Damian Karaula, founder of Mentor Hub, specialises in helping founders, leaders, and professionals develop an entrepreneurial mindset, resilience, and leadership.
We talked to him about business responses to the COVID-19 crisis and opportunities available to founders and business leaders.
What are you seeing in business environments right now?
The environment we’re in is forcing us to go through the ultimate transformative experience. We’ve all been forced to slow down and given time to reflect more – the world’s coming at us really hard from an entrepreneurship and business perspective, and it’s forcing people to
learn.
“How I used to be” isn’t going to serve anymore.
I used to get away with old operating systems, paradigms, and ways of turning up to work and to play.
Right now we’re in a constant flight or fight response, making internal anxiety come to the surface with anxiety around health, finances, and unresolved tensions – it’s a fertile ground for transformation.
In the past, a lot of my role was to spread awareness of how businesses can incorporate empathy, mindful, awareness, and compassion modalities, and many would dismiss this. A lot of entrepreneurs were just focused on getting the deal and making the next transaction
How has the current crisis changed business leaders?
I’ve now got contacts, saying ‘Hang on, how do I do this meditation stuff?’. They’re now more open to such practices given the amount of solitude they face on a daily basis.
If you’re open to it, the current environment provides fertile ground for transformation.
Transformation is always about identifying your old belief and operating systems that no longer serve and can no longer survive. COVID-19 has heightened which systems work and the ones that don’t.
All of the old belief systems around fear and scarcity, not being good enough or knowing enough, are coming to the surface instead of working away underneath
To survive, we’re having to confront these old beliefs head-on.
What’s the first step to making organisational change?
An organisational pivot always starts with a personal leadership journey.
As a founder, I can’t ask my organisation to pivot unless I’m willing to pivot on a personal level.
You’ve got to find compassion for yourself, exercise empathy, and become more malleable before you can expect your organisation to come on that journey.
To find out more about Mentor Hub and their support and resources for founders and business leaders, contact Damian today.