Leadership is about coping with change, according to John P. Kotter, best-selling author of Leading Change and Harvard Professor of Leadership. When we chose ‘Leadership in Business’ as the overall theme for the IFFI 2020-programme, we could not imagine how true and valuable this quote would become in the past 12 months. The COVID pandemic has turned our world upside down and the changes in our business and personal lives are enormous.

Working from home, food-to-go, outdoor activities, meeting and collaborating online, no travelling unless necessary/allowed … a selection of the many changes that we still experience every day. We have lost loved ones and part of our freedom. But at the same time we have gained in resilience, creativity and agility in the past year.

We all know “Alleen samen” from the national government campaign “Only together can we get corona under control”. For the IFFI network these words became synonymous with a new way of getting together. Alone behind the computer, but in a shared digital environment, the IFFI members were still able to meet. While the first online meetings were a bit awkward, hosted live from the IFFI studio in Schipborg, the digital sessions soon became more familiar and more professional. Ultimately we have found successful channels to continue our annual meeting program. The topics were adapted or “coping with change” in sales, marketing, innovation and other relevant processes in the organizations of our members. The online sessions were well attended, the interaction improved rapidly and the evaluations were positive.  Still, physical meetings like the EC meeting in Doorn and the company visit to Struik were rare highlights this year.