A thousand apologies for my absence on this page last week. Something happened to me that had never happened in the five years of writing this column. I was so sucked into activities that I simply forgot to write! I am sorry to have disappointed all who looked forward to the column. Some were even of the opinion that it had probably been shifted to another day of the week. Please forgive me. The mistake was entirely mine. I will do my very best to avoid a repeat.

Now to today’s piece.

A man who made caskets had an emergency order for one of his products. Considering the extra charges involved and the urgency of the situation, he could not wait for the driver of his delivery truck to report for duty. He decided to drive the truck himself and personally make the delivery. Unfortunately, a few 100 metres to the point of delivery, the truck broke down.  Every attempt he made to get someone to stop and help was abortive as no one wanted to put a coffin in his vehicle. Not wanting to delay the delivery, he knew he had to do something fast. Pronto, he decided to put the coffin on his head and walk to his destination.

After going about one 100 metres, he came to a police check-point. Seeing someone carrying a coffin, the officers were more than convinced that they were going to get a handsome sum as bribe before they would let him pass.

“Stop there!” yelled one of the officers, “where are you taking this to and where is your receipt for it? You must be one of those people who go to exhume dead bodies and steal coffins from the cemetery down the road.”

Remembering that he had actually seen a cemetery not far from that point, the man put on his thinking cap and did a few calculations. Then he spoke:

“Yes o oga” he replied, “I am actually coming from that cemetery. But the thing is that I died last week and I was buried there. But I don’t like that particular cemetery because the other corpses are not too friendly. So I decided to relocate.”

In a matter of seconds, the policemen were nowhere to be found!

The world belongs to those who can think on their feet. The world around you may be confusing but if you want to ride the waves well, you must not be confused.

Strategic thinkers rule their environment. To be effective in thinking your way out of a crisis, the following tips would be of great help:

Do not panic. In a crisis, what happens in you is more important than what happens to or around you. For most people, the natural reaction to crisis is to panic. Panic upsets and completely undermines your thinking process. Consequently, knee-jerk reactions become norm. In trying to fight fires, we may end up creating more or amplifying the scope of what already is. Many years ago, yours truly, I had an experience with armed robbers. I had gone to visit the home of a church member and as she walked me to the door, we ran into a gang of armed robbers. One of them turned a gun on me and another on my hostess, ordering us both back inside. My hostess had completely freaked out screaming “blood of Jesus” but I stood there calmly and turned back towards the house. When we got inside, the one who was on me started giving contradicting orders. “Lie down. Stand up”. I looked at him calmly and said “Make up your mind. What exactly do you want me to do?” He started fidgeting and I saw the gun drop from his hand and fold in two, exposing the bullet chambers. In confusion, they left without taking a pin, only to go and cause havoc in another house down the road. The peace of God is the harbinger of productive thinking.

In a crisis, focus on the solution, not the problem. A crisis is the peak of a problem that has hitherto defied solutions proffered. Such a situation cannot provide needed motivation. You must therefore learn to keep your eyes on the expected outcome and start your thinking process from there. Once you have decided what the desired end is, fix your mind on it. Strategic thinkers work from the answer to the problem, not vice-versa

Visualise a worst case scenario and overcome the attendant fear. In most problems that we face in life or as leaders of enterprise, our worst fear whether we admit it or not, is that of death. We dread that more than we dread possible failure. As long as you are hostage to fear of the unexpected outcome, you can never productively and positively engage your thinking faculty.

Become a box-breaker. Don’t just have the out-of-the-box thinking when you are faced with a serious dilemma. Break the box and give yourself a “tabular rasa” that sets no limits whatsoever on the possibilities of your thought process. If you think on the problem, you can never solve the problem!

Remember, the sky is not your limit, God is!