By: Thokozile Mahlangu, CEO, Insurance Institute of South Africa
The ability to spot opportunity in any situation requires flexibility and a comprehension of what remains in your control even in uncertain times. What the Covid-19 pandemic has presented us with is a chance at redefining.
It is clear now that we can never go back to who we were, so, while cooped up in our houses, away from the daily noise and distractions, we should be formulating master plans for how we come out on the other side triumphant and determined in both our business and individual lives. This enforced time of solitude should make and not break us.
It is doubtful that such an opportunity to be able to sit back, strategize and set our sails for the future will ever occur again in our lifetimes. We would be doing ourselves a disservice to let the time pass without reform. For many, this has already played out in different ways. Our way of doing life has been shattered, traditional operations questioned and undone. What this has done for businesses and individuals is propel them to a future they would otherwise never have known. Life after the pandemic is the possibility we were all casually strolling towards, but we’ve now been plunged into it and though we never got to prepare for the pandemic, we all have the opportunity to prepare for what comes next.
And it starts with you – the individual – and how you handle mundane day-to-day tasks as well as the more complex. What you do on that primary level will affect every other secondary aspect of your life, family, career and business. During this time, the wise are working on themselves tirelessly, because, as American motivational speaker Jim Rohn, once said, “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better. Don’t wish for less problems, wish for more skills. Don’t wish for less challenges, wish for more wisdom”.
Quite honestly, the time for wishes has also come to an end. Things aren’t easier, it’s time to get better. Problems abound everywhere we look, it’s time to develop solutions and enhance our skills. The whole world is experiencing challenging times, it’s time to wise up.
This is true for the industry at this time as well, it’s time to get better, grow skills and strategize for the future.
