This time last year, I was in Hyderabad, India, celebrating Skillsoft Synergy with my colleagues. It was the first time I’d been to India and I loved every moment of it — from sightseeing to dress shopping to customer meetings in Mumbai — it felt like an enormous and beautiful festival of Indian culture and family. It was, by far, the most amazing business trip I’ve ever taken.

It was also one of the last times I traveled before the onset of the pandemic. And if you’re anything like me (as we watch House Hunters International), you’re missing the open road too.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been great to spend more time with my family. After all, in terms of being with the ones you love, there really is “no place like home.” But, you can have too much of a good thing. And, there’s a part of me — maybe of all of us — that really wants to travel again, look around, and marvel, “Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.”

Speaking of Dorothy Gale, if I found myself in those ruby slippers right now, I would trade them in for a sturdy pair of hiking boots and trek through the unknown of Oz a bit longer. Exploring new places, soaking up new experiences. That’s how we take in the beauty of the world — and its people — beyond our own backyards. And while I love the scenic rides on my Peloton (Swiss Alps, anyone?), the screen cannot do justice to all that you experience when visiting a new locale — the landscape, the people, the food.

And, if we want to be global citizens, travel is as necessary as it is enjoyable.

As Mark Twain wrote in The Innocents Abroad, “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.” I love that quote. This year, as we’ve worked together towards advancing diversity, equity and inclusion, it resonates with me more than ever. But I also realize something: despite staying at home, we’ve all travelled this year — far beyond our comfort zones. After all, Mark Twain also said this: “Education consists mainly in what we have unlearned.”

Over the past several months, we’ve put together programs that have helped individuals, managers, and entire organizations unlearn the often-unconscious biases that exist in organizations. These barriers can be hidden in everything from processes and protocols, to expectations and even brands. And they stand in the way of pursuing genuine and meaningful equity.

The real progress comes when we all stop saying “That’s the way we’ve always done it,” and start saying “This is the way we must do it going forward.” When we stop focusing on where we’ve been and start looking toward where we want to go.

Speaking of where we want to go, I know it may be some time before I can touch down on an unfamiliar tarmac again. And yet, there is hope. This week, Pfizer began distribution of the first COVID-19 vaccines here in the United States following in the footsteps of the UK. I cannot think of a more promising sign as we head into a most welcome and anticipated new year.
So rather than look back, I want to look ahead to this time next year when (hopefully) we’ll be able to gather together, in person, anywhere in the world, and mark a significant milestone in our collective history — a world better protected from the risks of COVID-19. We’ll celebrate with family and friends old and new.

I look forward to raising a glass with you all.