by Elizabeth Denham
“When I see crisis, I see opportunity and innovation. I believe how you handle this crisis tells people who you are. And I believe we will come out better and stronger.”
Rebecca Monet, the founder and president of Zorakle, a company offering a customized suite of assessments used to determine franchisee-franchisor compatibility, believes more good than bad will come from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I believe individuals and businesses will develop a co-opetition mentality – meaning that we will learn to collaborate with our competitors,” she said. “This kind of time tends to make us come together to help each other. People are coming up with new ideas and ways of running their businesses that will last long past the coronavirus.”
Monet credits Dr. Douglas Jackson, an expert in the field of human assessment, with her resiliency and positive outlook.
“When I was in my 20s, I was a young mother with two babies. I was recently divorced and so lost. My uncle introduced me to Dr. Jackson who founded Sigma Assessment Systems, he gave me an assessment and he was there when I started my process of self-discovery,” she said. “He mentored me as a friend, and he told me someday I would be a business owner/entrepreneur.”
Jackson taught Monet how to leverage her gifts to become a more satisfied human being. She said he planted seeds in her over time that helped her grow into who she is today.
“I used what I learned from mentors about how to become successful,” she said. “And I think it is important, especially now, to know that we are not alone.”
Monet tells a story of a singular moment that changed her life. She had been doing one-on-one consultations with businesses identifying values, conflict, belief systems and strategies that could be holding them back from success. She was asked to speak at what she thought was a board meeting -fairly routine for her. It turned out, when she arrived, she realized she was speaking to 300 people – not routine at all!
“It was an overwhelming, scary feeling,” she said. “I was on stage for the first time, and it was like something took over. The things coming out of my mouth came out in a way I had never seen – I was more articulate than I had ever been. I spoke for three hours. And in that moment, my life changed.”
Monet said she had to overcome her conservative, religious upbringing that taught her that as a woman, she was to be quiet and submissive. In getting past the gender role issues, programmed into her from childhood, she was able to step into the gifts she didn’t know she had – until that day.
“It would never have happened without Dr. Jackson,” she said. “And without my insatiable curiosity about who or what I was meant to be.” I had the raw material, and in that moment, all of the pieces came together.”
Monet likens her experience to what we are collectively going through today.
“When you are faced with challenges, when you are feeling attacked, it’s painful. But it often allows us to build muscles to fight back and have bigger impact,” she observed. “You learn that you need to build your own tribe, sense of self and confidence.”
Monet believes that this pandemic, a universal challenge, will help us grow our strength and resiliency collectively, and that we will come out of it with new ideas and stronger relationships.
“When we invest in relationships, the benefits are beyond money. It’s about mental health, physical health and emotional intimacy. And those are the things that will help us sustain and grow our businesses as well. I am excited about the future, and I can’t wait to see what comes from all of this.”
For more information about Zorakle, please visit https://www.zorakleprofiles.com/