Stupor and tremors and oxygenation

Our brains love habits. If you don’t stimulate him, he stays snuggled up in his comfort zones. On the contrary, if he is heckled, he goes on alert. Fear, flight, avoidance, camouflage, diversion, denial: he triggers reflexes in all directions to protect himself from the… change. His pet peeve. From then on, we can better understand the fear-panic that gripped us in the face of the unexpected arrival of Covid-19, and the planetary tremors that followed.

 

Invisible and nomadic

Invisible and nomadic, this devastating virus has upset the entire balance we thought we had built. Exit the hustle and bustle of the metro, work, sleep. Make way for the lockdown and with it, the collapse of a large part of the economy, suddenly frozen. While they are expected to be at the forefront of these types of moments, many business leaders have received a sledgehammer blow to the head. Stunned, disoriented in the face of an unprecedented situation that is weakening everything: certainties, habits, cash flow, the very meaning of activity. And it forces you to put everything into perspective: your fate, your relationship with others, the ways of working, protecting yourself, helping each other. Enough to tremble. But what also… reinventing itself.

 

What better opportunity than Covid-19 to reset its paradigms?

The time is no longer for anticipation but for the present. In times of global crisis such as the one we are experiencing, leaders must be concrete, pragmatic and exemplary. Basically, we must act quickly by activating simple and effective solutions that refocus on the essentials:

 

• Core business: consolidating cash flow through the implementation of precise measurement and management tools.
• Care: strengthening the relationship of trust with employees and strategic partners (customers and suppliers).
• Digital: investing in high-performance equipment to facilitate/accelerate/optimize/secure remote and networked work.
• The Meaning: (re)giving value to notions as powerful as sharing, benevolence (it’s okay to try new things and fail in such troubled times) and agility (“Nothing is permanent except change”, according to Heraclitus)

 

React and join forces

The good news in all of this is that leaders are not alone (leader loneliness is a myth, not a reality). To make this strategic shift, the outside world is there and is just waiting to be called upon: the State and its essential aid, the reflection of solidarity between players in the same ecosystem (including competitors!) and the occasional intervention of experts to manage the crisis and manage risks effectively.

 

Oxygen is at hand. Let’s learn to breathe again!