It is said that the Chinese symbol for crisis
is represented by the characters for danger and opportunity.
That is definitely applicable
to the pandemic that we are in now.
The danger part is spotlighted repeatedly.
Turn on the nightly news, read the paper or
plug into social media and you’ll
quickly get a dose of the risky consequences.
I live in Florida and as I write this,
we are fourth in the world for number of cases.
The opportunity side might not appear so obvious.
As I have listened to clients, business leaders,
entrepreneurs and healthcare professional
over the past several months and observed my own life,
there are numerous opportunities that have risen
from this experience.
I want to highlight three.
- Simplicity
Life is simpler. We are exchanging busyness for simplicity.
With no place to go and hardly any in-person meetings and activities,
we are slowing down, spending time with loved ones and
having (lots of) family meals together.
Life’s essence has revealed itself.
Many of us are focusing on what is truly important with fewer distractions.
- Delegation
Most every leader I have heard has said that she is delegating a lot more.
She is empowering her team more than ever
and they are stepping up, making significant contributions and
growing their skills.
- Innovation
This unique time has sparked creativity and new ways of doing business by necessity.
One leader said that the innovation in the last four months
would have taken years to accomplish under pre-COVID conditions.
Businesses and people have learned the art of pivoting quickly.
- What opportunities have presented themselves for you during these times?
- What are you doing differently now?
- What do you want to continue as we move forward?