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Editorial & Perspectives
Editorial Zuoz Club President
A New Reality All of us needed to rapidly develop strategies in dealing with unprecedented adversities in the past months. We had to boost our resilience in order to stay capable of not only reacting but actively shaping our reality. Resilience has been a buzzword for some years now in my field of work, organizational development. Long before COVID-19 appeared, I developed concepts of how to make organisations and their employees more resilient, flexible and agile in tackling changes and coping with challenges. The actual situation has given new meaning to the term. We are now not only dealing with rapidly occurring changes spurred by digitalisation and decisionmaking processes in complex environments. We are also confronted with new parameters that we still don’t fully understand, and we live in a new reality without knowing its nature. This situation troubles our sense of orientation, disturbs our ability to anticipate developments in the near future and destabilises the ground on which we base our decisions. This uncertainty is contrary to the human need for security, familiarity and participation. When our outside world is troubled, we are left with the possibility to turn inward and find reassurance and orientation within ourselves. People with a lot of experience may have memories of the successful strategies they applied in the past to cope with insecure parameters. For young people, like the current students at the Lyceum or recent graduates, this aspect of resilience is far less available. I was wondering, therefore, how they manage to find their way. The answers that I received reveal that young people need to shape their future themselves, at least to some extent, no matter under which circumstances. What has worked for a father or an older sister may not be what works for me. The field of study that I am interested in might be brand new and in the making. For traditional fields of study, future job opportunities may no longer be guaranteed. Young people have to trust their own inquisitiveness, convictions and courage to take a decision. They rely on close exchange with their peers for inspiration and turn towards the support and encouragement of their families for orientation. They thus integrate many aspects of resilience that older people may have lost on the way, and they cope with a new reality by creating it.
FAREWELL AND WELCOME These challenging times have also witnessed the announcement of a change in leadership at the Lyceum. Dr. Christoph Wittmer is leaving the school by the end of the term. Dr. Wittmer has enriched the school program with many innovative projects and has led the school impeccably through the COVID-19 crisis. In the name of the Zuoz Club, I thank him for his remarkable contribu-
tions to the school and wish him fulfilment and success in his new professional reality. The future reality of the school will again be shaped by the proficient work of Beat and Ursula Sommer. The Zuoz Club delightedly welcomes them back and looks forward to a renewed thriving and a pleasurable cooperation.
Dr. Nicole Denise Kollars, President Zuoz Club
