The innovation, the pandemic spread, the silver linings | 

 

And … all of the sudden at the time when the world is so widely affected by climate change associated with overuse of human-made inventions and overconsumption that often generate harmful iotas for the Mother Earth … the coronavirus appeared on the stage of life … spreading a silver lining over the clouds of global warming  … seeing the bigger picture from the perspective of the positive impact of harmful and damaging effects … this quality can only be appreciated by those who suffered and experienced hurt and possibly been broken … there is always a chance for inspiration to flow from a certain amount of pain and destruction … the focus on innovation | 

 

 

Innovation – the je ne sais quoi of human’s creativity born out of conformity, curiosity founded on the urge to invent something greater than him/herself while supporting the ever-growing process of evolution of intelligence … | 

 

 

Innovation is seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought | Dr Albert, Szent-Gyorgyi

 

Humankind history has a very distinguished feature … it adores testing and challenging the man and the woman and their capability to adapt, survive, and create something meaningful as the reflection on the past … we all individually and as groups have a pretty rich heritage that is partly very much rooted in our upbringing and then taken forward to enrich its spin with experiences consequently shaping our own characters. Those mystical matters, characters, with their core intangible values are the essential components responsible for injecting levels of innovation int every single area of our living … the space is wide open for testing, failing, succeeding and creating meaningful results … | 

 

Without further ado… the idea behind this rather slightly philosophical preludium is to provide a perspective on the value of searching for the silver linings of challenging times … whether they are represented by struggles with lack of resources to tackle problems, the inefficiency of skill sets, lack of financial support to fund initiatives or simply not enough time in a day that can be dedicated to nurturing innovative projects … | 

 

Nearly 80 years ago we were forced to witness (and some of us experience) one of the most disgraceful and humiliating events in human history, the II World War and accompanying events that spread the essence of evil around the world … some other events such as Black Death, this time not necessarily ignited purposefully by a human, making more damage than goodness… challenged our characters to become stronger and more aware of our health as well as enemies around the corner… Other disasters such as the earthquake in Papua New Guinea, floods in North Korea, Japan, Nigeria and India, Pakistanian heat waves or Indonesian tsunami… constantly remind us of the fragility of our existence … we are here only for a moment or two …

 

This years’ pandemic threat to humankind, unfortunately, is taking over the world by storm forcing us to addiction of an unhealthy lifestyle of digital screening, face timing, video conferencing and decreasing the balance between work, play, nature, relax and me – time … the coronavirus spread minimized the ability for answering our simple and very basic instincts such as social interaction, play and joy, nature time, eating out and careless time outside of the four walls |

 

Remote working, online teaching, digital/app food ordering are the new norms that allow us to spend the majority of our time at homes … does it mean more productivity? Well… this is questionable… major automakers close down their plants, fashion designers put on hold new collections, travel agents freeze operations as the result of airlines reducing the number of available flights …. This rapidly progressing organizational transformation of businesses and non-commercial institutions is one of the most astonishing digital innovation observed so far in the human history that progresses incredibly fast creating space for more and more start-ups to come up with solutions that would not necessarily tempt to spend more online but hopefully find ways to keep sane  … | 

 

This shockingly forceful physical-digital imbalance that unfortunately is not something that we would have imaged happening last year has, unfortunately, major effects not only on our biological health, mental state but also impacts the nature of our communications and interactions | 

 

The threat for businesses lays now in their speed of adapting, being able to digitalize their operational architecture  – this is the key survival element on the global commercial map, unfortunately, businesses that do not have the adequate skills in place to adapt to remote working will disappear, exposing their staff to increased risk of financial distress | 

 

The question remains unanswered when it comes to major warehouse operators that serve the marketplace giants such as eBay, Amazon or Walmart … will they be able to replace their physical workforce?

 

We all become so digitally connected that there is an overwhelming need for space missing … and social interaction that is non-virtual…

 

Can the world be ruled by digital firms alone? Hmmm… First and foremost the definition of innovation of a business needs a slight shift in the focus from commercial advantages to rigorous contingency planning to ensure that the continuity of the lifespan of a business is at it steady growth and well-maintained… this will allow innovation to appear …

 

 

In the challenging times, the innovation can spread its wings from allowing the positivity to take over the current focus and paint a picture of the future with almost invisibly engraved marks of the present time … which soon become the past … the silver linings of innovation rooted in danger are the outcomes of learning and a constant focus of enhancement | Dr A A Drzewiecka

 

 

 Recommended Reads |

C.M. Christiansen {2013}.C.M. Christiansen {2013}. The innovator’s dilemma: when new technologies cause great firms to fail. Harvard College | 

Smith-Bingham, R., Hariharan, K. {2020}. This is the impact of the Coronovirus business. Retrieved 2020, March 27 from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/why-is-coronavirus-a-global-business-risk/ | https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/02/why-is-coronavirus-a-global-business-risk/ | 

Staples, J. {2006}.{2006}. Preparing for a Pandemic. Harvard Business Review, May 2006 Issue.