Thriving in the face of adversity
By Basil Springer
„Adversity Quotient (AQ) is the science of human resilience. People who successfully apply AQ perform optimally in the face of adversity" www.peaklearning.com
At a recent seminar on Destiny, Health and Wellness held in Barbados, I was introduced to AQ by a motivational speaker Dr. Paul G. Stoltz who is the author of the book Adversity Quotient - Turning Obstacles into Opportunities‚. I am more familiar with the concept of Intelligence Quotient (IQ). One whose mental age is average for his or her chronological age group has an IQ of 100.
Last week was a very busy and eventful week. Firstly, my column entitled The Brian Lara Paradigm‚ gave rise to very interesting, to say the least, written and oral responses; secondly, District Governor David Edwards and his team excelled in the successful mounting of the annual Rotary International District 7030 Conference (attended by Rotarians from St. Kitts in the North to the Guianas in the South) in Barbados; and thirdly, it marked the advent of the first occupant of my sister's Springcourt condominiums www.spring-court.com.
Individuals went out of their way to email and telephone me agreeing with the sentiments I had expressed in the column. There were, of course, some who would have none of it. They ranged from agreeing to differ, through cynicism to an aggressive attack which was concluded by an accusation of Lara-bashing, as if there were no grounds at all on which the Prince of Port of Spain‚ could be found wanting. This last response was from an E. Bastien (I do not know what the E‚ stands for ˆ maybe its Elliot, maybe Elaine, maybe Edgar, maybe Eloise ˆ but I must thank the author for introducing me to two words which are not included in my everyday vocabulary ˆ egregious‚ and tendentious‚.
Good sense tells me that I should offer a compromise to E. Bastien. I respect Lara as a batting superstar, but I think we should consider the hypotheses that Lara is a good leader‚ and Lara should be captain of the West Indies team‚ and seek to assemble historical data to test these hypotheses. Unfortunately, neither time nor space permits me to do this here, but it could be the subject of a university research exercise. I think I recognized the voice of Eddie Corbin on last Tuesday's Best and Mason call-in cricket programme on CBC Radio. He seems to have done some research on the critical characteristics of successful captains of the West Indies team. This may be a good place to start. It may help us in selecting cricket captains in the future. Maybe the Adversity quotient theory would not be out of place here.
In the interim, Shivnarine Chanderpaul has continued to demonstrate how to perform optimally in the face of adversity. I would guess that his Adversity Quotient is high. We need to note the feat in this first test as Captain that, amidst an unsettled situation among the stakeholders in WI cricket, he scored an undefeated double century against the South Africans. Indeed, a unique feat in the history of cricket.
The piece by E. Bastien to which I referred was entitled A West Indian Solution to a West Indian Problem. He wrote Springer's paralysis is his inability to conceive of the notion that perhaps there might well be a West Indian firm to provide the sponsorship for a West Indian team. Well it so happens that there is! The Trinidadian conglomerate, CL Financial, has offered not only to sponsor the team, the full team including the magnificent seven, but also to provide full-time employment for the players‚.
I would like to draw Bastien's attention to an excerpt from an article in the Barbados Daily Nation of Monday 15, March 2004 as follows: The group of entrepreneurs who partnered with AT&T Wireless when it sought a licence to operate in Barbados says its investment has not been compromised by Cingular's take-over of AT&T. Word of this has come from Adrian Elcock, managing director of Exclusive Lighting, who represents the partners BFF Communications, a group comprising Everson Elcock & Co. Ltd., Firgos Property Holdings and SRM Architects. The other investor is Clico Holdings Ltd., the majority local partner‚. I presume that readers are aware of the relationship between Clico Holdings Ltd. and CL Financial. I am sure that Digicel does.
Mr. Rawle Brancker, at the Rotary Conference, gave an excellent update on ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 and it was clear that he was seeking support from the Caribbean community, particularly from those with a high AQ, to take advantage of the marketing legacies that will be offered by the 2007 event.
Deryck Murray, representing Guardian Life of the Caribbean, sponsors of last Friday's Rotary lunch gave a witty lunchtime address some of which alluded to his experiences of the IQ and AQ profiles of West Indian cricketers of his era. Deryck came over to me afterwards and said Basil, I get your weekly column‚ and as he was walking away, with a smile on his face, turned to allude to the Brian Lara Paradigm article. The Springcourt condominiums is an example of what will be necessary, as Rawle Brancker intimated, to augment the accommodation plant for 2007 and beyond.
(Dr. Basil Springer GCM is Change-Engine Consultant, Caribbean Business Enterprise Trust Inc. (CBET) - http://www.cbet-inc.org |
