Editor’s Note
I heard somewhere that it takes 66 days to form a habit. After the last 437+ days of pandemic living, the world has collectively formed a lot of new habits. The way we work, shop, eat, relax, and interact with others looks radically different – that’s not exactly a revelation; we’ve all watched the changes unfold in real-time. The interesting part? Returning to the “old” normal might take some effort. I’m finding it rather difficult to break some of these newly ingrained habits. Going back to the office just once a week, for example, makes me wonder how I did this daily at one point in the not-so-distant past. Starting my day in the home office takes significantly less planning – I don’t need to match my shoes to my outfit, pack up a laptop bag, or hop in the car to commute. Plus, my stash of at-home snacks is rather appealing. When I do gather the energy to head into the office, though, I’m pleasantly surprised by how normal it feels. Seeing a few coworkers and settling into my desk just feels…right? Waving hello and chatting with the occasional passers-by is a welcome change from the solitude of my home office window. In an internal survey at Concord, we found that 46% of our employees believe they perform their job most effectively in a hybrid office/remote model. I would place myself in that category, as well. The return-to-work question is facing most employers – we gathered a few statistics that might be useful as you’re considering your strategy (page 09).
Many of the individuals and organizations featured in this issue are contending with habits formed during the pandemic. Andrea Walsh, CEO of HealthPartners, shares how the organization is working to maintain the accelerated pace of change in the future (page 10). Dave Fabry, Chief Innovation Officer at Starkey, explains how the company innovates to improve the speech audibility of mask wearers for the hearing-impaired (page 16). All Square is taking advantage of remote learning to dissolve barriers to legal education for incarcerated Minnesotans (page 38). As we enter the next (and, hopefully, final) phase of the pandemic, I’m interested to see what habits from the past year stick around. Only time will tell!
Natalie Sheffield Director of Marketing, Concord Editor in Chief, MN Tech Mag
04 | Editor’s Note
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