What Should We Learn Now? – ElPropósito3 min de lectura

Purpose stays the same. Strategy is what changes

Photo by Ave Calvar on Unsplash

Learning something new can take around twenty hours, and studies suggest becoming an expert takes around ten thousand. In times this uncertain, the question may be: what should I learn? We all learn something every day, but when everything changes overnight, learning sometimes starts with how to survive and get through it. Here’s what you can learn in these complicated times.

Until a couple of months ago, talk of building effective communication, emotional intelligence, strategic vision, a results focus or the ability to lead change sounded like a cliché. Those soft skills are now, and will remain, our main tools for navigating and leading through any challenge.

So much changed in the blink of an eye, and much of what we’d mastered may change a great deal or entirely. That leaves us very vulnerable, since the new reality may last weeks, months, years or perhaps forever.

What stays constant, whatever the challenge? Who we are, our values, our mission in this world, our Purpose. Strategy is what changes, our strategy. Once we decide to change course to get around the storm, new goals will follow, and this new awareness will surprise us in many ways, especially when we’ve come through the hard part and see our resilience at work once again.

Changing course has many implications, and it certainly means leaving our comfort zone. This time, we didn’t leave by choice. The upside of testing our resilience is being surprised by how well we can face challenges. However hard they’ve been, we’ve always found a way, a new way forward. The key lies in the lessons we already have and the ones we keep gathering day by day.

With that knowledge in hand and aligned with our purpose, decisions about new goals get sharper and use our resources better, time above all. The biggest challenge during the storm is keeping our thoughts calm, trusting our abilities and staying open to leaving our comfort zone, or to change.

The biggest challenge ahead is remembering how we’ve come out of crises before, writing down the lessons we collect as the days pass, letting our purpose guide our decisions and trusting our ability to find the answers we need.

How much has your strategy changed?

We’re going to be OK. Warm regards,

Rodrigo Baccaro

This week’s VELA:

• What I’ve been Viewing: The power of discipline. With simple examples, this soccer great and childhood idol of mine shows discipline as the backbone of reaching goals. An excellent TED talk.
• What I’ve been Listening to: Managing the Stress and Uncertainty of Coronavirus. At a time when we can’t tell what will happen on Monday, let alone in three to five months, this podcast is a calming balm for getting through it and trusting we’ll be OK. From Harvard’s "The Anxious Achiever". Very good, and I recommend it.
• What I’ve been Reading: Why a Pandemic Is Bringing Out Our Best Online. Isolated, with the internet at hand, we’ve been bringing out our best selves, lending each other a hand and, from our caves, giving the very best we have: our talent. This New York Times article is worth reading.
• What I’ve been Learning: Harvard Business School Online. A powerful free resource from Harvard, with topics like entrepreneurship and leading in a crisis, all at no cost. The methodology and how you move from one course to the next are interesting. Worth a click to see what it’s about.

"Nations that ignore history are condemned to repeat its tragedies" Aristotle

Author: Rodrigo Baccaro

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