Life is right now one big question mark. Stuck in limbo we are unclear as to what will unfold tomorrow. The unknown variables in the future have never been more than they are now.
Dropped GDP, lost jobs, dipping economy and impacted lives and livelihoods. People holding on to hope and grappling with the situation at hand.
All of this as I write it sounds rhetorical to me. But what we need is to rise up and stand tall and keep strength and hope alive to get past this, to get beyond this and to look forward into the future and plan for what has to come. Battling the unknown is stressful…
Lessons learnt now also serve so well as leadership lessons for the future in multiple contexts. I am compiling a few thoughts on dealing with these times from my personal learnings and my exposure to organisations and people who I have had the privilege of being and working with.
- Communicate transparently with trust and respect. In tough times it is important to communicate more and communicate often. Keep lines of communication open and allow people to contribute and engage.
- Empower leaders across the board to take ownership and lead initiatives and encourage people to keep at the effort.
- Hope for the best and prepare for the worst always. It’s important to stay abreast and stay on top of the situation and prep accordingly.
- Think of both short- and long-term impact and outputs and plan for it.
- Think both outside in and inside out as there are good insights and reflections to be gathered from both.
- Positivity and optimism never get old as ways to be in tough situations and manage them, it’s easier to go through them with a positive outlook.
- Stay strong for yourself and for others around you to lean on.
- Don’t try to control too much, there is merit in going with the flow.
- Explore new ways and means and opportunities to engage and interact and gain knowledge.
- Keep your head out of the water and keep yourself and people around you engaged in fruitful activity and thinking.
It loops on as of now and with this on till May 3rd, we need to keep our wits about us and keep going. Here’s a poem that I wrote that I wish to share on this week’s piece, it is a slightly bleak one, but it captures the current mood.
The mood is pensive today,
As it has been for a while,
Lives are being lost,
Livelihoods too,
And lives cost because of livelihoods,
The death toll stats underplayed,
The reality masked,
Political gimmickry at play,
We sit on the sidelines,
Helplessly handcuffed to fate,
That played truant,
People, places, jobs hit,
The death toll of life yet to be counted,
A virus that holds us at ransom,
A plague that has brought us to the knees,
All our own undoing,
All harbingers of our own destiny,
Destruction at hand,
Resources depleting,
The focus on bottom lines,
The defocus on climate change,
The massive consumption,
The over eager consumer,
Ah the capitalist lives we lead,
Feeding our egos,
Our greed,
Our pride,
Fancy cars, fancier brands,
Lifestyles of luxury,
Leaving behind a legacy,
Of nothing for tomorrow,
For in our greed.
We have lost empathy,
Concern and compassion,
We let our desire drive our future,
Not our commitment to the planet,
So at ransom we are held,
As we deserve to be,
Precariously perched on this precipice,
That we chose to scale,
Our own undoing…
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