As Strong as The Weakest Link : The Online Editorial Diaries

Chapter 5: One day, while working at Emirates Business 24|7, the erstwhile daily, I reached office super excited with a breaking story - Palm Dubai was to get a metro. But I saw a colleague running down the stairs - his hair was tousled and he had a very devastated expression. Gopal Bhattacharya, one of our finest journalists had passed away and he was going to his home.

It was hard to walk up the stairs, which I could not see due to my tears. Gopal was a very dear friend from the time I came to Dubai. Yet I could not avoid the responsibility of the two pages I had to close as an editor. When I reached my desk, I could see that my colleagues were trying to work and failing miserably. There was chaos. 

But the paper had to be published - so we decided to take turns to go to his place even as we worked and collected money to pay for any immediate financial expenses needed by his family. It was one of the toughest days of my life. My mind kept drawing a blank and felt it was veering off some rocky highway. Paragraphs slipped into different chasms of numbness and grief.

Demons in my head

I learned as we helped each other to stay upright that we are as strong as our weakest link. Never did it hold so true as it did that day. We propped up each other as we weaved our way around the demons shouting in our head. Despite all differences, we worked towards the common goal. To meet the printing deadline as soon as possible and go to Gopal’s home.

Our greatness did not lie in our suppressed grief. The success of the newspaper that day, more than ever, depended on every team member to finish their work on time if they wanted to join the grieving family - the reporters, the editors, the designers, the art editor, the copy desk (sub-editors), the sales teams, the night editor, the macro editor, the Editor-in-chief and the production team. The entire chain.

Whether we liked each other or not, whether we had opinion differences or arguments, we kept working. Because the newspaper has to always go on. And if one person faltered in this ballet of pages and words and ink and proofs, it would mean mayhem next day for our readers..

Hold fort today

Roadmaps and positivity are fantastic to attain the greatest heights. But in the race to get ahead, climb higher, go further than no woman or man has gone before (gender bender alert),we need to hold on to an essential life truth. To give a leg up to those colleagues who can't make it today. If your friend or colleague has tested positive with the virus or lost their job. Be patient with them. Do a video call. Drop off home-cooked dinner outside their doorstep if you cant meet them. Send some funny jokes.

If possible, try and shoulder the work of a colleague who is going downhill in terms of emotions. Hold fort for someone who cant function due to a crisis in the family. Step in and let the work goes on. Stay calm. People may take longer than usual to recover.

I do agree that positivity has its time and place. But forcing people to be happy and bounce back at your pace is going too extreme and becomes selfishness. So prop up your weakest link at work or home till they become strong again. Because your true strength lies in empathy and compassion. Now more than ever in the new norm. Who knows. One day your weakest link today may turn out to be the strongest force in another unprecedented situation where he or she may show a sterling quality no one else possesses.

One of the biggest lessons I learned in publishing. We try to correct others errors and mistakes BEFORE they go public as print. News is not just about changing the world by giving the right information at the right time. It is also about entire teams working towards the greater good while making each other look strong behind the scenes. Day after day. When no one is watching.