Merchants, Workers, and Wine:

This is a really powerful piece in the Financial Times Weekend (link below). Amidst intense loss and suffering, Ukrainians are finding ways to maintain some of life’s smaller joys like, say, a glass of wine or a good book. But these are not trivial or throwaway life pleasures. Rather, they represent quiet acts of defiance as people seek even a shred of normalcy in times of war. The anthropologist James Scott has written of a similar dynamic in describing “everyday forms of resistance” within the context of anti-colonial struggles in Asia. That is, how do people under siege (in its varied political and economic forms) find creative ways to undermine power and retain their autonomy?

My own modest experience, in both travel and work, has led me to take serious this question. That is, how is it that scarcity, tragedy, and a collective memory so often seems to produce such compelling works of art and acts of solidarity? Over time, I have witnessed the most remarkable level of crisis improvisation in places like Cuba, the Philippines, Mozambique, and back in New Orleans when we returned home from Hurricane Katrina. In all these settings, soul and spontaneity is the difference. Always.

To be sure, finding ways to navigate hardship is a universal tale. And, the inspirational voices that emerge from below typically succumb to forces beyond the control of the proverbial village. This can be true in life, in business, and in horrific settings like the Ukraine. But as the journalist here highlights, these brave war zone entrepreneurs are reminding us that hope and imagination almost always defies the worst circumstances. It seems to me that these are the stories we must continue to tell.