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When you think about it, really, relationships are everything.

Everything and everyone is interrelated and interconnected. The survival of one is dependent on the survival of the system to which that organism belongs and vice-versa.

When complex issues are taken together systemically, new insights appear, normally, unseen and oblivious to the decision-maker.

It sounds like a cliché, but what goes around, comes around.

In reality, what comes around, goes around faster than ever before. We know that serendipity is not that unpredictable. There's no such thing as chance encounters. 

Interconnections and interlinkages shouldn't just be in our social relations.

In many instances, the best innovation starts within the interstices of divergent and contrasting approaches and disciplines. Take the case of a watch that does tell a time but also act as monitor for abnormal heart conditions.  These permutations are bridging what we conceptually think as 'irrational and weird' combinations. 

Ideas are everywhere.

Systems collide and coalesce, depending on forces that impinged on or that works within. As I write this, many systems are failing us, and new systems have yet to be imagined and invented.  

Where will you be in the post-pandemic world- what systems are you trying to resuscitate or have you thought of leaving the old one for a better alternative? 
 

There's a lot of talk about the edge of chaos.

Applying it to the on-purpose space, edge of chaos is an exciting and challenging place to be, between disorder and order within organizations and systems. Like natural systems, organizations can self-adjust and adapt to their environments to avoid chaos or disorder. 

In the context of post-pandemic, this transition is the most difficult, yet could be the site of creativity, innovation, and adaptation organizations need to change abruptly and with far greater success. 

What we learned for the past 10 months with the pandemic is the speed to which organizations impose changes. Most of them carried out changes in a few months which would normally take them years to move things forward. Call it forced choice, but urgency and resoluteness were present. 

Take the case of the courts system allowing video testimonials. Banks allowing masking when that would be unheard of in its practice. The tourism sector banking on innovation to help stabilize their industries that are hurting at the moment. These changes would have never happened in our lifetime.

Instead of cursing disorder and chaos brought by the pandemic, the edge provides the drive to overhaul workings that have become stale. In moments of opportunity such as this, take a prudent risk and invite others to join alongside. 

​It's better at the edge than in the comfort of order. 

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Tell me that you know what to do next year? 


Yes, 2021 is around the corner. Another lockdown is in the offing.

Who would have thought a year ago that we will have to endure and even thrive in this crisis?

One thing before you start planning is to CELEBRATE your achievements.

Do this in a contemplative state where even the minutest things in life are worth rejoicing about. 


The second thing to do is THINK ABOUT WHAT WORKED as opposed to all the negative issues that arose out of the pandemic. There must be, think hard if you can't find, even a single thing that worked well in your business or organization as you adjusted, modified, and recalibrated your actions. 

The third thing to do before planning is to FIND THE RIGHT INTERSECTION between your intention (Objectives), where the traction is (Business opportunities), and your passion.

This is difficult, especially at this point, where you might have to pivot in a slightly different way, ala curbside ordering or take-out for restaurants, phone-appointments for salons, phone consults instead of in-person, putting on lots of Zoom videos and online courses for academic and training businesses. etc. 

Ask yourself, if the current business model is not working, how do you get to your objectives without putting monies down the drain? What opportunities exist during this crisis for leveraging? What new passions have surfaced in the course of your adaptation? Finding the right intersection may get you on the long but sure road to recovery and in a new place for your organization. 

Do these three things and you'll have the right positive mental scape to begin anew.

Yesterday, I spoke at Trico Changemakers Studio and it was a delight to have a very engaging discussion with the members present. 

What I observed about the resilience narrative is that they are based on patterns and a sense of predictability that is not present right now in a climate of ambiguity, uncertainty, complexity, and volatility. I have made a Beyond Resilience paradigm to show what we are missing out on many important themes. 

Instead of asking yourselves, are you ready to bring your kids to schools, ask about how education can be reimagined for the future generation. 

Instead of asking how can we solve homelessness together, why don't reimagine how the vulnerable population can be part of us, not something to be considered separate, different, and wanting? 

We asked the wrong questions therefore get the wrong answers. ​

We need bold imagination for a future that is not what we desire, but we can thrive and build stronger. 

Let's start a conversation. 


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We live in challenging times. 

It can be more challenging now that there is a complex reopening process that any blueprint is academic.

The guidelines in re-open are cautious, preventative, and risk-averse.  What it doesn't prohibit is up for many interpretations. Moreover, you are juggling countless things to get the business going again. 

What you need right now is practical advice that quickly assesses your situation, gives you a couple of options to choose from so that you can rebound with more precision.

What you require are pragmatic, creative, and resourceful advice and guidelines.

Who do you turn to for that valuable resource?

Isolation is optional and so does suffering. 

My guru at home gave a new term for reconstruction.

"Wreck it and build it again."

The vast majority of the work that we do can be reconstructed, remodelled, rebuild.

While the tearing process can be painful and exceedingly laborious, it could also be a source of relief (cathartic to some)  and release from the burden of perfectionism.

Our most prized goods, services, products, programs are held up high and with finality, judged as best. Where in fact, in other spaces, they wreck their best products so see if it can withstand several iterations for different purposes.

There is nothing wrong with valuing great assets, but if it becomes the 'sacred cow' that nobody wanted to touch for fear of reprisal, retribution, or negative impact, then there is the problem. Either it is perception issue or an accountability one.  

The joy of rebuilding is 100x better than the stagnant trophy gathering dust in the library. 


"Success is never final, failure is never fatal. It's the courage that counts" -Churchill said that. 

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