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The Evolutionary Steps We Must Follow to Thrive in 2022

By John Clayton - Arista Technologies
Director of Operations, Mexico

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By John Clayton | Director of Operations - Wed, 12/15/2021 - 16:49

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2021 has been mostly a challenging year, but don’t we say that most years? Throughout history, we’ve been faced with challenges. As my old mentor used to say, there’s a crisis around every corner, but it's how you deal, respond and evolve from these that matters  most.

And it’s about being proactive too. Meaning, how do we take every single measure in place to ensure  that we minimalize oncoming risks to our businesses, our families and society as a whole before it's too late? The answer is taking a proactive approach.

With never-ending COVID fears, political threats, world leaders making questionable decisions and the global economy on a cliff edge, the future challenges we’re going to be faced with, such as cyberthreats, the development of fast-paced AI and climate change, will most certainly be threats we must be prepared to deal with, while not getting too consumed with the fear that we’re accustomed to because a negative reaction will only exacerbate the problems.

But isn't this just, by need, an evolutionary push that we must go through? Can we evolve from this? My answer is, yes.

One of the things we’re going to have to be conscious of is humanity’s way of keeping up with the  speed of technology and AI, adapting to a changing environment when it comes to climate change, the spread of false propaganda from certain media sources and the growing cybersecurity threats, which are only going to increase. Behaviorally speaking, we're not prepared yet. The good news is, like most evolutionary processes, we usually receive pain, some suffering, shocks to the system I call these evolutionary growth pains, like the caterpillar on the edge of a leaf, chewing away all its resources: it is living on the edge of that leaf, almost falling, but just in time, it evolves into a butterfly, grows wings, and flies. I believe that’s where humanity is at right now. Evolutionary processes involve discomfort, being self-bloated and out of balance in terms of personal gain; for example, food, wealth, ownership of consumer products, financial assets, bubbles that burst, trial and error pain that we must endure before we realize that we must change to reap the rewards because we’ve evolved to being better. Does this resonate with you? Because it certainly does with me.

This leads me to the new world that we’re now living in. The new world requires a rise in consciousness. But why do I mention the word consciousness? Because the level of consciousness you are at will determine how proactive you are going to be and how we respond to the up-and-coming challenges that are ahead.

This is exceptionally important. It’s the difference between poverty and the right amount of abundance for all; it’s the difference between fear and bravery; and it’s the difference between evolving or becoming stagnant and repeating the same mistakes that get us into a mess in the first place. Commercially and politically speaking, this is extremely important and massively overlooked. One of the biggest problems out there is that people do not know that they do not know this is and will always be humanity's problem.

It doesn’t really matter if you are Mexican, British, American or Canadian. Humans, at their core, are motivated by survivalist agendas, fear, greed, giving into temptation but occasionally reacting in negative ways because they were not proactive in the first instance, thus making a knee-jerk reaction and ultimately making the wrong decision because what they thought was true, was only true to them, where the truth is only an illusion based only on one’s own internal reality, which is rather deceptive. And of course, the higher you are on the corporate, political or social ladder, the greater the consequences are in the decision-making outcome.

Let me give you an example: Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s proposed energy reform. Is it a good or bad idea or are you indifferent to this? Whatever the eventual outcome, the decision is born out of survivalist agendas – politically speaking, for his own personal agenda but also a survivalist agenda for his people – where the intention is positive according to López Obrador and the people who support him. To be clear, this is not a criticism of the president, but it's an example of how people develop their own ideology and this includes everyone on the planet. So, no one can escape this; it is what it is.

His idea of an energy reform is to ultimately protect Mexico – it's his duty and that’s the way he sees it and he will have his own reasons for doing so. But, will there be problems with this, if we look at it in a broader context and, for a moment, be counterintuitive? I believe it will cause problems for Mexico. So, it's fair to ask, is this a reactive approach that’s driven by perceived fear? Incidentally, I believe it is. Or is it a response in order for Mexico to grow, evolve and keep up with the fast-moving world, especially in terms of renewable energy, collaborating with its trade partners, ensuring that Mexico will follow the global trend in cleaning up our planet and ensuring that the economy will ultimately thrive? Well, in this case, I don’t think it is. The latter points are in danger of pulling the rug from under the feet of the Mexican people.

This may lead to conflicts, economic downturn for the masses and society nosediving into fights, crime, social disconnection and sending us on an evolutionary merry-go-round – like a vicious circle. This also happens globally but within different contexts, so I’m not just talking about Mexico’s current situation.

The point I’m making here regarding creating a positive future for all is that we can, of course, look back over the past couple of years with anxiety and apprehension for 2022, but we must be very conscious of what we’ve done in the past, where we’ve been, how mistakes were made and respect that. But equally, we must not buy into the doom and gloom stories that we read, the fear mongering we’re faced with and the political manipulation that drives negative behavior. We must adapt and overcome obstacles that we will always face while remaining conscious of how we strategize our future success by being proactive rather than reactive and learning from the past. To move forward successfully, we must respect the past and we do this by consciously evolving to become better at what we do.

This, I believe, will create a compelling future. I am very optimistic that we’ll thrive in the future, rather than merely survive, if we all take collective responsibility in how we respond.

Merry Christmas everyone. To my friends, colleagues and acquaintances, wishing you and your family health, wealth and abundance for 2022.

Photo by:   John Clayton

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