We put the bulk of this issue together before the full impact of Covid-19 was apparent (although perhaps, in retrospect, we were all a bit slow to pay proper attention to it). There’s no question that the world is a very different place now than we thought it was going to be, and anyone pretending to know what the next year will bring is making it up. We've still got some fantastic articles for you though and we'd like to think you might find it a welcome break from the constant stream of coronavirus related news.

We've got a packed issue, and our cover article is an interview with Goodwood about their work to measure and improve employee engagement. It’s easy to forget that exotic businesses such as Goodwood have the same challenges in terms of attracting and keeping good people that the rest of us do, and fascinating to read about how they are approaching it.

We also have features about our new Index of Consumer Sentiment, how confidence is important, but tricky to predict, and a great story from Rebecca Smith of Igloo Energy about building an energy provider with a focus on retention rather than acquisition. There are also articles on training AI, the social housing STAR framework, benchmarking, the role of the Chief Insights Officer, and much more.