WHEN COVID-19 IS OVER—OUR REAL NET WORTH WILL BE KNOWN By Benjamin Anyacho, PMP

 As communities around the world begin to reopen, we are looking for ways to keep everyone healthy and safe. Our net worth after the pandemic will not be measured by how much we kept but how much we gave or sacrificed, and the knowledge we shared. Net worth is the value the assets a person or corporation owns, minus the liabilities they owe. What we will remember when COVID-19 is over are the pains we shared, and the toll COVID-19 has taken on everyone. COVID is one of those expected or unexpected disruptive tendencies of our time. For risk managers, you know that COVID was not unexpected, but no one foresaw the magnitude of its devastation. COVID has scrambled everything. The whole calculus has changed. Social distancing may have come to stay. One thing is sure: COVID has changed everything forever.

 Here are some of the realities of this new normal.

Hello to misinformation, disinformation, blame, political opportunism, and social media duplicities. Some political opportunists are having a field day as they put all of us in camps: those that want the lockdown to end now and those that want it to continue until there is a vaccine.

Here comes the lemonade made from the lemon: we are pressed on every side but not destroyed. As Winston Churchill said, “If you go through hell, don’t stop.”

We are ruggedized, and our creativities are unleashed, but don’t forget that Warren Buffett and his cohorts were made in times like this. COVID-19 has given rise to several creativities, innovation, and business opportunities.

Some people… 

·      Are indulging in price-gauging and taking advantage of the situation. Posterity will rhapsodize their courage.

·      Have taken care of themselves and their immediate families, hoarded their knowledge, and ignored the pains around them.

·      Have skipped a meal or two to help the next neighbor or extended relatives.

·      Have become creative in complaining and blaming others for the effects of the pandemics on our families and friends. It’s not a time for blame. There is a lot of blame to go around.

When the chips are down, what will matter is how many people you helped during this pandemic—how much you shared. You received your COVID-19 relief check, which was not enough for most people. However, if you cannot give a little out of your little, you are unlikely to give much out of your abundance.

The impact we made is not measured by how much wealth or knowledge we accumulated. You don’t have to change the world. Little impacts like $10 donation to a local food bank or a dollar burger to a homeless kid increases our value and net worth— donate a few groceries to your neighbors, an elderly or homeless person, or a distant relative; share what you know.

 We don’t need anyone to dictate our method of compassion. We are our neighbor’s keeper. We are Americans. We help each other. This is the most giving nation on earth. We are compassionate people; this has been proven again and again.

 I’m a Nigerian-born American. In the past several weeks, I could hear the pain from the voice of my brothers regarding the undue hardship extended relatives, and people in my village are subjected to as a result of the pandemic and subsequent lockdown. Painful and excruciating. No one can erase all pains and sufferings, but we all can make a point. We can make a difference.

You don’t have to be the Mother Teresa of compassion to make a difference. You don’t have to announce your gift. Your gift will always speak for you. It will come back to you some way, sometime. If you haven’t cared for some during this pandemic, that is a liability that will diminish your net worth. It is going to be remembered after the pandemic. For all of us that come from Africa and other developing parts of the world, conscience will demand that we not forget that some people in our home villages and countries live on $1 per day. They have no food banks or grocery stores, and some of their governments are anything but responsible. They are locked down; $100 sent back home can feed several families and bring some dancing in the village. Today is your turn to do something. It’s not late. If you fail, your real net worth has fallen. What do you think? Please respond.

If you run with the footmen and you are worn out, peeled off, and faint, what happens when you run with horsemen and in the troubling of the sea? Our true pictures have surfaced. What is done in this trial time is the proof of the metal we are made of.

 This is not a time to throw our hands in the air, give up, give in, or capitulate. It’s time to stand and not squat or stoop. We’ll not let COVID-19 define us. From time immemorial, we are fearfully and wonderfully made. I have a definition for you—you are unstoppable! You are from the tribe of “possibiliterians.” If you fail in the days of adversity, your strength is small. Martin Luther King, Jr said, “Everybody can be great...because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”

Again, you don’t have to change the world. Just impact one person by serving. The person served or impacted, may change the world. Don’t let this time pass you by. Do something!

Benjamin Anyacho, MBA, PMP, is an author, a quintessential project manager, knowledge management strategist in Austin, Texas.