What did Darwin really mean with the sentence "survival of the fittest"?

As most of us have been reflecting about all the changes that the past year brought us, I can't help but think about Darwin and his popularized sentence "survival of the fittest" - and how many people interpret it as Fittest = Strongest, when, in fact, its about #adaptability.

Then I reflected about myself... reading, learning, interacting with others that think different then me, it has always been a big part of my life. I'm very curious, always like to understand the right and wrong in a situation and think if there's perhaps a 3rd option. I'm always searching to learn more, no matter the topic...and I think it plays to my advantage to seek new ways on doing things, interpreting the world, behaving differently. I consider myself #TheConstantLearner!

I grew up in a multi-cultural family (Brazilian / English / Czech blood that married Austrian / French / Polish / Italian / Syrian aunts and uncles), so family gatherings always brought me all sorts of interesting stories and rituals, being spoken in different languages. It was not always easy, lots of different behaviors and interactions just going from big family lunches Saturday at maternal grandparents to Sunday at paternal grandparents. I grew up not knowing exactly to what "species" I belonged to: Brazilian? Foreign? didn't feel that I fit 100% to either.

As an adult, besides traveling a lot, I have already lived in 4 countries and worked with people coming from other dozens more. Having a Global Program Manager role at a heavy matrix tech company challenged me even more to learn and re-adapt: how to behave differently personally/professionally to be in accordance to the local costumes... creating communication and training that would be more intelligible to each, so they could relate as well, assessing global scenarios/practices and "translating" to specific audiences.

2020 started for me full of possibilities, but also with challenges as I had to re-adapt again: I had just moved into a new country, I was learning a new language and starting a new job. And then, COVID-19 hit! We started feeling the impact of it exactly one year ago from when I write this blog. And all changed... for everyone... in the whole world.

Fast forward to today, and going back to the reflection of the year that past and Darwin. If you look at the corporate world, just talking about the way we work, as the workforce became mostly virtual, and functions that could not be done remote, had to have several new safety measures.

Traditional corporations had to change the way they have been operating for a long time:

• Provide new channels for employees to communicate, to learn, to onboard remotely.
• Leverage new technology to enable employees to #WFH and allow flexible working hours as personal/professional lives became more blended than ever.
• Stores, restaurantes, businesses could not open, so new formats for interacting/supporting costumers had to be created and new process, new ways for selling/buying/delivering its services and products had to be defined.

Ultimately, the process is still happening, and those companies who cannot adapt, who could not respond to change, no matter how big or strong the organization is, those organizations will not survive unless it changes to fit in to the new environment of the world.

The same goes to people, to professionals. You must adapt.. and you must keep learning!

I already shared here that I feel like I can quite easily adapt, and yet it has not been an easy journey through the past 12 months. I have kept the #LearningMindset and took big deep breaths while trying to live more mindfully. I continued the journey, working hard and reading a lot, lots of trials and errors. Trying to #KeepCalmAndCarryOn as my English nan Maisie would tell me in stories when I was a child.

From the "people perspective" in the working market, everything was already changing fast, and the transformation process has just been accelerated with the pandemic. If you as a professional, no matter how qualified in your field or how strong knowledge you have, stand still, you will not "survive".

Be curious! Be creative! Be resourceful! Be relentless!

And remember what Darwin thought us "in the struggle for survival, the fittest win out at the expense of their rivals because they succeed in adapting themselves best to their environment" .

Have a good weekend!

Renata

#TheConstantLearner