By Gustavo Calveiro
Something good will come out of it, these are moments of opportunity.
Let’s start by sharing an old Sufi tale, called “The King’s Ring”.
A king once said to the wise men of the court: I am making myself a beautiful ring. I want to keep hidden inside some message that can help me in moments of total despair. It has to be a short message, so that fits under the diamond of the ring. They thought, they looked in their books, but they couldn’t find anything.
The king had an elderly servant for whom he had immense respect, and he consulted him. And he said to him: I once met a mystic, who was a guest of your father and I was at his service. As he was leaving, as a gesture of gratitude, he gave me this message – the old man wrote it down on a tiny piece of paper, folded it and gave it to the king. But don’t read it – he said – keep it hidden in the ring. Open it only when everything else has failed, when you cannot find a solution to the situation.
That moment was not long in coming. The country was invaded, and the king lost his kingdom. He was running away on his horse to save his life and his enemies were chasing him. He arrived at a place where the road ended, there was no way out: in front of him was a precipice and a deep valley. He could already hear a valuable message “THIS WILL HAPPEN“. As he read it, he felt a great silence hanging over him. The enemies who were chasing him must have got lost in the woods, or must have taken the wrong path, but the truth is that little by little he stopped listening to the trotting of the horses.
Those words had been miraculous, the king was grateful. He gathered his armies and reconquered the kingdom. The next day there was a great celebration with music and dancing, the king was very proud of himself.
The old man was at his side and said, “This is also a good time for you to read the message again. But if I am now victorious, the people celebrate my return, I am not desperate or in a hopeless situation, said the King. -Listen, said the old man, “this message is not only for desperate situations; it is also for pleasant situations. The king read the message again: “THIS WILL ALSO HAPPEN” and again he felt the same peace, silence, his pride and ego, had disappeared. The king was able to finish understanding the message. He had become enlightened.
Then the old man said to him, “Remember that everything happens. Nothing and no emotion is permanent. Days and nights, there are moments of joy and moments of sadness. Accept them as part of the duality of nature because they are the very nature of things.”
Crises happen, and we have graduated in navigating turbulent waters, permanently re-inventing ourselves. We have always prepared ourselves to resolve uncertainties, to operate in changing contexts and with limited resources.
Everything we have done so far puts us in front of the biggest challenge we have ever experienced, because this time it is global, and we are talking about taking care of people and organizations at the same time. Families, friends, colleagues, objectives and the efforts of so many people are at stake in building their personal projects.
These are moments of wide, generous, constructive and projective looks, although the immediate thing overwhelms us. What each of us and the organizations to which we belong do during this crisis will be what shows that we are made of. What will mark our footprint in our lives and in the lives of others.
In Paradigma we believe that there is a lot of positive to be taken advantage of at this time:
- These are moments of generosity, sharing what we know so that everyone can take it, clients and non-customers included.
- These are moments of openness with those who have ideas and solutions they can adopt.
- These are moments of proximity, with our customers, partners and suppliers, thinking together, taking care of each other, adapting to a context that changes several times a day.
- These are moments of flexibility, understanding that what we defined yesterday may not be adapted today.
- These are moments of greatness, where pettiness and rivalries are put aside, to take care of the common good, the place where we live, the neighbours we have.
- They are moments of inspiration, so that the complex resolution of the immediate that cares for us to survive coexists, with what comes later, because there is an after!
We are living the most incredible mass action of change management and digital inclusion that we could imagine. The most experienced will become much more digital, and the youngest will grow in the resolution of problems facing adversity. Home office, teleworking, virtuality, collaboration will strengthen people’s capacities, appropriate for a different future. And it will be the time to prepare for new challenges, “which we must start to imagine today“, at the same time as we solve the immediate, because as they said to the King of Legend, this also will happen!
Paradigma has been accompanying its clients, collaborators and partners for the last 27 years, being as close and strong as possible, it will continue to be so now more than ever, and it will be the day after to continue growing through these new challenges.