The Equilibrium After….

The Equilibrium After….

By Sameh El Khatib

A lot of moments occur in our life setting a milestone for before and after. Usually, such moments happen to us individually in our own unique journey to whatever it is we aim that journey to be. Interestingly, the entire human race seems to have arrived at a milestone, where despite all our efforts to differentiate ourselves from our fellow humans in how we perceive this milestone, the milestone seems unbending and resolute to level our societies to one playing field.

So what after this milestone? How is life going to look like? Taking the two extremes, one view would say: “it’s just a slight disorder and people are making way too much out of it”….and another extreme would use labels like “Doomsday….”. I, in my passion towards the middle ground and my instinctual inclination to adhere to a sense of optimism rooted in a realistic appreciation of life and its surprises, would say there are three dimensions to which the natural equilibrium in our lives would have to be re-computed:

1)    Our Internal Equilibrium as Humans –

One thing none of us will ever be able to ponder upon, ever again, is what would have I done if I lived in one of those “life-changing” occurrences that we studied in history books. How many times have we read about events that affected the entire human race, in numbers of the order of millions, and have felt blessed we never had to go through the minute dynamics that dictated such occurrences?

Fellow human beings, we are living through one now. Our brains, our neurons and our chemical balances are firing up in different chaotic manners, trying to deal with extreme pressures and anxieties, while trying to absorb the reality around us. Drama and fiction have finally taken over our minds and our energies and now it is staring aggressively at the reality around us and is keen to own it. How do we settle down as individuals amongst such infringement to our comfort zones, and what defense mechanisms, “antibodies”, will be produced to protect the innocence within each one of us, and how would this internal roller coaster define a new equilibrium for our souls to confide in?

2)    Our Equilibrium as a Society –

John Nash's brilliant achievement was rooted in that the natural equilibrium in a society, is where each individual maximizes their own benefit given that no one else changes their behavior. He conjectured, and in fact mathematically proved, that while this might not be the absolute maximum each individual can attain, equilibrium dictates that we all agree to a certain implicit rule.

Can anyone say these rules have not been tested and challenged in such times? Our social norms are being transformed into a new benchmark where all of us as a society are agreeing: I don’t need to shake your hand, my personal space is now much wider, sanitizing one's hands after a meeting is not a sign of disrespect but a sign of social awareness. It is funny, tons of criticism have been mounted on the new generation of social media being physically departed from one another. Yet now, the universe is telling us simply embrace the technological advances that you as a race have achieved and un-tie yourself from self-inflicted social or societal or even moral obligations. You love your parents, do not visit them. You care about your friends, use WhatsApp groups to stay in touch. Suddenly that pressure of social bond is now entirely redefined, and the effects of it will no doubt leave a print on what the new equilibrium will be. It will for sure be biased towards the side of how socially distant you are. Because long after this milestone, gatherings and parties will continue but the new “popular” will be how to invite as little people as possible to ensure a safe distance is kept.

3)    Our Professional Equilibrium - 

As someone whose main job is to ensure our company moves forward as efficiently as possible, I have to fundamentally now confide in the assertiveness of the people I surround myself with. If your team is made of leaders, motivated professionals who respect your establishment, working from home, will probably make them more efficient. Entities will now understand that the only way to survive this milestone efficiently, is if their arsenal of employees consists of leaders. Competence and motivation and self-respect will find a new appreciation because despite hiding in your home, remote working will weed out all, but the physical deliverable produced. Decision-makers in the different sectors will see this, and things naturally will change. Having a successful business with the majority of employees working remotely will bias the new equilibrium of what professionalism means. It’s not about the tie, the wits, how you carry yourself, it will be more biased towards your capability to self-discipline and produce results.

On another aspect in this dimension, the role of technology and automation will also flourish. Not only in video meetings and remote access, but also in the value of reliance on technology and getting over the self-inflicted classical chains of doing business. You don’t have to drive an hour for a meeting where you spend time on social delicacies and then have to drive an hour back. This milestone is making it ok to be efficient and no matter whom you are meeting with, you can do it over a call from your bedroom. There is an immense barrier of professional obligations that are being muted as we speak and soon will bias the new equilibrium. It seems, the universe is again telling us, as a race, take the technological excess that we are living in and make full use of it and get over whatever is still holding you back.

We as a company have been advocating the use of the superfluous technological advances that humanity has achieved to harness the immense volumes of data and turn it into intelligence in the energy management domain.  Barriers rooted in traditional ways of managing energy has been in our path. It seems the entire professional world has to accept that we as a society have professionally advanced enough that we will remiss if we don’t make full use of our know-how.

In Conclusion...

Perhaps it’s time for us as a human race and as societies to inherit fully the capabilities around us and break self-inflicted ties preventing us from soaring the skies of efficiencies and resilience. Let us not squander away what we have achieved and what is available to us. Let us soar into new heights of emotional independence, mental objectivity, societal impartiality, professional automation, and data-driven intelligence.

Let us be on the right side of this journey towards a new global and holistic equilibrium the universe seems adamant on making us re-compute.