The essence that will decide whether you survive or thrive in a downturn, do you have it?

I don’t know who needs to hear this, but this pandemic is temporary, and it too, shall pass.

I won’t lie, last week was a tough week. Likely the same for lot of people, as we all rapidly adapt to new ways of working (and living).

From speaking with thousands of individuals and businesses over the last 12 + years in the Executive Search / recruitment industry I have distilled the essence that makes individuals and businesses strong enough to weather times like the GFC or a Pandemic.

Resilience and adaptability.

It is a mindset that flows into strategy, gives people the strength to push forward in hard times and adapt to change.

For many of us, this is not our first rodeo with an economic downturn, nor will it be our last.

I have seen this situation ignite fight or flight mode in many and the resilient always choose to fight.

I’m not saying this equates to business as usual, in fact, its quite the opposite. When the going gets tough, the tough re-strategise, think outside the box and adapt to adjust to whatever is thrown at them.

With the government updating new laws by the day, we need to be adaptable enough to ride these waves.

Use this time to pivot your business, look at new avenues, upskill or read. Think about how to restructure so that when this is all over, you are more robust and can weather whatever storms may come next.

This happened during / after the GFC, and for some, that survivalist mentality is still strong.

Restaurants, even fine dining, have now pivoted to take away only to conform with new laws. Businesses globally are seeing ‘work from home’ as the new norm. With great change can also bring great opportunity.

When given the choice to dwell on the negative or you can seek out the positive, I have always chosen the latter. My eternal optimism is tempered with a solutions mindset and a hard work ethic.

Our business has seen major changes in the last few weeks and new restrictions have forced us into new ways of working.

As people who love the social connection with the industry, always having face to face meetings, it has been a huge change for all of us at Redpath. I have moments of feeling isolated but then I remember that we are all in this together and as long as we try and maintain that resilience mindset, use this time wisely and remain flexible, we will get through the next few months.

Despite some bad news, companies are still hiring, albeit more strategically; projects are still pushing forward and the government is stimulating the property and construction sector by fast-tracking planning processes and investing millions in infrastructure and key projects.

There is a silver lining to every cloud.

How are you weathering this storm? Have you found new ways to adapt? I’d love to hear from you.