Virus and Vaccine Wahala
Hey there. This newsletter has been way, way overdue. I know your inbox is already jammed up with newsletters, and here I am with my big behind trying to occupy more space. Well, I do hope this one sticks, and that this newsletter finds ways to knock some good stuff around your mind. This is a weekly, and I will do my best to keep each post brief and on point.
Welcome to Fashi Mindset.
Enjoy.
2020 and a virus with the name of a popular beer has us shut down, hunkered down in our bunkers, and covering our faces like ninjas. We’ve talked that stuff to death though, pun not intended at all. I do have my virus angle here, of course.
I am The Chidi, what did you expect?
At my last corporate gig, I was pretty much an insurgent. An accented, skate-shoe and funky socks wearing, bespectacled, VW driving, quiet but definitely not quiet insurgent. Not a contrarian just to be contrary. I just bucked against the status quo. I thought we could shake things up with some crazy ideas. Grab the bull by the horns, and go on offense.
The System was not having it. The Resistance was strong. So…I was deleted from the System.
Fact is, I was a virus in the System. The antibodies in the System—the bureaucracy, the comfortable folks, the ten-year strategic plan, the good old boys and gals network, the linear thinking—did what antibodies do: aggressively corral and expel this C-virus messing with the System.
Now, in another universe (ok, with another company…I know, I like sci-fi), I might have been the vaccine. A vaccine that helps innoculate the System against complacency and ho-hum thinking. In my current life incarnation, I’ve embraced the vaccine persona. When I consult, or run training sessions and masterclasses, or teach at colleges, or speak at conferences, I find myself taking on the role of a virus being introduced to inject energy, spark creativity and insights, to protect against the ravages of competition, and attack timid strategery. Resistance is still aplenty, vaccines get rejected aplenty, so no easy going on this rodeo either.
But…like play, like play…Chidi don become anti-virus o. No loss of taste or smell here, my friends.
So, virus or vaccine…which one are you?