The Dawning of a New Decade

By Richard Shrapnel

Context is always important when considering adversity, as it is the context that can set and magnify adversity.

Think back to midnight, 31 December 2019. As the clock clicks over midnight, where are you? It is the start of a New Year and New Decade. So many people are thinking about the possibilities and opportunities for great things to happen in this new decade. They have drawn the line on the year and decade that has just passed. And they have set their sights on what this new season will bring for them in life and business. The excitement and expectations are real.

And then the world sneezes, and everyone, everyone, is impacted. COVID-19 is spreading throughout the world. Governments are struggling to know how to respond; uncertainty and fear are present and growing. And then the responses start flowing across the continents; locked it down now, and uncertainty abounds.

Many business owners and leaders will be confronted with the prospective loss of their business. And that event flows onto their employees, suppliers, landlords, financiers etc. Yes, some will prosper as the door of opportunity has opened for them, but they are the exceptions. 

But there is a future that will emerge no matter what uncertainty is prevailing. And your future will be set by how you confront the challenges that cross your path. The choices you make in responding to the adversity that confronts you will set the cornerstone for your future and who you are and become as a person and as a leader.

COVID-19 was new, but adversity is undoubtedly not. There are guiding principles that you can adopt to enable and support yourself to journey through adversity. The seven principles that follow will provide a roadmap for you to follow and are the tools that you must keep sharpened and ready for when you need them.

The seven guiding principles are:

1. Acceptance
2. Clarity
3. Action
4. Champions
5. Be Real
6. Care 
7. A Light.

These principles are interdependent; they are a set. You cannot choose and pick; they all support each other. You may progressively pull them from your toolkit and apply them, but it is not a linear progression, with one being completed before you commence the other. They all need to be out and in use.

And I believe Principle 4 – Champions, is the tipping point that takes you over the top of adversity and allows you to gain momentum towards the safe landing on the other side. I will come back to this tipping point once we have considered each of the seven principles.