5 minute read
Looking Ahead to 2023 by Mark Levin, CAE, CSP
Looking Ahead to 2023
by Mark Levin, CAE, CSP
Executive Vice President, Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute 2022 Inductee, American Fence Association Hall of Fame
This next year is going to be a challenge for all of us.
Of course, every year is a challenge in some ways, but 2023 is shaping up as an unusually uncertain year for our industry. Here are some of the reasons that I am cautiously optimistic, with the emphasis on cautiously.
1) The midterm elections did nothing to make the situation in Washington any better, or even clearer.
The surprisingly close midterm elections did not infuse the nation with hopes that Congress will be any more efficient in doing its work or working together at a higher level. If anything, the results just assured that the terms “winners” and “losers” will still describe the only thing our politicians seem to care about.
They all take pride in denying the other side any “wins” that we, the American public, are the ones that come up “losers” over and over. As I mentioned in an earlier column, what happens in Washington affects us all in the fence industry. While our industry can be glad that the infrastructure bill was passed and projects will be funded, the toxic atmosphere among our nation’s leaders and institutions is something that must change or the gridlock we all dread will continue.
2) The term “post COVID world” has taken on a life of its own.
I know, we never want to hear about post-COVID this or post-COVID that ever again. Too bad because we’re stuck with it for the foreseeable future. Even when the disease reaches the point where the medical effects of it are under control, and it not a big threat anymore, the term “post-COVID” will still be around. That’s because it has attained the status of terms such as “post-War” and “post-Depression,” etc. Post COVID now refers to the changes that these past two-plus years made on our entire worldwide society.
We don’t work the same way or even in the same places. We don’t see our fellow employees as much, or we see them on Zoom or some other platform. We have changed the expectations we have of our employees, and they have of us. Customers have raised their expectations of us to provide on-time, upto-standard, and cost-effective products and services. The companies that not only acknowledge but embrace these changes are the companies that are going to thrive in the “post COVID world.”
3) Nothing is on the horizon to solve the ever-growing manpower needs of the fence industry.
Despite this being a priority for many years, making the fence industry attractive to new people is still its number one short- and long-term challenge. Everyone is so focused on short term survival and profitability that efforts to improve the fence industry’s overall brand have been put on the back burner.
We might want to look back and remember when most of the industry was made up of family businesses. The founding generation invariably turned the business over to the next generation, who had grown up in the fence business.
It is not that simple anymore, as companies consolidate and younger generations gravitate away from fencing. But the fence industry is still a fairly close-knit family. Let’s hope that 2023 helps us to find ways to work collectively to present the fence industry as a viable option for a rewarding career for a new generation of men and women.
It is never going to be business as usual again, because nothing is usual about the post-COVID world. We’re going to have to help each other if we want to overcome many of the challenges 2023 holds for us.
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