Where are we heading is a BIG question everyone wants to hear the answer to – but no-one wants to answer!

Human race has seen many such upheavals since its existence and to me, this is just one of them and not “the” one. Question of cure becoming painful than the disease is the imagination of our tired anxiety-filled mind – with total cut off from social mixing – this was bound to happen – “one thing” syndrome – thinking about one thing and then creating our own web around it – only to be entangled in it finally – like the spider.

The industries and not just IT is in severe doldrums with developed nations GDP taking a predictive negative dip in 2020 in double digits while India and China just managing to stay afloat at 2% and 1% as per the renowned financial times’ commentator Martin Wolf & similar doomsday predictions are available for plenty. The mind usually will tend towards negative based on the facts. Facts are clear – no consumers.. other than feared online consumers – who themselves are buying only the essentials out of anxiety or panic. The cyclic effect from top to bottom has started to appear all over with companies resorting to job cuts, pay cuts and furloughs irrespective of the diktats from the power to be – “I live then you live” principle have started to surface from the various stories I hear and read ! & that’s a very dangerous trend for our society.

History is full of umpteen stories showing that humans give their best when they are up against the wall – the only way left then is to push back one more time. This is the time for “Opportunity” and being “Opportunistic”- in a +ve way off-course. A lot of notions management had, to not do certain things due to the fear of failure has been thrown out of the window today – courtesy Covid 19 who thought that 96% of the Indian IT workforce will be operating for one month and claim that productivity has improved… Garment manufactures are making masks while automobile companies are making ventilators & police is cooking food for the have’s not – plasma therapy for therapeutic treatment in absence of vaccines etc …goes on to prove that when we drop the self-created boundaries on our “imagination” something good comes out & it will. Will industry really need degree holders or would prefer people who can think and do the right things at the right time irrespective of formal education! Companies have started executing internal projects asking for people to contribute via their additional or secondary skills which were lying untapped. Strategies made by boards in Q1 are receiving obituaries ..no one is sure about the next one with conviction- unless they overload it with many constants on which there are no controls – this happens only if that happens…

I feel the best approach is to be “open-minded” – take it as it comes – learn from this experience – the opportunity it is giving to the human brain to think differently – by learning to live constantly in a mode of uncertainty hereafter even if the chips are not down – we all did during our start-up phase – did we not? Fending for survival at all times should be the new norm for growth and we humans fend ourselves best when we are in survival mode! The decision-makers should adapt to this new normal even after things become normal – become opportunistic at all times looking for opportunities in every act, deed or minutes – is the lesson I will take from these challenging times & change one more time!