The Holy Grail

A business cannot take a pilgrimage, but its leader certainly can. While rules of religion seem etched in stone, in business, metamorphosis is the only constant. Sometimes, hypervigilance about your enterprise can make it hard to be objective about your shortcomings, flaws, or rickety plans. A closeup look offers nothing but insistent focus on the day-to-day, with the long term pushed in a dangerous blind spot. But a bird’s eye view, away from the nitty-gritty of the situation, allows you to take a breather and assess the situation. A calmer head steering the ship means a voyage that will certainly reach its destination.

Ramadan is an earmarked period for intense self-reflection, contemplation, devotion, and remembrance. Businesses can seek to look in the mirror and improve to avoid the pitfalls that beseech them. Reflect on the choices your enterprise makes in terms of the product or service, how you seek to treat your employees or how you interact with competition. A thorough self-reflection will reveal if your decisions are rooted in positivity and collaboration, or fear and envy. Contemplate the direction of your business, its sustainability, its inclusivity, and how your work impacts the people. Assess your devotion to your vision and mission statement and if you have wandered away from it. Above all else, harbor the spirit of remembrance, with gratefulness for the journey so far. Never forget the ups and downs, the triumphs and the tribulations. There were periods of stagnation, but there were also blessed showers of abundance. Business follows a very evident sinusoidal wave, and a knowing of this truth helps you treat it all as fleeting – the good and the bad – and focus on showing up with purpose every day.

The tenets of Ramadan, when boiled down to their essence, speak of an honest living and high thinking. What better than to use this holy month to get rid of the bells and whistles and focus on the original ideas, the seed which started it all? By simply striving to do the right thing and ensuring that the community progresses hand-in-hand with your passionate endeavor, your business can flourish with the spirit of Ramadan all year.