Risk Free Assessment
At the end of March, I gave a talk at the NC Tech Engaging the Future Workforce Summit, around the topic of “No Fear.” The idea of “No Fear” came from conversations I was having with a colleague, who was fearful about some of the changes that we were seeing over the past several months, and how it would impact our business. However, this was not something I feared, as long as we stayed focused on exceeding the value we delivered to our corporate clients, and Candidates in our workforce development program. That is because there is so much in the world that we cannot control, but the level of service that we provide for our customers is.
I first experienced this valuable lesson in my personal life, when I was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), a degenerating eye condition, and I was told that I was going blind. When I got this news, I felt a level of fear like no other. That’s because in one instance, I thought I would never experience love, I thought I would never have a career, and I thought I would not belong. I lost control of my destiny, and that was truly scary!
Soon, that fear turned to anger, and it spilled over towards the people I loved most – my family. And I carried that anger longer than I wanted to admit. But one day, it reared its ugly head at work.
At the time, I was transitioning out of my role leading a telecommunication company in Africa, and it came out through my words towards my colleague. This was someone who had stood by my side for nearly three years, helped me navigate foreign lands, and supported me as I was losing sight. This wasn’t the type of leader I wanted to be, and more importantly this wasn’t the type of person I wanted to be. And that’s when I realized I needed to work on myself and address the issues that were causing my anger, and I started to practice meditation.
What I learned from my meditation was that I could control my breathing – with each breath.
Breathe in, one, two, three, four.
Breathe out, one, two, three, four.
This simple action had a profound impact on me. By taking control of my breathing, I was able to calm my mind, and slow down. And this changed my life, and helped my anger and fear melt away.
What meditation and breathing taught me was that there is a lot of noise and turbulence in the world, but when you focus on what you can control, it will help quiet everything else. So, during these turbulent times in business, I don’t fear the unknown but rather am focusing our attention on our customer and our Candidates and ensuring that we continuously exceed their expectations. Some ways we are doing this is by expanding our accessibility services to include consultancy services, to help our corporate clients incorporate accessibility to all aspects of their business, from new employee onboarding, to supporting their procurement of new software and applications. On our workforce development side, we are offering free accessible training modules to all people to help with topics such as resume writing and setting up job alerts. We are doing this because we know how important it is to help our clients and Candidates, by anticipating their needs, and helping to quiet down the outside noise, especially in a changing world. And I know if we do this, we will be able to excel with “No Fear!”
If you are interested in learning more about our consultancy services, or if you want to get access to our free training materials for blind and low-vision job seekers, reach out! And if you got to check out my talk at the NC Tech Engaging the Future Workforce Summit, let me know what you thought!