By Ndiang’ui Kinyagia
This year has been one of the worst ever seen and some businesses have gone
through some pretty dark days.
I just read an article on how major firms in the US are failing and
filing for bankruptcy, jobs and years of efforts wiped out in a couple
of months. If previous recessions are anything to go by, the aftershocks
once the dust settles will disenfranchise more economies, jobs and
livelihoods.
The world as we know it has changed, new alliances are being forged and
the landscape has changed - for better or worse only time will tell. If
you are still in doubt kindly research on the five stages of grief and
get to understand where you are.
The question then becomes, what do we do about it and how do we emerge
at the top of all this mess? Figuratively speaking, how do we reign as
kings and queens in a heap of uncertainty as we rebuild our livelihoods?
In a moment of enlightenment, John Maxwell said: “The pessimist
complains about the wind. The optimist expects it to change. The leader
adjusts the sails.”
Which got me thinking that there has never been a greater time to become
an entrepreneur like 2020. We must choose to either become business
owners or entrepreneurs.
An entrepreneur is one who “creates a new business and value, bearing
most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards”. A business owner,
on the other hand, is “an individual or entity who owns a business
entity in an attempt to profit from the successful operations of the
company”.
The global economy having taken a major hit as we know it and many
people having lost their jobs, we all still need to live, and live well,
maybe differently from previous years.
Weirdly, entrepreneurs thrive in change, risk, uncertainty and an
opportunity to adjust sails. With all the entrepreneurs I’ve met one
thing is common, they thrive in chaos and are among the few people who
can make sense of all this uncertainty and gloom.
New paradigms
One thing I’ve come to appreciate during this period is the power of
enlightenment, being able to learn new principles and paradigms
different from our usual normal. The term ‘new normal’ is being used to
define our current way of life, but I prefer to see it as the constant
abnormal that we have ignored finally catching up with us and forcing us
to adapt.
Humility of mind and thought is a key part of surviving this pandemic.
To be effective entrepreneurs we must be willing to learn new things
from those we thought never had something to teach us.
I recently watched an online video of an old successful CEO, saying how
humbly he had to go to his teenage children so that they could teach him
how to skillfully use social media. He was amazed at how much they knew
and how shallow he had thought of his children since they always spent
their hours on their phones doing ‘a lot of nothing’.
The state of business in the second half of 2020 is one with massive
opportunities, rewards and certain success. The seekers of new knowledge
and the first ones to become masters in new ways of doing things will
definitely reap great rewards.
Today, you must make a decision. Are you a business owner or an
entrepreneur? Adjust your business sails to where the wind is blowing
and taking you. Time and chance walks among us, do not let it pass you
by.
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The writer is managing director of technology firm ARI Ltd
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