Are we competing or collaborating? This a question that has been lingering on my mind a lot lately. What do you think? Look at yourselves on a personal and professional level. It came to my attention that we are faced with so many opportunities, that pass under our noses simply because we are looking in the wrong direction. Life is abundant as it is. Look at the grass, trees, forests, flowers, or anything surrendering to nature. They are all abundant. So, maybe we need to learn something here and stop interfering in the natural process of being.
As a leader in the business world for over 25 years, I’ve learned this lesson the hard way. I’ve always been a corporate person, with a secure job and secure income every month; moving across the hierarchy quickly and from one job to the other creating achievements. Or that’s what I thought at the time! I never moved jobs until I secured another one of course. Me being jobless!! No way. Till the day came in March 2014, when my stress level was at its peak. I was always on a plane flying somewhere to take care of the marketing function I was heading in a regional role. Then it hit me on one of those trips that I was not really living. I was just passing by, creating checkmarks of performance, but was I happy, fulfilled, or content? Actually no, on the contrary. I felt I was adding no value at all. So, I quit my job overnight! Here I am not advising people to do that especially, if they don’t have an abundance mentality, thinking that life will end after this job they have, or that the world is tough now with a bad economic situation, or that the job market is full of people. When I took that move something inside of me told me, life is OK. Everything will be fine and doors will open for me. Guess what? They did. The following day, I got contacted by the competition. I got several calls from friends wanting me to partner with them in business, and I settled down to launch my book “Life Outside Your Comfort Zone.”. So, I realized the author in me too. It was as if there was a magical force behind me. The magic was simply inside my own heart, brain, and gut, which all told me life is abundant.
So, what lessons here can we apply in business? Through work with several business people, I came to admire those that collaborate. In fact, in one of the mastermind discussions that I ran, I came across a business owner who has been running kid’s theme parks, a family business for years. She has been short of cash during covid when her business had to pause its operation. When we brought to the table 12 other business people from different industries, she instantly got over 30 solutions to implement to be able to still run her business and generate cash. She has survived that tough time and has a profitable running business now. Therefore, the power of belief mixed with collaboration and support has played a huge role here. So, simply the way we look at business in today’s world needs to change into a more holistic model.
In my capacity as CEO and Founder of Presence Business Coaching, and has been in the human development field for over 15 years now, I always come across friends/competitors (as some may call them). When we get together as trainers and share notes or coach each other, not only do we elevate our performance, but that of the people we train as well, creating a ripple effect. It doesn’t stop here. I can simply refer you to clients, even though you might be providing similar services as mine. I will continue to do that. In fact, just passed a referral a while ago. I do sound weird to some business partners. I totally understand where they are coming from. Yet, I believe in Karma and what goes around. If I support you, then by default someone or some entity will provide the same for me. A growth mentality allows us to see beyond ourselves creating a much bigger impact.
I think, what’s needed especially these days in tough economic situations, is to start seeing areas of collaboration rather than points of competition. We can all add value and complete one single picture; the one that is meant to be created, without us interfering in the process or resisting it. Flow and let others flow. We will all be able to grow and thrive
– By Marwa Saleh, Founder and CEO of Presence Business Coaching