Does CHOICE exist? Do we always have a choice?

I'm 30 years old & I've just had my first major epiphany in life. Truly a sudden, intuitive perception: a clear insight into the reality of business survival.

Its a quiet Sunday afternoon, I realize- I'm now alone in the office, the rest of the YMBK team has left, probably off to watch the Roger Federer:Novak Djokovic final. Bob Marley's Legend is no longer looping, its just me and the silence. I find a Heineken in the office fridge, search my playlist for Sean Paul's Imperial Blazin, slide back into my chair and I'm now back behind my desk. I take a refreshing sip and focus back on my current problem.


The YMBK Team.

PROBLEM: trying to figure out how we can streamline our current UK/Europe distribution process.

How can we balance our business efficiencies' and still guarantee customer satisfaction (particularly from a speed pespective)?

The epiphany is that THE UNIVERSE IS NON-LINEAR, everything is connected, everything is important. IT IS... IT ALWAYS WAS.

The point is:

"The best laid schemes o' mice an' men, Gang aft agley."

Although nothing is certain in life, uncertainty is guaranteed. No matter how much we plan, one can never plan for everything. There are always challenges for us to OVERCOME. 'Of Mice and Men' is a novella written by Nobel Prize-winning author John Steinbeck, published in 1937, definitely worth a read.

My realization was that, in all honesty, you are what you repeatedly do. Experience is correct because it suggests that no problem can withstand the assault of sustained thinking. Problems will always come up, but we have to figure out a way to solve them. Thus, if we know that problems are going to arise and we know that with enough thought- problems can be solved, then FAILURE IS NEVER AN OPTION: there is no choice, we have to OVERCOME.

I get onto skype, start making some calls. I figure most of my people in Europe are probably watching the Liverpool soccer match, but I do manage to reach a few extroverts, get a few leads and I am now fully re-committed to finding the best fit, in terms of YMBK distribution points. UK/Europe is a viable market and its important, it fosters the international growth of the YMBK brand.

Business partnerships can be a major competitive advantage. Even though it takes time to build trusted business partnerships (aligning purpose, business plans & financials), they can be value adding. I am learning that managing a business is philosophically provocative, the existing social order can be a swindle, the cliche's, of glitter versus gold and sizzle versus steak come to mind.

I'm off to watch Johnny "Drama" Chase and the Entourage boys, but I can not help but smile. I am proud. I stared into the abyss. It stared back. We will OVERCOME. ALUTA CONTINUA

Onwards. Upwards. Always.

Farai

ps: ALUTA CONTINUA is a PAN-AFRICAN phrase which was used in the nineteen sixties by revolutionary thinkers such as JOMO KENYATA of the MAU MAU and NELSON MANDELA of the A.N.C. in South Africa. It means “the struggle continues”.