Bulletproof attitude

The last fifteen years have been full of events that have disrupted businesses globally. When I started writing this article, I intended to focus more or less on the last five years because the first significant event I wanted to mention was the outbreak of COVID-19. Indeed, it was a big mistake, and the error will be repeated because, sitting down and collecting my thoughts, the most impactful event I recall is probably the Chernobyl disaster that occurred on April 26, 1996. I was a nine-year-old kid living on the Italian Dolomites at that time, and I remember when, for one week, we were forbidden to perform our usual joyridings.

I’m getting older, but still, my memory is working pretty well. So why did I have to focus so much when I had to remember events that shocked the planet?

THE PSYCHOLOGICAL AND NEUROBIOLOGICAL FACTORS

I’m not a leading physician; better, I’m not a physician, but what I experienced boosted my curiosity. I took the time to look at some studies performed by prominent academics, and it seems like my behavior is science-based and not caused by the years that, unfortunately, also advanced for me.

From the psychological perspective, we have to consider the following aspects:

1.        Our minds tend to buffer the perception of negative emotions over time.

2.        We make decisions based on promptly ready information, and considering the point above, this leads us to create psychological bias based more on positive experiences.

3.        Over time, we tend to distort traumatic events, overestimating our ability to predict them.

Recent studies have also revealed that different neurobiological mechanisms are pivotal in erasing unwanted memories. These studies show how the human brain makes recalling certain types of stored information more difficult.

I would have some nice stories related to the recent invasion of Ukraine about Executives making catastrophic decisions denying the reality of the facts. Still, I will keep this for future discussion.

Our memories heavily affect our perception of reality and decision-making process, but how can they provide a valuable impact if specific mechanisms cloud them?

For clarity, these life-saver mechanisms are made to decrease the psychological impact of outrageous occurrences.

DISRUPTIONS 2.0

Also, if some mechanism is helping us forget aspects of our past experiences that could affect our psychological stability, perhaps disruptive events still occur. More than this, their capability of quickly affecting our activities on the other side of the planet has never been more relevant.

Globalization, hypermobility, policies, and international agreements undoubtedly created opportunities but also vulnerabilities that shouldn’t be underestimated or forgotten.

Nowadays, viruses spread worldwide in less than thirty days. Countries that developed such a high level of energy dependency are now unable to keep their populations warm. Companies are falling apart because they thought that good times were forever.

THE BULLETPROOF ATTITUDE

One of the recurring questions I constantly ask myself is, “What is the correct receipt to avoid disruptive events drastically affecting our business?” More than a receipt, I would call it attitude. That is how I developed the “bulletproof concept,” which, if I had to explain it in a few words, is a sort of start-up mindset accompanied by a high degree of solidity given by experience.

B                                 - Build – Focus on building solid business processes.

U                                - Unite – Bring people together during difficulties.

L                                 - Lessons Learned - Learn from past experiences and share.

L                                 - Leverage - Know your strengths and use them as leverage.

E                                 - Erase – Erase what doesn't work.

T                                 - Test – Stress test your plans before deciding.

P                                 - Plan – Always have a plan. Better a bad plan than no plan.

R                                 - Race – If you can do it now, don’t postpone to tomorrow.

O                                - Observe – Look for indications of changes.

O                                - Optimize – Always aim at efficiency.

F                                 - Focus – Remain focus on your goals

EMBRACING AWARENESS

Attitude and other formulas can help us develop a methodology to stay ahead. Still, the key aspect remains awareness, which is intended to be the ability to comprehend what is happening around us and within ourselves constantly.

Challenges will come more often, and changes will prove our ability to adapt. Embracing awareness could give us an edge in the future.