Following the success of the first #goodaftercovid19 conversation in  live streaming, we are excited to open up the second installment to the  Franklin community as part of University Day.  How could things actually  be better after COVID-19? Find out on April 8 at 2:15 p.m. CEST, as #goodaftercovid19  shines a light on the “best practices” emerging right now. Thought  leaders from around the world will share which values and behaviors they  believe are vital to nurture if we wish to ensure a future that serves  us all.

Initiated by our own Carlo Giardinetti,  Dean of Executive Education and Global Outreach, and Sara Roversi,  founder of the Future Food Institute, the first stage of this project  began during a phone call back in March. The two discussed how the  pandemic could be a stimulus to correct many of the weaknesses it had  exposed, by creating a common ground on which people could meet and  build a better future. They immediately reached out to colleagues for  help. The result was a live fishbowl event in which forty experts from  diverse backgrounds discussed ways to correct imbalances, improve our  systems, and strengthen our relationships with each other.

“This group is proposing that we dramatically improve the world after  this crisis, and we don’t go back to business as usual.” Dean  Giardinetti reports the first event, which can be viewed at Good After COVID19,  is receiving overwhelming support from thought leaders, media, and  hundreds of people around the globe. This is just the beginning. He  believes that “within and beside the tragedy we are all living, there  are some incredible seeds for good. It’s clear.”

Instead of a top down approach, which relies on national leaders to  define our actions, Good After COVID19 demonstrates how responsibility  must be more spread out, beginning at an individual level and then  shared amongst companies, industries, and governments. Nine topics were  defined by the first conversation, building on sustainable development  goals (SDGs), and “particularly relevant for the COVID-19 lock-down  context we are living in,” according to the participants:

1. Define a new Leadership paradigm
2. Reinstate the real purpose of Economy
3. Redesign the Internet for better democracies
4. Trust science and spirituality, not power
5. Make human essential needs accessible to everybody
6. Implement the Theory of Change for the SDGs
7. Move beyond “Competition vs Collaboration” towards “Co-opetition”
8. Weave an Intergenerational Pathway towards a Thriving Society
9. Transform All Education into Issue-Based Learning

Sometimes all it takes is a phone call from a friend or a well-timed  TED talk to awaken a desire for change in ourselves. These days, the  stakes are high, but the solution still lies within ourselves. Anyone  can sign up for this free event and join the movement.