Today is April 28, 2021

Imagine that today is April 28, 2021, we’re chatting and celebrating; the 2020 global crisis is just a faraway memory of quite a serious time in our lives. Not even the 2008 crisis was that shocking! We were confined for several weeks, the economy suffered an unthinkable setback, worldwide trade was paralyzed, the entire world was blocked and besides, we lost too many human lives. It was terrible, but it’s over.

Focusing on the business sector, interestingly, when we analyze how we were before the coronavirus and how we are now, in this spring afternoon of the year 2021, we find out that we are much better off today.

What did we do to get here? That, perhaps, is the question we should be asking, so you and I are tasting a delicious cup of coffee a year from now, and what has been said in the previous paragraph is not fiction but reality.  

To answer such a question, we have identified that the best thing to do is fragmentation. This is illustrated below: 

1. See the crisis not as a single entity but as a bunch of little pieces that make it up. 
2. Don’t let the situation affect and paralyze you instead, fragment the impact on your business in several parts. If you fragment the circumstances that affect you, and also, your modus operandi (what you do for a living, how you make money) it is likely that you will find short and for sure, long-term opportunities.  
3. How can you best handle things? See the problem not as a whole but as a cumulus of small circumstances that together generate a concern but individually may become an opportunity, even for another sector (for instance, in food the crisis has arisen more hires and payment of bonuses because the demand is overwhelming).  
4. In such cases where your activity was face to face (for instance events, classes, workshops) and was cancelled yet, at the same time virtual presence can increase. What can you learn from it?
5. In times of uncertainty and ambiguity, velocity is not good; however, agility and adaptability are indispensable.
6. Between the problem and the opportunity there is always a phase that, without exception, is called learning. 

There are no magical recipes -cross cutting to any sector, industry or person as solutions can be as unique as the individuals and personal circumstances itself, although we may all find ourselves in a similar situation.

I encourage you to transform this crisis into an opportunity; and you know, I’ll see you in a year to share the lessons learned and to celebrate. I’m sure once you fragment the situation and actively look for opportunities, you will overcome this wiser and strengthened. 

The coffee is on me!