Embracing Chaos is my new work about digital disruption and sustainable and transparent communications and leadership. It is about Europe and its struggle to become a real federation and reinforce its relations with the United States. Its determination to grow into a stronger geopolitical actor in an increasingly fragmented world.
One of the main things I have learned through the COVID-19 pandemic is that we are far more resilient than we think. It is incredible how people have kept their personal and work lives moving forwards by using innovative ways to stay socially connected. As a result, I believe that humanity will come out of this more agile and stronger.
The pandemic has reminded European citizens of many things that they may have forgotten or taken for granted. We were reminded how linked EU economies are and how crucial a fully functioning single market is for our prosperity, and how we do things. The return of a more multilateral minded US under Joe Biden presents a new opportunity to consolidate the unification of the European continent and pursue more autonomous strategies
The current situation also entails the risk of widening social and economic differences around the world. Demand shifts and the capacity of the private sector to rebound will asymmetrically affect different countries. Many sectors are expected to suffer, notably through reduced turnover and employment.
Seen through the eyes of a European communication scientist, Embracing Chaos explores contemporary and future challenges such as the corona pandemic, the identity crisis, the rise of populism, fake news and the new cold war. In addition, it explores why we need more regulation for online platforms, digital anarchy, global warming, and the rise of illiberal democracies.
My new book is also about why our planet needs more empathy and compassion, about the need to develop laws to protect voters from fake news and propaganda such as those already in place for consumers. It assesses why we should ask our politicians to take a political version of the Hippocratic Oath.
It is also about why the European Union is the best solution to address the issues Europeans face. Finally, the book explores the possibility of creating a Union of the West - a new grand federation - between Europe and North America and opportunities for future generations.
With more than 25 years of experience in the field of communications and with a background including positions such as communication officer at the European Commission and spokesperson to diplomatic missions in Brussels, I have learned to accept the pace of EU crises: They come and go like B-movies and with an excess of tension: the Brexit drama, the euro crisis, the migration crisis, the corona crisis. Do I forget anything? It never stops and I analyse them all in my new work.
A large part of this publication was written between March 2020 & March 2021, during the corona crisis in a beautiful house near the magnificent Botanic Garden of Meise, just a few kilometres outside Brussels and, on the sunny green island of Corfu.