CORPORATE SUFI : When disruption becomes the norm

Life has a way of disrupting the best-laid plans and sooner or later you are flung into the whirlwind of change. More so in the current context where disruption and uncertainty are the norm.

Our age is marked by accelerated human evolution. New patterns are replacing old ones very rapidly. Today no one can remain immune to change.

According to a recent Forbes article on ‘Is Strategy dead’ by Rick Smith, average life expectancy of a Fortune 500 company has dropped from more than 80 years to fewer than 15 in the last century.

Consumer behaviour has undergone unprecedented change. Babies today leave the hospital with a blanket, an iPhone, a Facebook page, and a Twitter handle.

While the industrial revolution was all about the business-to-people narrative, the dawn of the social media era has now shifted the focus to people-to-people with communities, collaboration, and co-creation being the new buzzwords.

According to a report on the evolution of technology and the human race by Karl Fisch, Scott Mcleod and Jeff Brenman, the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not even exist in 2004.

To put it bluntly, we have to continuously learn and relearn in order to remain relevant. Long-term strategy has given way to “just-in-time” decision-making.

On the other hand, this change has also created a whole new platform for human capability to flourish. For confident people, resourceful people, change spells opportunity. They’re willing to venture out of their comfort zones to embrace change and use it to their advantage, the examples of Mark Zuckerberg and Larry Page being a case in point.

Change becomes exciting when you choose it yourself. Then it’s not an unwelcome threat but a welcome adventure. Because every new minute becomes an opportunity of working closer towards our purpose or learning from the experience.

Chosen change bolsters your resilience. It enables you to adjust to new circumstances and bounce back from adverse developments.

Change, if viewed as a positive step toward growth and opportunity, can invite balance and infuse vitality, aliveness and zest in your life. But change, if mishandled, can result in imbalance.

So how do we leverage all this movement, this change to our advantage rather than allowing it to sweep away all that is valuable to us?

Here are some things you can do to respond constructively to change:

• Become adaptable. Keep a ready and continually evolving repository of life and work skills to adapt and thrive in change

• Embrace change. View it as an opportunity for growth.

• Be willing to take risks.

• Anticipate change and prepare for it. For example, keep a lookout for upcoming market trends and take up a course or attend a class to prepare for the forthcoming developments.

• Use your repositories of problem-solving and coping strategies when faced with changes in your life.

• Use major crises to create breakthroughs.

• Engage in lifelong learning to stay abreast of change.

• Keep your principles intact despite change. They are your anchor.

• Use change to break bad patterns or unproductive habits.

• Grow from your experiences of changing circumstances. Write about your experiences to ingrain and track your learning.

• Realize the rewards that come with change and celebrate them.

• Connect with your spirituality. Meditate daily to remain centred and grounded amidst the chaos of change.

This is the time to plunge into the vortex of change, the one we anticipate, create, leverage and thrive on.