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10 Things You Didn't Know about Ronald P. O'Hanley

Ronald P. O'Hanley is both the CEO and the Chairman of State Stree, which is a U.S. corporation that focuses on financial services. However, it should be mentioned that he can boast of a long career before that point, which enabled him to build up plenty of expertise and experience. Here are 10 things that you may or may not have known about Ronald P. O'Hanley:

1. Contrasts Current Crisis with 2008 Financial Crisis

O'Hanley has contrasted the current COVID-19 crisis with the 2008 financial crisis. To be exact, he said that the current COVID-19 crisis was an example of a crisis in the real economy being transmitted to the financial economy whereas the 2008 financial crisis was an example of a crisis in the financial economy being transmitted to the real economy. This doesn't mean that interested individuals can't draw comparisons between the two, just that they need to be more careful when doing so.

2. Critical of Countries Seeking to Handle Things On Their Own

One of the things that O'Hanley criticized was countries seeking to handle the COVID-19 crisis on their own rather than as a united force. He contrasted this with the 2008 financial crisis when most world leaders understood the need to work together. In any case, O'Hanley's criticism seems to have been on point, which is unsurprising because he echoed the opinions of most medical experts on the matter.

3. Critical of Countries Neglecting Long-Term Issues

Speaking of which, O'Hanley was very critical of countries that put too much focus on short-term issues to the neglect of long-term issues, with the COVID-19 crisis being an excellent example of why this is problematic. Basically, there were plenty of warnings that a lot of countries lacked the institutions needed to handle a pandemic. However, those countries neglected said concern because it wasn't an immediate issue, thus resulting in some very poor performances on their part when COVID-19 hit. O'Hanley stated that there are other long-term issues that have suffered the same kind of neglect.

4. Critical of Bad Leadership

O'Hanley also criticized bad leadership. In his opinion, a lot of multilateral organizations have become less effective as well as less influential following the 2008 financial crisis. Furthermore, a lot of governments have become very polarized, which hinders their ability to come up with solutions as well as implement them. As far as O'Hanley is concerned, recent failures mean that everyone need to reexamine the role of the government in times of crisis, with the strong implication that it should be stepping up.

5. Believes that COVID-19 Crisis Will Be Resolved

In spite of these issues, O'Hanley believes that the COVID-19 crisis will be resolved rather than remain a serious threat for the foreseeable future. This is because a huge amount of resources have been directed towards it, which should ensure a speedier resolution than otherwise possible.

6. Concerned about the Aftermath

Instead, O'Hanley is concerned about the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis. For example, he is concerned about whether countries will work together on major issues in the future. Likewise, he is concerned about whether people will choose to act on other long-term issues sooner rather than later.

7. Stated that Racism Is Pervasive

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, O'Hanley was one of the numerous individuals who voiced an opinion about the issue of racism. For starters, he stated that it was clear that racism is pervasive in the United States, which was a strong contrast to the often popular belief that it has been reduced to isolated pockets or even outright eliminated. Some of the racism is intentional and some of the racism is unintentional, but there can be no doubt about the fact that racism is so widespread that it can be called pervasive in nature.

8. Says that the United States Needs to Do More to Live Up to Its Promise

The immediate follow-up to that statement was another statement that the United States should be doing more to live up to its promise. In short, the country was founded on ideals of both liberty and equality, which have inspired people throughout the entire world. As a result, the United States should be better than having racism remain so pervasive, meaning that more needs to be done to make that commitment to both liberty and equality meaningful.

9. Says that Progress Isn't Completion

O'Hanley acknowledged that the United States has made progress on the issue of racism over the course of its existence. For example, he mentioned the American Civil War, which started up because of slavery as well as slavery-related issues. However, what is most important is O'Hanley's statement that progress isn't the same as completion, which is something that could use more repeating. Progress should not be an excuse for people to start ignoring an issue because it is good enough. Instead, progress should be followed up by more progress towards high-minded ideals, which can't happen without a lot of commitment from a lot of people. There is an entire approach to history that assumes that progress is inevitable in the long run, but speaking bluntly, this is not something that people can afford to be lax on.

10. Doesn't Know What the Solution Is

Having said that, O'Hanley also acknowledged that he didn't know what the solution to racism might be. This is understandable because racism is a multi-faceted problem, meaning that there is no such thing as a single solution that can serve to clear out the entire mess. In O'Hanley's case, he says that he is going to focus on how his firm can be made better for its stakeholders, which might sound self-serving but isn't necessarily a bad idea. Different treatment for different ethnicities is actually a serious issue in financial services. Furthermore, it seems reasonable to say that a corporation as big as State Street can have a huge impact on its host communities, which isn't even considering how its internal policies can affect both its employees and its potential employees.

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Allen Lee

Written by Allen Lee

Allen Lee is a Toronto-based freelance writer who studied business in school but has since turned to other pursuits. He spends more time than is perhaps wise with his eyes fixed on a screen either reading history books, keeping up with international news, or playing the latest releases on the Steam platform, which serve as the subject matter for much of his writing output. Currently, Lee is practicing the smidgen of Chinese that he picked up while visiting the Chinese mainland in hopes of someday being able to read certain historical texts in their original language.

Read more posts by Allen Lee

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