Challenge Is Our Creative Adrenalin
GRIT. You needed to have some serious Grit to get through this year.
Empathy is what drove us forward. The ability to acknowledge and accept that we are all in the same whirlwind and that only by supporting each other can we collectively get out of this mess has been the only certainty this year. It has been the year of
“you scratch my back, and Ill scratch yours”. Without any hope for true resolutions, we depended on our clients, as they did on us to get through the hardships. and under undeserved stress to deliver on time; and in parallel, their colleagues in Dubai worked with even more determination knowing that their hardship is helping and directly impacting their colleagues in Lebanon. It all goes back to a year of empathy. This is how we mitigated the risks, by staying together and working towards one goal.
Having a team working for you is no different to having a family. There is responsibility, respect and love involved. There is nothing that I wouldn’t do to keep them safe and to keep them going. The game never ended but the rules have changed. My energy was focused on maintaining the quality of our work, motivating my team and strategizing with them based on the new rules of the game.
Change doesn’t just happen. You can’t passively wait for change. You need to create the change you want.
Only made it stronger. Our jobs are based on solving problems, if we can’t find ways out of the gloom, then we have simply failed. I just wish we could channel more of our energy into creative work rather than on solving mediocre hurdles such as electricity, internet connections and gasoline shortages. 90% of new business comes from outside of Lebanon unfortunately. Lebanon is quickly becoming and outsourced country. The shift that happened in the world has opened up possibilities of working with clients from all over the world and also with talents form all over the world. Today our staff are scattered between, Lebanon, Dubai, Armenia, Turkey and Canada. One positive thing is that when we have to leave our country in order to seek security and stability, we no longer have to leave our jobs. Relocating while maintaining your job has become a possibility and a thing and the birth of the creative nomad.
More instability and more insecurity in Lebanon. It is hard to invest or plan forward in a place that doesn’t give you the minimum visibility needed to plan ahead. At the moment, 2022 is a blur. In terms of the industry, I believe brands that have been shy on communicating due to the situation in Lebanon will gently make a comeback and test the
I am a born soldier, and I will fight till the very last bullet to be, modestly and certainly, the last man standing.
The huge size of the investment we have done so far, in terms of money, but also in terms of human capital and emotions, doesn’t allow us to just throw everything to the wind with every challenge we face. This is exactly what is helping us remain firm and steadfast amid this turbulent setting. Survival consists of knowing that every drop of energy is needed to fight and keep up; therefore, the rule of the current game is that we have no other choice.
In war school and business schools, and I am proud to have attended both. I learnt from a theoretical perceptive an important US military motto: “Improvise, Adapt, Overcome”.
I believe I have been applying this slogan in the past 12 months in every sense of the word. Improvising facing uncertainties, adapting to challenging and very difficult situations, and overcoming no matter what.
I know very well that many of your respondents would answer your question positively, saying that the energy and the passion are still there and are intact. However, and to be honest, there is no way that energy and passion can be kept intact
Unfortunately, due to the nature of the business we lead, crises and problems are an extraordinary opportunities generator, especially for the PR business. In times of crises, big corporations have to fight in order to protect their reputation, one of their most important and vital assets. The latter seems often jeopardized by very serious crisis and challenges. The various opportunities we already had and the ones that are coming next year and the year after, as the economic crisis in Lebanon and the sanitary one worldwide will still unfortunately be ongoing until then, are a new business catalyst for us.