by Natasha Singh-Ally
Investing years of diary entries and your daily energetic imprint in business takes a special kind of dedication and calling, and anyone with the intention to go towards that pull and stay the course can do it.
A blend of effort and faith is required in varying measure as we microdose each day to respectively meet administrative process and imaginative design requirements. The creation of goods and services and the scaling of an enterprise moves from seeds of hope to sheets of orders and it familiarizes us with the sticking points and speed-bumps along the way.
Astute planners recognize that creativity comes as a surprise, turning us inside out to find workarounds and navigate beyond dead-ends and over high walls, when initial assumptions and expectations are turned on its head. On reading an article published in the New Yorker by Malcom Gladwell, I didn’t know but learnt that bamboo had the strange phenomenon to perish after fifty years. It turns out neither did the owner of a newly opened mill who counted on this raw material for pulping, when it bloomed for the final time and died on his plantation. His initial plans were dashed, leaving the industrialist to find alternate sources from surrounding villages and supply chains, and to experiment with supplementary fast growing crops. These bold steps he took were unexpected and far-fetched but fortuitous, and it turns out significantly exceeded his initial revenue estimates. The dread and joy of building an enterprise, palpably experienced by all this year, can be found in these intersections and escape routes we encounter and exit. Sometimes we first have to go in circles before that voice in our heads, perhaps not as loud as the one on our navigation app, shows us the way.
It is typical not to err on the side of caution when devising business plans and optimism floats our expectations away from less attractive scenario planning. Our confirmation bias nudges us to look for signs that reinforce the decisions we take in building our business case for starting or expanding a business. I recall the video by the charismatic young multiple award winning Ludwich Marishane, whose bath-substituting lotion potentially helps millions with no access to water, to avoid the disease trachoma which causes blindness. Despite his light hearted Ted delivery I am struck by his sobering message of the importance of research, analysis, trials, lengthy business plans, patent registration, commercialization enquiry, networking and failed attempts to convince a stream of investors, before arriving at product recognition and financial backing.
As much as planning, anxiety and frustration have their place in our convoluted pathways toward success, we can count on our creative bent and necessity to dust up new tracts of solutions and the upshot that comes with experimenting.
An entrepreneurial edge can also help us lift our gaze from the profit line and feel the reinforcing satisfaction of being a change-maker. As the globe swivels away from consumption and capitalism in favour of placing boundaries on the use of natural resources and not leaving others behind, we transact with people and planet in mind and are drawn to reflect on the type of leaders we have become. Are we focusing on solving social problems or are we contributing to it? As systems thinkers who have our professional success and country and kin at the heart of what stirs us, we would be remiss not to remain married to the social problems we identify rather than clutching to business solutions we fancy. Among us are the female torchbearers who create value with limited resources while securing families and effecting changes that make a difference to society.
Although we are stuck between how to make less, use less and need less we can begin to introduce a consciousness into our planning, and trust it will guide our personal reflections. The law of attraction can be felt when we take the time off and allow ourselves the space to breathe and be. At that point we should still our racing minds and moving parts, become aware of our state of being and listen for answers. Slowing down may sound counterintuitive in a world where deadlines loom but allowing time to contemplate and daydream is a nourishing green bed for our imagination to take root and ideas to softly land.
As the festive season draws near master the art of pleasure stacking - successive time blocks of joyful life treats, savoury experiences and quiet connection to interrupt your jobbing.
Natasha Singh-Ally is a consummate thought leader, transformation specialist and founder of her established management consultancy, Apex Advisory Services. She delivers the full spectrum of professional services to re-engineer business processes, introduce technology and manage change within complex ICT programmes.
Natasha excelled in business as an Executive and Director of a property development and facilities management company, featured at the start-up in 2011 and remains active to ensure its current sustainability. She holds an LLB, a post graduate degree in Psychology through Unisa and is a Master in Business Administration (Finance) from the Durham University in the UK. Her certificates from the Harvard Extension School include Leading Change and Social Justice.
She is currently attuned to designing strategic solutions to promote social entrepreneurship and development practice and has recently launched, Business Ecology an entity for youth development and impact investing. EMAIL | LINKEDIN
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