I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.
Those who wish to sing, always find a song.

Happy Easter and Passover to the wonderful people I am privileged to work with and see most days. At least see most days in normal times.

Easter and Passover are meant to be times of celebration and reflection. However as I lay in bed last night watching 83 year old Pope Francis conduct Mass last night to an eerily empty St Peter's Square, although not a Catholic, I was moved deeply by his great strength and his indomitable commitment to duty and leadership. He simply refused to allow what is happening to the world beat us down from our traditional remembrances.

Personally, I want to be optimistic, but feel right now while we are in the midst of the unknown, it would be disingenuous to utter platitudes. Though I do firmly believe that the strength of our future lies within ourselves. Everyone reading this message is a bright, caring, intelligent and resourceful person with the ability to embrace a vision of where we can go next and how we can get there. The great frustration is of course not knowing when we can kickstart our lives again. But what I do know is that your thoughts and actions now will partially define your lives for many years to come, both personally and professionally. The importance of 'Now' is that it may be that never again will your life be paused in this way, allowing you the space and time to reconfigure your own journey and future pathway.

Perhaps, like me, you may be pursuing these thoughts and reflections in a two separate but linked ways:

• Personally, I am having kinds of conversations with my family and friends that I have not had for a long time. I am reconnecting with people who too are chronically time-pressed in normal circumstances by the speed of life which leaves too little opportunity for personal conversations and thoughts.
• Professionally, my mind has been freed up, decluttered and I feeling it begin to buzz with new possibilities and opportunities. The great thing for all of us is that we work in a business which is part vocation, meaning we are not faced with a return to drudgery and routine. We will always have the excitement of the unexpected e-mail or phone call which keeps our lives sparkling and changes destinies for ourselves and our clients.

As I wish you, your families and loved ones good health and strength on this Easter and Passover weekend, perhaps we should all remember these words "I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination AND Those who wish to sing, always find a song."

Jonathan Shalit OBE (Hon Prof)
Chairman - InterTalent