What Does a Healthy Community Look Like Beyond COVID?

Grant Ian Gamble is an international business strategy and growth consultant, best-selling mindful leadership author and speaker. He works in a broad array of industries helping companies build teams, navigate change and drive growth. He has over 35 years of experience in the health and wellness sectors.

One antithetical extreme is the kingdom of Bhutan, a tiny landlocked country in the Himalayas bordered by China and India. Bhutan has only reported one death from COVID and an infection rate of less than 0.01% (compared to over 9% of the population in the U.S.). 

In Bhutan, the guiding measurement of the country’s success is “Gross National Happiness”. This metric values economic development backed by environmental conservation and cultural values.

Has this guiding principle contributed to Bhutan’s unparalleled success in countering COVID? I think it’s likely, but I’ll let the scientists, epidemiologists, statisticians and actuaries argue the merit of that conclusion.

They certainly inspired me to think beyond some of the constructs I’ve created for myself in my 35-year career in wellness.

My work in the wellness arena began in the heyday of the fitness industry where flop socks and lycra was all the rage. Over time, my enthusiasm for fitness morphed into a deep appreciation for the more holistic benefits of wellness.

As I explored the boundaries of wellness, I had the opportunity to create large integrated wellness campuses with the goal of  blurring the lines between healthcare and wellness.

These centers were focused on attracting the “Interested Deconditioned” segment of the market to movement, and building community from within their shared experience. The “Interested Deconditioned”  segment represents almost two thirds of the population who know they need to move more to be healthy, but haven’t yet found a solution they’ve been able to sustain.

Like the Bhutan principle or the “Donut Economic” premise, the community wide appeal of the programming we were able to create underwrote the economic prosperity of these centers and allowed us to maintain alignment with the goal of changing lives.

This initial groundbreaking success underwrote future campuses up and down the Atlantic Coast. As we refined and expanded the model, I was realizing that these wellness centers could and should be at the heart of a community.

At that point, projects had ranged from kids campuses to senior centric havens, but often these elements remained separate and distinct.

When I was able to blend the generations together on one campus, the upshot was magic.

Kids were inspired by their elders and the seniors were rejuvenated by the energy of youth. I share a couple of anecdotes in my book, “The Affinity Principle™”, but the stories were endless.

This started a personal journey of discovery for me.

I began exploring lifestyle resorts, intentional communities, destination wellness, and wellness real estate developments. There were a lot of moves afoot to increase access to wellness lifestyle and some wonderful outcomes were emanating from these initiatives.

growth in many parts of the world, Amsterdam was seeking to create inclusive and sustainable economic development while creating a safe and just space for its community members. 

This truly resonates with me.

I had always managed companies with a “People First” mindset, arguing that the money was a by product.

This premise was founded on first hand experiences birthing startups and rebirthing companies that were struggling. When I approached the business from a people-centric perspective, I was able to grow trust, communication, function and performance.

This premise is the basis of my book I mentioned earlier, “The Affinity Principle,” which presents a formula for business success through a people-centric, mindful leadership approach (sounds like the Bhutan philosophy when I reflect back). 

In simpler terms, I distilled The Affinity Principle into a formulaic basis for  long-term sustainable business success:

Mindful leadership creates an incredible team performance, which leads to an awesome customer experience and that yields great financial results.

If a tiny nation state such as Bhutan can build a sustainable economy around happiness, and an economic and tech goliath such as Amsterdam can balance its economic prosperity with mindful planetary and social boundaries, what could we achieve in our own back yard?

Could we develop a village concept that is centered around wellness and sustainability and yet  underwritten by economic prosperity? A place where people come first and prosperity follows, literally and figuratively? Where longevity is intrinsically connected to quality of life?  Where human relationships are the thread that binds the community together and allows it to function and prosper?

Ultimately, if wellbeing is intrinsically linked to community, it just makes sense to plant these seeds in our own backyard. There is indelible proof of the benefits, innumerable examples of the ways and means to achieve this objective, and unparalleled momentum to underwrite such an initiative. What are we waiting for?