so nice we had to name it twice, means our challenges ended at midnight on New Year’s Eve. However, with all the ingenious stories of how people adapted within the last year, I can’t help but feel hopeful for this one.
If anything, in 2020 we learned a decades worth of lessons, built resiliency and took the opportunity to acknowledge room for growth.
We started to look at our business in different ways. How can we evolve? How can we help? Wait- FIRST- Who needs help?
Is there an opportunity that we haven’t yet seen or hasn’t been presented. Are there new problems that need to be solved? Or do existing issues need to be looked at with fresh eyes? Are
those fresh eyes our own?
There are so many questions to ask ourselves, and we will absolutely be taking the time to think about how we want to answer. But at the beginning of each calendar year, we look at what
we are already doing and how we can better serve our clients, support our vendors and increase our knowledge and experience. This year will be no different.
We are not out of the woods yet, but we gained a new perspective, and some new verbiage to hang on to.
May we all look at this new year with
experienced yet fresh eyes.
Jenna Heacock (Gillespie)
LET'S COLLABORATE.
Feedback or inquiries? We’d love to hear from you!
(e) jgillespie@knightaviation.com
(ph) 403-291-3551
(w) knightaviation.com
