Be Empactful - Creating Impacts with Empathy
Beevis the bee wakes up every morning, flitting around in his hive, wondering where he will go today to fill his little pot of nectar – just as he has been doing for the past 3 weeks, when he has been able to fly. He joins his brothers, worker bees all of them, and flies out once the sun is up, sensing where the flowers are, and picking the sweetest smelling of them all. He lands on the flower, focused only on sucking the nectar out, unaware that pollen from that flower is sticking to his legs. He has his fill from one flower, and hops onto another a little farther away, sucking at the nectar, and leaving a little bit of pollen there and picking up some more.
Beevis fills his pot of nectar and satisfied, flies back to his hive to deposit the same, not knowing that his simple act will have far reaching impacts. The pollen that he deposited causes the flowers to turn into fruits, which have seeds and in turn give life to new plants. The flowers and fruits themselves provide nutrition to many living beings letting the ecology sustain and grow.
Meanwhile, Beevis and his brothers have deposited the nectar, which turns into honey, which we humans collect to add that little bit of sweetness to our lives. So much that Beevis and his brothers do, that impacts life far and wide, without knowing or even bothering about the outcomes.
Wow!! So much that we, worker bees in a way ourselves, can learn from Beevis and his brothers. And since we are supposed to be wiser than the bees – Can we knowingly and intentionally impact lives far and wide through empathy – spreading growth for all – Creating Impacts with Empathy – Being Empactful!!
A large part of my life experiences is based in the city of Hyderabad – its played an important part in making me who I am today – the folks I studied with, played with, trained under, met, partied, worked – each have contributed in their various ways.
Many of these experiences have impacted me – or rather, as I now term it, “Empacted” me – folks who have helped, guided me – without looking for anything in return. I have learnt to gain inspiration from all that is around me – and I still do – experiences of myself and others, stories I hear, novels I read, movies I see, places I visit, people I follow etc. and the biggest lesson I have learnt is to never stop learning. That is true for us all – be we individuals or companies. We need to keep learning and adapting, applying lessons learnt from one experience or facet into another and never stop evolving.
These lessons have never been more useful than the past year when the pandemic hit, lives as we knew changed and many let go of the controls of their lives. We have heard many stories of jobs lost, companies shut down and businesses disappearing. Many were searching for the “Familiar” - how they did things earlier, how life was earlier and were feeling let down that things were no longer the same
“May you live in interesting times” – an alleged Chinese blessing which was supposed to be a curse. And life has never been more “interesting” than the past year, specially from end-January 2020, when the Year of the Rat began, and the world came to know about Covid-19 and the CoronaVirus!!
For a lot of us, God did seemingly bless us with what we wished for, coincidentally, the 2nd related Chinese curse, when we got to “Work-from-home”, send time with family, have time to learn skills and discover ourselves, an opportunity to save money etc… but the “blessing” did indeed bring with it, its own set of challenges – as the world went online, people shut doors – to their homes and off their offices.
That was the “new normal”, a different way of living, thinking, working – adapting to a changed economical and business ecology and learning how to thrive again. And it is here that the need of the hour is to create “EMPACTS” – Impacts with Empathy.
There is a need for brands and business models that are not just there for the purpose of making money but also are helping other businesses and people grow with them, and thus creating a community of businesses that are all contributing to sustainable ecological and economic development all around.
“How can you do this” do you ask? It is by following and extending another adage – Give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, he eats for a lifetime. Empower the man with confidence and support and he will find a new way to fish and also teach others to fish in turn.
We need more people and companies that are willing to do, to give and to contribute to the growth of all, empowering everyone on their way. Each company will have its own flavour, its own journey of growth and empowerment and it they all need to come together and grow - Just like bees working together to grow their beehive
So, let’s all aspire to be like Beevis and his brothers, doing things that have far reaching results - while also being the man who empowers others while teaching them to fish!!
