It never ceases to amaze me how resilient we are as a species. No matter what life seems to throw at us, we always seem to bounce back. We may be hurt, we may be in pain and we may even be down; but on average, we always seem to bounce back. That is the wonderful thing about us humans!
Whatever you may call the current crisis that we are facing, be it meltdown, recession, catastrophe, shameful, unfair - there has been no limit to the descriptors used in the media - one thing I know for certain and that is we will bounce back. Yes, we will. We will be a little stronger, and a lot wiser; but we will bounce back.
The question that I ask though when we do come out of this is 'what do you want to look like? How will you describe the way you behaved? What will our actions tell others about ourselves? How will what we do today in this crisis position us for the future? How will our companies or departments look like and what would we have done to shape those companies or departments? Did we put our hands up to be included in change or did we keep our heads bowed?
Prior to his becoming President, Barack Obama suggested that each of us is responsible for doing our part and that we can not and should not wait for government or for others to fix the mess. We need to take the initiative and do our part.
To say that I am not worried by the state of the world's economy or even for that matter, for the state of my country's own economy, would be a lie. I am in the consulting business and will be impacted by the crisis. I am also in the middle of raising funds for a new business venture that we will be launching next month - now how idiotic is that!! But, I am also excited by the changes that are happening across the corporate world. No, I am not in favor of regulation on executive salaries and will have to live with 'social capitalism' for now. I am excited that in order to survive, companies are off-loading weak or debt-ridden companies that were nothing more than a noose around their necks anyway and created no value for shareholders. I am excited that managers are being forced to find costs outside that of simply 'cutting labor' because a more business and operationally savvy manager will be born. Weak companies that should have folded years ago, will disappear and well-managed companies will get stronger leading to more value overall. The supply and demand for labor at all levels will change as labor enters the realm of 'free agent' status. And, finally outside of the corporate arena, I am excited that we, as individuals, will change as we take stock of what is truly important to us and realize that spending beyond our means is not always a wise investment.
Yes, we will get through this and when we do, I want to make sure that I can look back and honestly say that I played a part in the changing landscape; that I painted on the new canvas and was not just a spectator or a critic from afar. And also, when we do get through this, I want to make sure that I am ready to move quickly on the opportunities that will surely be available. Yes, they will.
ian
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