After the unnaturally (but welcome) sunny warm weather a few weeks ago we are now back to more normal British – and specifically Yorkshire – weather at the moment.
Yesterday I was watching through the window as the rain lashed down and found myself both amused and slightly in awe of the tiny flowers bobbing in the rain. They reminded me of a Peter Kay joke about hob nobs saying “come on then” to a hot drink. (If you’re a Peter Kay fan, you’ll be laughing now – if not look it up on YouTube!).
I was in awe of the plants because of how resilient they are despite looking so small and fragile. And how flexible they must be to not be damaged by being repeated hit by (relatively) large falling objects (rain drops). If they had feelings you would say they were a bit stubborn – refusing to be beaten by a much stronger ‘opponent’. And of course, having strong roots certainly helps. The unseen strength of all flowers.
So picking up on the themes of Flexibility, Resilience and Stubbornness – let’s talk a bit about flexibility.
The Importance of Flexibility in the Digital World
It’s always been important to be flexible, physically, mentally and emotionally. Being too rigid in your body can lead to all sorts of physical problems as my cohort Marion Bevington, Yoga Master Extraordinaire, will tell you. And of course, mental agility (flexibility) has always been an advantage in life and business. Never more so than now.
I am sure you know some people who are so inflexible they almost have rigor mortis! And what happens to stuff that has no flexibility? Well, put under extreme stress, it breaks. That’s the difference between a dry stick – which you can easily snap, living bamboo which bends and is not easily broken.
In fact, because of it’s flexibility, bamboo can be used for many purposes. Of course, it looks great in its natural habitat, and it also looks great in a garden. It can also be made into paper, furniture, clothes. It can be used for building and road making, for medicinal purposes, to make jewellery and accessories, to feed animals and people, and even to promote fertility in cows (unverified but interesting!).
The point is – the more flexible something is, thee more useful and unlikely to become redundant. And the opposite is true of inflexible materials. Look at what happens to buildings in an earthquake if they haven’t been built with flexibility in mind.
The same happens to people and to businesses. Inflexible people put under undue stress, will likely become ill – mentally or physically. Inflexible businesses who cannot move quickly with the market, will likely fade and die.
The world is now changing at a faster and faster pace.
No sooner is one technology accepted as the norm (like touch operated mobile phones) then another is biting at the heels of its predecessor (like face and voice recognition). Maybe you have experienced this in your business. Perhaps your business needs to flex, needs to change direction or incorporate some new technology, but you are not sure how to go about doing that?
The other thing to notice about these plants is that they are rarely on their own. There is strength in a cluster of bamboo for example. It has more combined power to resist the wind, then one single stalk of bamboo. And that’s the same with people. There is strength in numbers.
“Well, that’s all very well”, you might be thinking, if you are a ‘solo-preneur’. “What can I do about that?”. Well the answer of course, is “Find yourself a tribe”. Our WHYs Counsel supports men and women on a personal and professional level. You don’t have to figure it out on your own and you don’t have to do it alone.
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