From sense to action. Time is now.
It is a fundamental moment for this search. A search that appears abstract and theoretical. In truth, it is extremely practical.
[leggi la versione in italiano qui]
When you write an article for organizations, managers, entrepreneurs, and decision-makers, it is not advisable to open with a manifestation of weakness. However, these are extraordinary times, in which in my opinion, it is necessary to close the gap between the person and the professional, between formality and reality. These are times in which to recognize that from weaknesses, we can achieve what we could not even see without them.
In October 2019, I went through a very intense period on a personal level. Initially, I thought it was stress, but soon the roots of that pressure that I felt first on a mental level and then more on the physical began to dig deep, touching the spirit and putting my energy at risk at many levels. It was a total collapse.
Although it seems a lifetime has passed since then, only a few months have passed and the world is now in a phase of transition evident to everybody, manifesting in many forms. The simplest to perceive, however complex in its nature, is the Covid-19 emergency. But certainly, it’s not the only one. For years now, the climate alarm has become a relevant issue in the political, economic, and social agendas, albeit still with perhaps too weak signals on the level of actions. The pollution of soil, water, and air, with particular attention to plastic, has also been one to deal with. Also, the rapid extinction of numerous animal species. A list of tragic signs of what might appear to be a disaster whose responsibility would lie entirely in the humankind. Signals that, if it were not enough, could go beyond ecological and environmental aspects and fully invest markets, infrastructures and technologies.
From an economic point of view, the uncertainty is still extremely high, and no forecast seems to be able to calm the hearts. The organization of work, from remote working issues to those of employee compensation, has been severely tested. Every area of individual and collective life seems to be at risk as well.
Hope
“Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well, but the certainty that something makes sense regardless of how it turns out.” wrote Václav Havel.
In these times, I have often wondered about the meaning of all this, and I have nourished hope. Now on this night, I find myself writing on the kitchen table while for the umpteenth time I don’t fall asleep. It then occurred to me that this hope has a form. For the first time in months, I see a sense. The most banal and most powerful, perhaps.
In October 2019, I recovered my energy, thanks to my girlfriend who supports me in everyday life, to my family who has always trusted me, to the colleagues around me who had my back, and to my master who has always guided me with wisdom and love. In one way or the other, they all took care of me.
Today, in the burnout that we live globally and is manifesting in many of us as individual energy depletion, the cry for help we all hear is: who will take care of us?
Here is the meaning I see in all of this; an unequivocal call to take care of us.
Take care of each other. Take care of the planet. Take care of our work. Take care of children. Take care of the elderly. Take care of animals, plants, seas, soil, air. Taking care as a cultural form that takes shape in every action and context.
We are, perhaps, feeling the body we are a part of through its inflamed tissues for the first time. As cells in this body, we experience fatigue, but the inflamed cell cannot make sense of this pain alone. The ability to make sense is an emerging property of the whole system. We won’t find any sense by continuing to look in the mirror. Anxiety, fear, stress, fear of the future will all be empty signals if we think of them in an ego-centric way. It is in the relationship with the whole that we can give meaning to individual experience. It is in the collective passage that the individual will be able to ferry himself to a piece of new knowledge and wisdom.
This is the point where our organizations become precious spaces for this transition. They become the bridge that is able to connect individuals to the whole. Each organization is the expression of a purpose that transcends its parts and offers itself to the world. It is made up of people, but it becomes an entity with its own identity and life. For this reason, it represents a fundamental link between the level of individuals and the broader level of humankind and the entire planet. Every organization I have had the pleasure and honor of working with in the past, I know has the value for which it exists at heart. From the retail industry to software development, from the production of microprocessors to the fintech world, companies and institutions of all sizes and in every market. All with their uniqueness. Like them, there are thousands of other organizations out there that are playing their game in the delicate and fundamental balance between their growth and the contribution to the world, between profit and value, in the liminal space of “ecoism” as a way to overcome the duality between advantage for oneself and benefit for the others. Here is a great opportunity to evolve the epistemology through which we conceive the work.
Opportunity
“Work is love made visible” wrote Khalil Gibran.
And what is love if not the deepest manifestation of the relationship that binds each of us?
It is in this interdependency that today’s organizations have the opportunity to think about questions such as:
- How are we taking care of our employees?
- How are we taking care of our customers?
- How are we taking care of the contexts we are part of?
- How are we taking care of the ecosystem we live in?
- How are we taking care to honor our past?
- How are we taking care to nurture a better future?
- How are we taking care?
It is a fundamental moment for this search. A search that appears abstract and theoretical. In truth, it is extremely practical. Rethinking the concept of strategy, strengthening a shared vision, redefining the way in which we relate to the market, adopting new management methodologies, giving people a voice in collaborative decision-making processes, evolving governance systems, making organization design more adaptive, streamline the dynamics of distributed collaboration, unlock the potential of emergent leadership in the system, attract and grow talents.
If even just one of these themes resonates with what you are perceiving within your organization and your work and you feel the need to really take care of this delicate moment of transition, then let’s try to navigate this exploration together.
A new humanity is being born. With this, new forms of organization allow it to express itself at its best. It is time to take care of it all. Already, several have been on the way for some time and others are joining now. The time is now.
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Let’s get in touch: emanuele@cocoon-pro.com
