Page 6 - newDATAmagazine | 08>12>2021

EDITORIAL
Breaking
December is here, and once again, it is
accompanied by an invariably large set of
"obligations" typical of this season. A cycle that
repeats itself every year marks our lives
practically since we were born, in this country
where Christmas is a tradition. It is a cycle.
The importance of cycles is closely linked to
the history of mankind. The counting of the
seasons, the years, months, and days; the years
which each of us lives; the times we do
something we want to remember; the
commemorative days repeated on a specific
date. With one use or another, there is no
question that "A hallmark of almost every
known culture is some system to track the
passing of time."
In a practical approach, the need to
understand the phenomenon "time" by feeling
its passage may have given reason to creating
small portions whose understanding becomes
more accessible. Dividing an "infinite time," a
somewhat complex concept, into small pieces
delimited by events converts the time
phenomenon into something tangible and
ideally within everyone's reach.
In turn, business activity is also linked to
cycles. These are conditioned upstream by the
fiscal calendars of the states (in a corporate,
institutional management approach) and
downstream by society itself and by the
customers that the company serves. The
bakery produces bread at the hour customers
need to eat it, training companies offer courses
at the hours and days that trainees can attend
them, textile factories produce wool coats in
winter and swim trunks in summer. All this is
imposed by the rhythm, I would say "natural,"
that society and the planet confer to our lives.
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CYCLES!
Abandoning now the "doldrums" of the
obvious, imposed on us with the usual speech of
those who let life pass by and resign themselves,
and returning to the posture that is natural to me,
active and critical, proper of those who want to go
through life leaving marks, I would say that it is
time to abandon the corporate subservience to
cycles.
The variables that the economy, society in
general, and business activity, in particular, are
currently subject to, clearly indicate the need to
reduce the importance and conditioning that
cycles represent in business management.
Investments do not have to be made at the
beginning of the economic period; hiring does not
have to be done at the beginning of the year;
salaries do not have to be paid at the end of the
month. And it is so important to analyze the issue
from this challenging point of view that whenever
a company does something different from what
all the others do and breaks cycles, it makes the
news! In fact, several articles point to the
importance of breaking cycles to generate value,
such as THIS one, which reinforces the
importance of breaking the vicious cycle of
reactive management; I suggest you read it.
A truly productive and value-generating
economy breaks cycles on a daily basis, calling
them into question. In management, cycles no
longer make the sense they used to, and it is
essential to be aware of the moment when
breaking a cycle builds more value than keeping
the usual "tempo."
It is essential to break cycles (and circles!) and
force moments of reflection. If, on the one hand,
the cycle represents stability, it also represents a
lack of attention to alternative ways to perform
our duties at a professional level.
Horácio Lopes
Management Consultant ®
Editor newDATAmagazine
Teacher . BCP . BCI VP
®
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