by Elias Moses
Are Business Patterns making an irrevocable Paradigm shift Post Covid 19?
Are we forced to move from an act of business Relentlessness to an act of business Mindfulness.
During normal times, drop in crude oil prices might have been a reason to celebrate, as they boost economic growth around the globe, but not anymore. The oil prices touching their rock bottom in
the recent times are not a reason to celebrate but to ponder.
the recent times are not a reason to celebrate but to ponder.
The Story is not very different in most other business sectors across the globe. I am sure that we are all aware of the plight of various businesses during these crisis times. What worries us the most is how are the industries going to shape up post Covid-19? How will the employees learn to cope with the changed phenomena?
Are Key Business Performance Indicators fast loosing their relevance?
All the nations’ efforts to contain the Coronavirus and its spread, have triggered a global economic crisis, uprooting/altering some of their basic business structural patterns and paradigms that we were all accustomed to as accepted means of doing business.
In simple terms, the way the things used to be…
As a result of this, most of our long standing preconceptions on our established key Business Performance Indicators such as business creations, Business operations and People Management may either loose their relevance or may give rise to new business indicators, on which new ideas and processes may built in the future. Axis Bank offering virtual meditation sessions, online learning modules, and informal virtual team catch-ups among others to keep employee morale up, is a clear cut example of mindfulness in People Management and Business Operations.
Business Creation on mere profit drive and its ill-effect
Our focus of business creation to a large extent in the past two decades have been tapping on existing and future market (market utopia is the word to be used), and have only been leveraging on margin of
profit, never counting on the ill-effects of such actions.
profit, never counting on the ill-effects of such actions.
Could Coronavirus be just the end result of such relentless profit move? Relentless drive as against strategic and responsible drive.
The entire buzz of conversations shooting around corner in the recent past were on money-making. Companies and nations focused on turning themselves into billion or trillion dollars worth centres of power with no worry of the outcome.
Such messages were the talking points from streets of business to parliaments of nations. At what cost? At the cost of Humanity.
Economy Above Life
Has Covid-19 come as a halt to remind man, “life is above economy.”
Business and World leaders the first time thought in unison was on wealth creation and wealth maximisation.
At what cost? At the cost of life, ethos and culture and habitat?
The degradation of civic and human life is a living witness to that factor. There have been strings of conspiracy theories that Coronavirus is man-made.
In the name of creating a competitive edge, we have competed with each other organisationally and nationally to create a huge vacuum for our next generation.
Cash is indeed king, but not at the cost of well being. Profits have preceded Values. Corruptions and Commissions have become acceptable norms of business and life-practices across the globe and ruined the progressive growth of
humankind.
humankind.
Our children are taught to make money from their early days of the life at the cost of long term career-planning and learning.
Among the youth, life is all about ambition and their only ambition is to be rich and make money, not to build a career or legacy for the future. All upbringing and upbuilding at the cost of common good and society building.
Businesses to a large extent catered to an artificial need of man not the existential need of man.
We may have to accept that most of our businesses and economies have catered humanity’s greed than its need.
This relentless drive off ‘not enough but more’ has made our cities uninhabitable and dirty, and our families and our future on the verge of accumulated debt and distress.
Towards Business Mindfulness
A tiny virus has turned humanity to be ‘an inward being’. This will reflect in the way, we will visualise and run businesses in the future post Covid-19, a business of mindfulness that will cater to man’s need and not his greed.
Mindfulness is all about experiencing the present moment. When you’re conscious of your thoughts instead of letting them run amok, you can make deliberate and right choices and refrain from impulsive and potentially harmful moves in the future.
In tough times, entrepreneurs, especially, need to practice mindfulness to keep their businesses running in a global recession. writes Rayan Ayer in business.com, April 2020.
Many big-name companies, such as Google and Aetna, have embraced mindfulness in recent years with an aim of increasing creativity and well-being of employees and increase corporate productivity. But we can think further.
How to do it?
- Employ mindfulness in the choice of business verticals and options
- Employ mindfulness in the choice of people development
- Employ mindfulness in business interactions and Leadership Discretion
- Employ mindfulness in contracts and contacts (ethical)
- Employ mindfulness in Workplace
It will be heartening to see if businesses move from a world of mere business creations, operations and
appropriations to a world of business mindfulness where humanity and life will be an enriching habit.
appropriations to a world of business mindfulness where humanity and life will be an enriching habit.
ForFurther reference
Elias Moses is a Senior Business & Strategy Advisor, Researcher, Corporate and Leadership Trainer, Orator, Columnist and an Entrepreneur. He is also the Founder and Managing Director of a growing reality firm in south India. The author can be contacted@
email: elias@manovsis.com, linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/eliasmoses
2 thoughts on “Towards Business Mindfulness in the New Normal”
Excellent Elias.Very thought provoking and useful article.
thank you for the lovely feedback. we look forward to more articles on subject of relevance post covid era
Comments are closed.