A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Turkey and Syria after the deadly earthquakes rocked and left a trail of destruction. Thousands of buildings have collapsed, and millions of people have been displaced. Thousands of Turkish and Syrian citizens grapple with a future that has left them with no home or livelihood. Despite receiving humanitarian assistance from several countries around the globe, Turkey and Syria faces enormous recovery challenges ahead.
Extending Helping Hands for Turkey
CSS has always placed Corporate Social Responsibility as integral to our values. We have always been at the forefront when disaster strikes in this region and beyond. We were privileged to work along the patronage of the Turkish Consulate and Turkish Business Council. We stepped in by providing our warehouse and staff at CSS Homeward Bound warehouse in Al Quoz, Dubai, as part of the disaster relief program.The collection drive was extended to three days with a massive outpouring of relief materials. With the massive task of collecting, sorting, and organizing materials, we witnessed the heart and spirit of UAE residents. Cutting all barriers of race, age,
and religion, people arrived in groups at the CSS warehouse to extend a hand of support to our Turkish brothers, sisters, and little children.
The Wood-Wide Web
I recently read a story about the neural networks of trees. There’s evidence that trees can communicated through a vast, underground network of fungal connections called mycorrhizal networks. This term is often called ‘the wood-wide web.’ Mycorrhiza is everywhere. Every step through a forest can cover hundreds of kilometers of densely packed fungal threads. These are the fiber optic cables of the wood-wide web. The fungus forms mycorrhiza with plant roots, and through those connections pass substances that both organisms need to grow. As the fungal threads spread, they can link to multiple plants, creating common mycorrhizal networks. Plants can exchange sugars, nutrients, water, and information through these networks.
We Are All Interconnected
Aren’t we all like the trees of the forests in our social relations and interconnections? Yes, we are all part of our complex and big network. We cannot pretend to live on an island. If something happens to a tree in a forest, the loss affects the other trees. It’s the same way for us.If something negative happens to people around us, even as far as Turkey, we do feel it in our roots.I want to thank every person who was part of the Helping Hands for Turkey effort.
The Asian Century
This century is touted to be the Asian Century. The Asian region is now the world’s largest economy. As Asia’s economies evolve further, the region has the potential to fuel and shape the next normal. In a recent McKinsey podcast called the Future of Asia Podcast series, the outlook continues to remain bullish on the Asian economy and the growth opportunity that it offers for the global economy. One of the speakers said, “If you are belt-tightening, you’re doing it wrong. You must set yourself up for a decade of outperformance, which requires reinvention.” Steve Jobs, the charismatic pioneer of the personal computer era and the co-founder of Apple, always set high standards for quality. He wanted it to be “insanely great.” There was no middle ground. So let us keep our ears on the ground and eyes on the sky, and let’s set ourselves to outperform!