It’s that time of year again — meaning, the very end of the year. The time when people of all faiths (or of no faith at all) try to give each other just a little more grace, a little more gratitude than we otherwise might.
As of this moment, it seems that the very worst of COVID’s effects may finally be behind us (for everyone except the Chinese Communist Party, that is). But I gotta say, the pandemic is still messing with my sense of time.
Part of me is simply astonished that 2022 is entering its final days — didn’t this year just start, like, two months ago? But maybe that’s just in comparison with the peak-COVID years of 2020 and 2021, each of which seemed to drag on forever, like mini-decades.
But it’s not just our conception of time that seems out of whack. It’s our whole relationship with truth, and with one another. Again, the pandemic may be at least partly to blame here, but the level of misinformation and sheer malice on our digital-communication channels has simply gotten out of control.
We seem to be losing perspective — about the true state of our economy (rather robust, actually!), the job market (plenty of great jobs out there, folks!), and our nation as a whole (still a pretty terrific place — I certainly wouldn’t trade our problems with those of any other major nation).
Sometimes it takes a bolt from the blue to remind you of what’s real. For me, that recently came in the form of a note from a man who had come to the US from Iran. He said he wanted to work with PSP because ours is a female-owned business — and he wanted to show his mom and his daughter that not every country treats its women as abysmally as his land of origin does.
That’s the kind of perspective we need more of right now, a clear-eyed sense of just how good we have it here — if we can avoid tearing ourselves apart over petty resentments and absurd conspiracy theories.
Amid everything, we here at PSP have been able to draw upon our extraordinary network of job-seekers and job-creators, helping amazing people find each other.
In particular, I want to thank our incredible group of new (and new-ish) clients, all of whom have deeply impressed me with their all-in commitment to developing robust organizational cultures. I’m looking at you, PCC, and FlowPlay, and Union.ai, and AstrumU, and Institute for Systems Biology. Keep up the amazing work — we’re so glad to help you do it.
But this network also includes lots of folks who aren’t looking and aren’t hiring — yet are quite willing to pass along a tip or a job announcement. They (you?) are part of this too, a deeply valuable part.
To all of you — every single one of you — we send our deepest thanks. And our heartfelt wishes for a joyous holiday season and a prosperous 2023.
Gina
