FROM WHERE I SAT
Resilience And Adaption : Lessons From A Publisher On Thriving During Unpredictable Times
By Robert Wamai
This issues article is not about marketing , brand building or selling areas that I have focused on in the past . It ’ s how organizations can successfully navigate their way through a crisis through resilience and adaptation . But first a short background is in order . On Friday March 3rd 2023 I attended a conference organized by The Workshop , a firm that offers coworking and shared office space . The Conference dubbed ‘ Ignite : Step Up Your Business ’ was targeted at SME business owners . There were four speakers each delivering a topic in their area of expertise : Customer Care , Mental Health and Personal Branding .
One of the presenters was Carole Mandi , renowned publisher of True Love magazine under her company Carole Mandi Media ( CMM ). It is her presentation that I found apt for Marketing Africa given her topic and its relevance to the volatile environment our businesses are operating . Her topic , titled ; ‘ Resilience and Adaptation : How to Thrive during Unpredictable Times ’ could therefore not have come at a better time .
Being in the publishing industry Carole has endured some difficult times which needed resilience and adaption to survive and thrive . By taking us through this journey Carole left us with useful actionable nuggets that we can all benefit from . I picked about six nuggets .
Carole opened her presentation by defining resilience as the ability to cope with unpredictable events that have a negative impact on one ’ s business some that result in a cataclysm which may threaten the very existence of some businesses . Carole spoke about two occurrences that hit the publishing industry hard and how she was able to navigate them successfully .
Secondly , and with good reason , given her experiences , Carole strongly believes in the mantra ; ‘ one should never waste a crisis ’. Crises she continued will always be there , for we do not choose the circumstances we live in . Given the volatile and unpredictable business environment we operate in means we must always expect the unexpected . On the positive side crisis force us into action , give us the opportunity to learn , a chance to re-evaluate and in some cases shed our excess baggage . More importantly they build our muscles of resilience , making us stronger , increasing our ability to withstand
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On the positive side crisis force us into action , give us the opportunity to learn , a chance to re-evaluate and in some cases shed our excess baggage . More importantly they build our muscles of resilience , making us stronger , increasing our ability to withstand whatever is thrown at us in the future . whatever is thrown at us in the future . Turning to the publishing industry where she plays , Carole said that in the last ten years the publishing industry has been hit by two Tsunamis , so to speak ; the Digital Migration and Covid-19 .
The Digital Migration refers to consumers of media switching to digital sources , especially social media for news , information and entertainment with some , especially the younger generation , ignoring the traditional media altogether . These changes though gradual in the beginning gained momentum from about 2014 and things have never been the same for traditional media ever since . As the readers shifted online the advertisers followed them , as where the eye balls go so do the advertising dollars .
However , despite this CMM was still doing well financially so there was neither urgency nor a clear path on the way forward for how to navigate this new terrain and get safely to the shore .
At a conference for publishers held in Las Vegas in November 2019 all talk was on the effect of Digital Media on traditional media and there were discussions and presentations of how some of the publishers had successfully migrated their readers , on subscription basis ( for a fee ) online and managed to attract advertising as well .
However , most were not clear on how to go about this . What was clear then and now is that the Digital Migration would leave many of those in the traditional media by the wayside once the dust finally settles .
The second disruption to the industry was to come four months after the conference , in 2020 , when Covid-19 descended on the world . Due to the lockdowns and readers
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