My humble lesson of business resilience. It is February 28, 2006, shortly before midnight. I am standing in the lobby of a giant hotel near the Istanbul airport. I am coming from Moscow, heading further to Podgorica the next day. Actually, I just wanted to take a room spontaneously – “just try something new.” But the hotel manager at the reception shakes his head: “Unfortunately, no room available.”
In a hotel of this size? In the middle of the night?
He asks me to take a seat. Turkish hospitality. He brings me a coffee, tells me to wait again and again. For one and a half hours, I sit in this anonymous, dark airport lobby. Just as I am about to leave for good, the news: “A room just became free. 15 minutes of cleaning, then it’s yours.”
I ask him why everything is so full. Is there a trade fair? An event? He looks at me seriously and says only one sentence: “We have war in the Middle East.”
Business Resilience – The Moment of Truth
A little later, I am lying in this room. A room without windows to the outside, only with a view into the atrium. Normally, I hate these windowless rooms. But on this night, while the pictures of missile strikes and the news about the attack on Iran are running on the TV, I feel strangely safe – and at the same time, devastated.
In my head, only one thought is pounding: “Not again.”
I had just started to build my real estate business in Dubai from scratch. A lot of time, energy, and heart’s blood had flowed into setting up the office, the employees, and the networking with partners and developers. And now? I saw in my mind’s eye how everything was freezing up again.
The Déjà-vu of the International Business Consultant
From China via Moscow to Dubai: It felt like a curse.
- First China: One year before Corona, I gave it full throttle – then came the total lockdown and the cancellation.
- Then Russia: Over 15 years of building up with Rufil Consulting. By 2022/2023 at the latest, the German-Russian business, as I knew it, was completely over. Even if the company continues today under new leadership by my former employee, all employees and customers were taken over, and I, as the founder, drop by the office regularly and do jobs as a consultant and crisis manager.
- And now Dubai?!
I sat there and thought: “Am I an idiot? Why do I always bet on peace and bringing cultures together when the world seemingly only wants division? Should I rather invest in defense stocks like so many others who profit from war?”
Anger instead of Fear
Was I afraid to lose my business? No. I know the fears that every businessman has, but the missiles, or the fact that I could lose a business again because of them, did not make me afraid. What I felt was deep frustration. A bitter disappointment that hard work is seemingly made worthless and that money is not earned with peace, but with war.
But then came the calm. The certainty that I have survived this before. That I know how to reinvent myself.
A Man’s Task: Action Against Decay
I asked myself: What is the alternative? Bury your head in the sand? Sit on the couch, drink beer, eat chips, and watch football while the world burns?
No. That is not my way. The struggle itself, the work, the untiring moving forward – that is the only remedy against depression and inner decay. A man must be in action. It is our task to fight, no matter what the circumstances are.
It reminds me of the words spoken by Rocky in the film “Rocky Balboa”: “It ain’t about how hard you hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!”
That is the core of it. Success in life isn’t measured during the calm periods; it is measured by how you stand up after the impact. If the world is on fire, I want to stay in action, because that is the only way to not stay down on the canvas.
The Next Day: Keep Going
The next morning, I did not wake up in despair. I picked up the phone. I called my business partners, employees, and my family. Not to complain, but to reassure and motivate.
Yes, the business in this direction may never be the same as before. But we are still here. We are still moving. And as long as we are moving, we have not lost.
