We all need to be reborn, every day!

By virtue of my religion and consequently my formation as a person, Easter is one of the most important events of the year. Usually spent at Church, where we would give thanks for Christ's resurrection and for the forgiveness His death brought to all of us. More than the New Year, Easter brings with it a spirit of renewal, of a new beginning.

If we were to study the origin of Easter, before Christ and the current Christian meaning, it is a celebration of Freedom. Freedom that was won by the Jews when Moses led them across the dead sea, fleeing Egypt and Pharaoh's armies.

And that's where I find a perfect match that we can use this time of year, also for our corporate lives. There is no renewal, new beginning, improvement, turnaround, development, reengineering, continuous improvement, six sigma, lean manufacturing and all the other acronyms and corporate programs that you can list, always for the search for the best, without a "crossing of the dead sea". Crossing to conquer the "freedom" here translated into a better life for the company and all those who are directly affected by it, without knowing how or where, only trusting a leader who is inspired by a vision, is an act of courage, of faith in what is not seen. And a leader inspires that, faith, in something you haven't seen yet, hope for better days, willingness to cross the "dead sea" even taking risks and doing things that sometimes don't even make sense (or does anyone think it made any sense to go out into the sea waiting for it to open up?), but who are inspired by a leader's vision,? of a strategy, of a group of people.

I had the opportunity to have been inspired by such a leader for over 20 years. I also learned to inspire. And if you think you don't have to inspire anyone because you're not a leader, you're wrong. Inspiration has to be deployed at all levels of the organization and for this it requires cohesion, resilience and the ability to replicate at all levels. This is what I learned to do with the leader who inspired me. To inspire others to do what the vision was. A funny story with this leader, which shows this ability well, took place when one of his top executives decided to change companies and told him that he did it because he "could not stand his craziness anymore" (the leader). You know what he said? "Crazy me? Crazy are you who without realizing it implement all the crazy things I think"...

I imagine that at the time Moses told the people that he should go into the sea, many called them crazy, others did not even want to go and were last waiting to see what was going to happen. But most, he believed, went ahead. And God made what was promised: He led them safely to the other shore.

Since the only thing that doesn't change in corporate life is the eternal state of change, you're probably in one of them today. Be inspired by your leadership, believe that even what seems impossible can happen and move. Whoever stands still, ends up drowning by the sea, when it closes.

And if you don't believe in your leader or your company, it may be time for another change... just don't stand still!

A Holy Easter to all!!!

Francis Monteiro, 06/04/23