Dominate the competition
This article was contributed by entrepreneur and human capital expert Elatia Abate – see full bio below.
If you’re a small business owner right now, the last thing you need is a pep talk. Instead, let’s focus on tactical, how-to guidance that you need now to defy the odds, continue to grow your business, and ultimately emerge from this crisis with certainty and strength.
One of the definitions of crisis is “a stage in a sequence of events at which the trend of all future events, especially for better or for worse, is determined; turning point.” In a crisis every action and decision we take and make shapes our future. As leaders, business owners, entrepreneurs, and professionals, this means that what we do now in the midst of the two crises we are currently facing (COVID-19 and its subsequent economic impact) will determine our fate.
The first decision that all of us have to make is whether we are determined to come out the other side better than we were before, or if we are simply going to hide under the couch and wait for things to blow over. This is a choice, a commitment, to challenge assumptions we had about how we thought the world worked, a willingness to move beyond the thinking and strategy we had pre-pandemic, and, as Tony says, free ourselves from the tyranny of ‘how.’
With an idea to help those who have made the decision to come out the other side of this moment better than before, I hosted the first in a series of conversations called “Thriving in Uncertainty.” We talked about innovation, marketing, economics, the future of work, and collaboration. Here are the five most important take-aways from that day.
1. We all have a choice.
Dominate the competition
Whether we will be captives of our circumstances asking, “Why is this happening to me?” or captains of our destinies, asking “Given that we are here, what do I want to create?” is a choice that each and every one of us has at every turn of the pass during this crisis. This choice doesn’t make the crisis itself disappear or ignore the tragedy of so many around the world dying or instantaneously make jobs appear for the tens of millions who are now unemployed.
