We are living in a volatile world

Life can change in an instant. The news that Monarch has been placed in administration broke overnight, a sad demise for the UK’s fifth largest airline and its associated businesses, affecting hundreds and thousands of customers who have booked flights as well as over 100,000 travellers who are still overseas.

Monarch Airlines in administration – a reminder that we are living in an uncertain and volatile world

Administrators KPMG are currently explaining to their 3,000+ employees what the future may hold for them but, at the moment it looks far from bright. All planes have been grounded and no further flights will will be scheduled or chartered under the Monarch brand.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast News this morning, Transport secretary Chris Grayling assured all customers who are currently on holiday that they will be brought back to the UK at around the same time that their Monarch inbound flight had been scheduled.

As the news of Monarch was being digested, reports began to emerge of a gunman opening fire in Las Vegas. Latest updates are reporting that 50 innocent people have lost their lives with untold people injured.

Earlier this year, Marketing Stockport hosted a lunch for our founding members where Brigit Egan, a director of Oakridge, gave an exceptionally interesting and thought-provoking presentation around the subject of VUCA.

VUCA is an acronym – Volatility – Uncertainty – Complexity – Ambiguity – a concept introduced in the early 90s by the US Army War College to refer to the multilateral world that emerged after the end of the Cold War and was characterised as being more Volatile, Uncertain, Complex and Ambiguous than ever before.

The VUCA environment means that we must focus on what is possible (because anything can happen) rather than on what is likely to occur (which is determined by what happened before).

Unfortunately this has been clearly and very sadly borne out this morning.

Helen White – Marketing Stockport