What’s next?

Energy prices are going down, allowing a much-needed breath of fresh air to the poorest countries around the world. Gas emissions and pollution has reduced drastically almost everywhere: Planes are grounded, factories closed, and roads have emptied. Since the industrial revolution started almost two centuries ago, we are finally giving mother earth a little bit of time so it can get back some of its strength. We all have seen, heard or read about the skies clearing out in some of the most polluted areas around the world.

Because it feels that the world has come to a standstill – it didn’t – it feels that now, there is time. There is so much of it that – for the first time in forever – each and every one of us is considering his or her options. Some of us see the opportunity to spend time with family: Parents, siblings, and children. If not in the same place, at least we check on each other thanks to the wonderful technologies we have available to us. Those of us who are parents are taking the time to teach forgotten values to our children. Work is no longer the priority – unless of course, you are one of the heroes who are in a field that can help the planet recover: Medical research, healthcare, food supply, etc…

When we read about the elderly who are often alone. When we think about the homeless who are completely abandoned. When we know that tens of millions of us are losing their jobs and that there is nothing to be done about it, we understand at last that maybe, just maybe, we were wrong. Perhaps the rat-race we’ve been running was the wrong one? If we are lucky to still have our parents around, to have a loving partner in life, to have children to nurture and who challenge us, to have friends who care for us, to have colleagues who inspire us and bosses who challenge us, we should be grateful if we have only one of those. If we are blessed with health, a roof over our heads, a meal on our table, we should be grateful. If we live in a city, or a country where the authorities are doing everything humanly possible to get us out of this mess we should be grateful. It is very easy to play the blame game, but what good does that do? Even those around the world who were perhaps late in taking the measure of the catastrophe are now waking up and taking actions. Let’s stop blaming them and let’s start supporting them. Every single one of us has a responsibility.

One of my favorite books these last years is Yuval Noah Harari’s “Sapiens” and its sequel “Homo Deus”. In Sapiens, the writer explores the origins of mankind and how we have evolved as a species over the last tens of thousands of years. Reading this book does help put things in perspective, especially in these incredibly challenging times we are living.

While I am extremely far from having Mr. Hariri’s eloquence, I will try however to share with you an interesting theory developed in this book: We are the offspring of the cowards. What I mean by that is this: Centuries, or even Millennia ago, our ancestors had developed a survival skill based on fear. In other words, when danger was sensed to be imminent, some would run away (and stay alive) and others wouldn’t (and ultimately get killed). We are the descendants of those who did run away… aka the cowards.

This particular trait has been – through the natural selection process – encrypted into our DNA so much so that today, in 2020, we are far more likely to respond and record “negative” news and information than we are to do so with the “positive ones”.

Now if we take a moment and we look at the world of business, we could be inclined to think that the same trait of being precautious, risk-averse and overall scared of every potential danger is good for business. Yet, we all know that being all these things could be extremely dangerous. Not taking chances, not taking risks, playing it safe would be extremely bad for innovations and developments.

So in these times, what are the risks that companies, large and small, could consider taking. Obviously, it’d change depending on your industry, your focus markets, your audience, etc… but ultimately, we all must face this challenge, one way or another. Although it’s been publicized everywhere, I feel that it is important to use the example of LVMH: If you haven’t read about it yet, here’s what the world’s leader of the luxury industry has done: they have – under the leadership of their visionary chairman – decided to repurpose some of their cosmetics/perfumes factories to manufacture exclusively Hand Sanitizers that will be distributed, free of charge, to hospitals around France.

If I can leave you with one thing: As business owners or leaders, now is the time to show our humane side to our colleagues, staff, suppliers, and clients. As human beings, now is the time to prove to ourselves that we are more than our survival instincts. We are generous, we are friendly, we are caring individuals and we show it. This shall pass, as everything always passes, and we come out of this, it is up to us all to learn the right lessons and come out stronger.

Stay Home, Stay Safe!

Omar Chaoui – Founder & CEO DynaLux

DynaLux Consulting DMCC is a firm established in Dubai and servicing the Luxury Industry. DynaLux has developed a proprietary technology to assist luxury retail stores in understanding in detail the actual audience that visits luxury stores, unlike standard CRM tools that focus only on paying customers. By understanding the complete audience of visitors, DynaLux assists brands and retailers alike to improve their conversion rate by addressing the specific issues that can be noticed thanks to data collection and analysis. For more information, write to [email protected]