The reality is so far removed. Just when we thought that we had conquered the world and had answers to all problems, we discovered that even the pantomaths amongst us have a long way to go before we can get into a comfort zone of being enlightened; even after which, I believe, we will remain the proverbial ostrich with its head buried in the sand. Personally, for me, the last eight months have been an oxymoron, personifying a strange combination of anxiety and bliss – “anxi-bliss”. The outcome has been great; on the one hand, I have been fighting fires to keep our operations afloat while on the other, I have been trying to rediscover my purpose. Adversity makes you philosophical and I cannot but reflect on the words of an all-time great author, Khalil Gibran: “Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.”
On introspection, I truly believe that over the last two decades, similar to many others, I had almost become robotic. Too much to do with too little time. If success was to be measured by a single dimension of air miles, many would consider that I was a “made man”. As profound as it sounds, through the trials of 2020, business lessons aside, my three visits to my ophthalmologist were symbolic of getting clarity of vision.
Covid-19, in my view, has been a global visit to our respective ophthalmologists; our vision had become blurred and some corrective procedures have been performed. We all know the why, the what and the how of our circumstances, all that’s left is the will to fix things. There is really no brain surgery required. Simply put, it’s all in the implementation of measurable actions with honesty, humility, integrity and honor. Most people I have interacted with unanimously agree that our world is going to change in many ways; consequently, we are likely to adapt to these changes more rapidly than anticipated. It’s our conduct that will define the change that we wish to see.
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