The world changes all the time. And in this world that changes, you must also be able to adapt, continuously.
But you can also be an actor in this ecosystem. Through your voice, your craft, the projects you realize, and your capacity for entrepreneurship. Whether in a company or through a social project, you have the capacity to act.
Today, we call some of this influence. For me, it is the capacity to carry your voice beyond sound waves. What you express can reach people online, on social networks, and through what you create. Your voice and your work can change something in someone else’s world.
Adapting takes practice. You train yourself by facing situations you have never experienced, going to unfamiliar places, meeting people you have never met, and encountering different personalities and cultures. These encounters can shake your beliefs.
Each individual lives in a social ecosystem with its own rules, habits, and customs. When you change countries and cultures, you discover how varied the world is, how different it is, and how rich it is. You also discover that some beliefs you took for granted no longer hold when people think and live differently.
This has helped me a lot. I worked in Italy and Senegal. I lived and worked in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Australia, where I spent almost four years. I also spent five weeks in Japan. These experiences showed me how diverse cultures are, and how unique each individual is.
You practice adaptation at work too. You adapt to your hierarchy, to the strategic direction of your company, and to your colleagues. As a manager, you also adapt to what happens in the lives of the people you are responsible for, so they can do their work in the best possible conditions. This requires awareness of people and group dynamics.
And you must listen to the larger movements that will affect you, including geopolitics.
The Covid period showed us how a major event can change our environment with very little under our control. We each had a role to play, within our own perimeter, for ourselves, our families, and the people around us. We had to navigate uncertainty as the surrounding conditions and rules changed.
Keep this in mind: change is perpetual. Train your capacity to adapt. And remember that you can also act within this ecosystem, through what you say, what you build, and what you do.
Yannick HUCHARD