2020: A year to celebrate resilience & an innovation mindset

By Carol Butler

What an extraordinary year for business. While some owners have been forced to shut their doors, others are posting record earnings. Industry is a major determinant of a company’s ability to weather the current storms. Yet we have countless examples of businesses from the hardest-hit sectors who are not just surviving, but thriving.

The Goering Center is one great example. Our mighty team of 10 hosts around 70 face-to-face educational events per year. Add to that our Roundtables, which bring together about 160 members across 20-plus small groups, meeting in person monthly to dive deep on their personal and professional challenges. Our Family and Private Business Awards – an annual event – often draws as many as 800 business leaders together to celebrate their achievements.

Last March, while live events were being cancelled coast to coast, we chose to pack up our laptops, set up our home offices, and learn how to deliver value at a time when what we offer – knowledge, connection and community – was needed most. We innovated and watched in awe as our members and community partners innovated, too.

This supplement to the Business Courier is just one piece of our innovative approach to delivering our 21st Annual Family and Private Business Awards. It quickly became clear that we would not be celebrating in person this year, and just as quick, we realized that our criteria for selecting businesses to honor needed an adjustment, too. As our judges outline in their letter on page six, all applications would be viewed through the same lens: how did your company respond to the challenges presented by the pandemic?

Story after inspiring story quickly began pouring into the Goering Center, and our judges soon realized they were up for quite a challenge. Selecting 10 Honorees from so many deserving companies would be difficult. Happily, our judges persevered and our Honorees are featured throughout this publication. We hope you enjoy reading their stories of resilience and perseverance. What’s more, we are spotlighting 24 companies on pages 22 and 23 – all worthy of an honorable mention. To everyone who applied, we applaud your tenacity and ability to pivot.

On behalf of the entire Goering Center team, including our founder, John Goering, our many volunteers and community partners, continued best wishes for a strong and successful second half. Though it has been a very challenging year, a time will come when we speak of 2020 much in the same way that we speak of 2008, wearing the lessons learned, the survival stories, much like a badge of honor, as we help those who come behind us see the tough times through.

Carol Butler is President at the Goering Center. The Goering Center is sharing this content as part of its Business Courier supplement for the 2020 Family & Private Business Awards. View more of the digital supplement here.