From the desk of Caspar
A World of Opportunity
In times of change, many new opportunities are born. It’s the fleet of foot, the people who are looking for the opportunities that are most likely to find them.
This article shares the stories of ten iconic businesses including IBM, Disney and AirBnB that were created during recessions.
To be able to find and act on opportunities requires a mindset of resourcefulness - the notion that whatever happens to you, whatever the external circumstances, you only focus on what you have control of and what you can do.
Distractions abound at the current time with positive or negative opinions of what each countries leaders are doing or not doing in response to Covid-19. It’s easy to be sucked into a digital view of the world with news feeds and social media and to get distracted from what you can take control of and focus on.
When at different times in my life I’ve had challenges whether in business, on adventures or personally, the single best route I’ve found is a cold hard look at the facts in front of me, a clear picture of where I want to get to and a rational evaluation of the options I have. And critically to get the ideas and opinions of others because I know the likelihood of me (or any single person) all the best ideas is precisely zero.
Tip: To find opportunity you have to be looking for it and one of the best things you can do is to drown out distractions and take control of your world.
Adapting to Change
At this time of year in our pre Covid-19 world I would normally be on stages in different countries delivering keynote talks. With all live events being cancelled, the number of forward bookings I had at the middle of March quickly went close to zero.
As one door closes, another opens. Or rather you look for it and open it. I got the stats from a talk I did online this week.
It was for Hager Group, a German supplier of solutions and services for electrical installations. The talk was broadcast live on their website. They shared the stats with me afterwards:
“We have a record of viewers - usually it’s maximum 200 and for your conference we had maximum 533 viewers. And 430 for the entire duration of the conference. Connections were global: France, United States, Europe, Germany, India, Czech Republic, UAE, Netherlands, Greece, Singapore and Ukraine.”
I share this because it’s an example of finding hidden opportunities. The ability to access audiences like this were always there since the advent of fast internet, but weren’t always taken. Now, broadcasts and talks like this to global audiences stand a good chance of becoming our de facto method.
It underlines for me the ability to access a global audience. In one 30 minute talk, I was able to connect with and share ideas and impact over 500 people from literally all around the world.
It’s also prompted a wealth of follow up questions which I’ll be publishing responses to in the coming days such as…
You say that in times of crisis, we must focus & prioritize. Prioritize equals choosing; and "choosing is renouncing" - It's VERY difficult (& takes balls) --> do you have any advice on this?
How do you keep your team focused and effective in these tough times?
Being so eager to get back to normal, having gone through this strange times, how do we make sure that we learn from this experience?
Going back to the last question asked during the Live Talk : Please give suggestions/tips regarding managing businesses post COVID-19 specially commercial risk involved in businesses.
Back on stages in the “old world”, it would rarely have created the ongoing opportunity for engagement like this.
Tip: Keep adapting and look for hidden opportunity wherever it presents itself.
Are we in the Same Boat?
In conversation with Maria Franzoni - Are we in the same boat?
Maria Franzoni is one of the most brilliant speaker agents I know - she’s part of London Speaker Bureau and runs her own agency too - this week Maria and I got together to discuss whether we are all in the same boat and how to deal with the current situation.
She pulls no punches in asking the tough questions - especially around whether we are in the same boat or not!
Leadership tip of the week.
A story about adapting to life after 3 months in imposed self isolation. (and some swans who want to get involved too!)
Online Talks
I’m doing a lot of online presentations at the moment on these topics. Get in touch if these would be helpful for your business or team. Topics that are most asked for are how to:
uncover fresh opportunities that change always creates;
Keep your team engaged and focused
manage your mindset and the mental health of yourself and your team;
remain productive and effective working at home;
How to thrive and adapt as lockdown eases
How to plan for the future if you’re feeling lost.
For more details on teamwork and leadership talks, click here.:
Thought of the Week
“My company (Hager Group) invited Caspar for a Live Talk about how to adapt in times of crisis. 30 minutes of conference which went by too fast, I wish I could’ve heard him talk all day. His speech is full of optimism, great advices that can be applicable by anyone and very enriching !! The 500 people connected to watch his talk were very satisfied ! Professionnal, reactive and smiling, it was a real pleasure working with Caspar. I am looking forward to working with him in the future and I can only highly recommand him. Thank you Caspar !”