Reinventions in times of coronavirus

By Virginia López Valiente

Managing Director of Cruises News Media Group and Editor of CruisesNews magazine

Editorial from CruisesNews magazine no. 53 – July 2020

How many times have you heard these past few months that we need to reinvent ourselves? Beyond the impossibility of the literal meaning of that word, I have no desire to reinvent anything at this point, least of all myself.

Some of life's toughest decisions involve determining when to persist or persevere and when to start over. These decisions might include finding a new job, going back to school, moving to a new city, or even ending a relationship. While rarely a matter of life or death, reinventing ourselves can lead to greater happiness and fulfillment. And when running a business and guiding it through a crisis, reinvention can sometimes be the difference between success and failure.

We see reinvention everywhere in the animal kingdom: tadpoles become frogs, caterpillars become butterflies, although it's not just a baby animal growing up, it's a drastic transformation.

Despite not having biological limitations, businesses are far from immortal, and in fact, statistics show that the average survival time for SMEs is only about 15 years. Even the most successful company is eventually threatened by a predator in the form of competition, an economic crisis, or simply generational changes or a failure to adapt to market trends. Unfortunately, most SMEs disappear. Those that survive almost always do so by reinventing themselves, because those that have lasted longer have reinvented or "metamorphosed" themselves several times.

When your company is based on disseminating knowledge about a small but vital sector, and the threat is the double whammy of economic crises whose origin is biological and indestructible, it's not about reinventing yourself, it's about strengthening yourself. Strengthening the foundations so you can accumulate more knowledge and, with it, disseminate more, communicate more, and defend your industry more effectively.

Because “hibernating” a company isn't reinventing itself. But first, you have to secure the structure and human resources, essential in any serious and ambitious company, and then seek, analyze, acquire, and accumulate the knowledge your customers need, creating the optimal communication channel and surrounding yourself with those who enrich your offering. Management and leadership.

I don't reinvent myself, I grow.