#FightBackCorona: Being quarantined is a good time to take stock of one’s trajectory

These are extraordinary times and we all are in uncharted territory. There is a lot of fear and negativity in all spheres due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. While the Corona Warriors are doing a tremendous job fighting from the frontlines, we at Adgully are embarking on an endeavour to highlight the positive developments during these challenging times.

Adgully is featuring a series of brief interactions with industry leaders in India and find out how they are keeping their spirits up as well as keeping their employees motivated, also how they are joining in the fight against the adverse impact of the global pandemic.

Robert Godinho, Managing Director, MediaMonks, India, stresses on the importance of health and safety amid COVID-19 times, and adds how being empathetic, patient and thankful for everything we have are important, too, to emerge out of this crisis.

What steps are you and your organisation taking to help out the society at large or those engaged in the war against Covid-19?

While health and safety is the foundation of this pandemic situation, there are many other key things that need to be done to come out of this, hurt yet strong. One of my key tasks is to look after my work family, which means, working harder to make sure we don't let go of any artists, and avoid pay cuts. By doing this small gesture, I believe, we will collectively ensure that our economy does not dive further and employment and consumption can start building the foundation for the next few quarters. 

We are also working with charitable organisations to help generate more contributions so they can continue to do the good work of feeding, hosting and looking after the community. 

How are you keeping your employees motivated and are encouraging them to give their best, even as they are working from home?

MediaMonks is a hub for passionate artists, and even though the teams are bound by four walls, their minds are not. Our young directors programme has gotten together to make a creative collage with ‘21 films of Quarantine’, a series of films shot, directed and edited by our teams to document the different moods of a ‘quarantine situation’, yet the extremely optimistic India. Being quarantined is a beautiful time to stop and take stock of one’s trajectory. To this extent, I have spent one on one time with each of my artists over the last few weeks to understand where they are in their journey and to mentor them into the next chapter of their life. Being key stakeholders in the business, they need to be nourished and given room to grow rather than hitting that glass ceiling, we so often find ourselves pressed up against.

What is most needed in challenging times such as these:

(a) From the general public: Be empathetic, be patient and most importantly, be thankful for everything you have. It is this that will help us see not only how lucky we are, but also why it is important to follow the protocol. 

(b) From the authorities: Initiatives to help SMBs to survive the next couple of months. Consumption and economic stability are key when the country and the world are going through such tumultuous times. It would be sad to see a negative domino effect in times like these. 

(c) From business leaders: It is important to be prudent and austere, but also very important to be mindful of the trickle effect and to make sure that the economy continues to chug along in a further more holistic manner, rather than looking too deeply inwards. 

To tweak a campaign that was launched many years ago, I believe if we can pledge ‘Each one save one’, the task at hand is not so difficult.