BUSINESS MONDAY: Serious Buiness: United we stand, divided we fall
“Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity!” – Psalm 133:1
What a week as we watched the COVID-19 virus attack homo sapiens on planet earth –https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/#countries. Despite the political, economic, spiritual, social and ethnic diversity, it is a war against this microscopic enemy and we are all now united to eliminate the scourge. We have been pussyfooting with climate change but not so with COVID-19 because we are in an immediate do or die situation. Country lock down is the order of the day, even though some countries acted faster than others depending on the first evidence of incidence of the disease in the respective nations.
The public health protocols from leading world public health organizations quickly gelled into one universal thrust and creatively and amazingly public sector rainy-day funds, commercial bank reserves with central banks, private sector savings, private and corporate sector foundations and credit union funds were mobilized for the good of mankind. Equally amazingly, phrases like “social distancing” and “flattening the curve” were seamlessly added to our lexicon.
On the lighter side of things, it was interesting to note that amidst this column’s theme, “United We Stand, Divided We Fall”, supporting our “unity is strength” experience, the paradoxical figure of speech “United We Fall, Divided We Stand” emerges, which supports the universal public health social distancing strategy to keep us away from each other to reduce the rate of spread of the virus, emerged on Facebook.
Now, each national leader, one after the other, is espousing positive thinking. This is the only way. The power of positive thinking is our greatest emotional asset. Good relationships, ambition, self confidence and emotional security fuel emotional well-being. Fear, as fueled by sections of the media, is a destructive factor. We must learn to manage it well. While all this is happening, the network of economies of the world are slowly grinding to a halt.
We may conclude that the future is certain, but it will not be business as usual. Business survival, recovery and expansion must be the order of the day. Here is some food for thought:
A post virus economic recovery strategy requires thought now https://dominicantoday.com/dr/opinion/2020/03/20/a-post-virus-economic-r...
Caribbean Tourism Will Emerge Stronger After Coronavirus Scourge, Tourism Leaders Say
https://conta.cc/33EsO7Q
The truth that no one is talking about.
https://www.facebook.com/mahmoud.elawadi.9/videos/10163288717110720
It is interesting to see how different countries are responding to COVID-19, the global pandemic which has disrupted our lives in a few short weeks. Public health protocols are pretty much uniform globally but the rate of growth of the virus and the rate at which we can flatten the curve (the projected number of people who will contract COVID-19 over a period of time), varies with the skills and resources available from country to country.
It would be a fascinating exercise, after the pandemic is over, to analyze the distribution of rate of mortality per thousand population, by population size of country and compare with that of China, in particular, the start of the pandemic.
In the meantime, let us think positively, reject all pangs of fear, keep businesses in survival mode, devise strategies for business survival, revival and expansion, as pent up demand propels our economies back to normal and beyond.
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is a Change-Engine Consultant. His email address is basilgf57@gmail.com.His columns may be found at www.nothingbeatsbusiness.com and on www.facebook.com/basilgf).